Wednesday Roundup

TS Faye had a good trot and gallop on the field to keep her ready for a race on Sunday

TS Fay still doesn't look tucked up...maybe by next race.

Tiny Tune also did an easy gallop in the field ...her race is five furlongs on Sunday.

Wednesday at the Farm. No OBS, but Video Goodness!

July 27th Morning Works at the Farm

Spitfire Red is galloping easy and seems fresh.




Intrestingly he came back dripping with sweat and it started almost immediately. That is a point of reference because it was still fairly cool for Florida in the early morn.

Irish eagle has been off with bucked shins and is doing a trail ride today. That should not hurt him and will help him keep some fitness.








Here is the way his shins look today after the light ride (walk trot two miles).

Here is what they looked like a few weeks back.

They do look better today.

It is cooler early this morn and we are giving Stack Bali a gallop to see how he is doing. (he is the non-sweater).

He trotted and galloped a total of two miles and breathed well and felt good. But...dry as a bone-no sweat breaking out. We hosed him much and put him under the fan. I am trying green papaya chopped up in his feed. At first he wouldn't eat it but now I pour molasses on it!

I showed this injury a while back on Stack. You can now see how the cornet band is growing out.

Here is another angle that shows the severe trauma to hoof wall.

He seems to be going soundly on it anyway...

22 July Calder Trip

Since it is five hours each way we like to make our trips count. This time we have T.S. Faye in another race and will be taking Tiny and Phontiff down for a gate break and five or six furlongs of work, depending how they feel. Here is some video from that:

T.S. Faye is in the 3rd with a bug rider. We are hoping for an improvement from her second lifetime race and this will be her third lifetime experience actually on the Calder race track. She has had about 30 minutes in her life on this surface. So you can see why we need to be patient and use races to help train the ship ins.

Faye beats two horses in this race but breaks well and lays third for a while before ending up eighth. She finishes closer and better. So I consider it a good work and a positive move.
We haul home and everybody seems to be okay.

Fence building and Travel Preparations

Saving the wood....

Fence building gang!

The brains of the crew.

Tiny had her trot and is getting more muscular in her body. She will breeze one more time and,if all goes well we will look for a race.

Phontiff's shin looks pretty good and we will breeze him also in Miami.

We are checking tire pressure for the trip...a stitch in time... I hope will help!

Landscaping, Building Fences, and Commonsense Recycling

This is a tree that fell during the last hurricaine. A good neighbor is moving it to the burn pile.

We will clean up the area and plant a new tree!

What luck! Our neighbors put in new fencing and asked if I would mind having my fence replaced. Would I?...

This was my old fence, definitely long in the tooth. But it served well considering what it cost and what it put up with.

The new fence will go here.

Anything from the old stuff worth saving, we will recycle. Not just because we are "green" but because we are cheap when we can be. A penny saved really is a penny earned when it is your own Backyard Racehorse business!

Here is my grandson trimming the ends off the old boards so we can use them for repairs.

We will probably have a new fence by tomorrow night.

Eurocizer Action, Stack Bali's Anhydrosis, Wax Poetic's Feet, and Another Race for Faye

The PVC pipe with holes drilled in works as a good coolant for the horse.

Let's compare the healing of Irish Eagle's shins. This was a few weeks ago...

His right front was the worst and it still is pretty obvious. His bloodlines are with european breeding and they are traditionally slower to develop. As he heals it should flatten down.

Stack is not sweating and I am giving him a supplement from tack shop in Miami, pretty much the capital of non sweaters....they say money back if it doesn't work...we'll see.
Meanwhile he is put in a stall with a fan while it is so hot. The real solution is to go up north. The day after I arrived a non sweater I had -started to sweat immediately.

He feels special with his own fan.

Wax Poetic's injury on right front is healing nicely and cleanly (sorry photo is not too good).

This injury needs more time. She is very tender if we touch it and she is slightly and subtly lame when jogged on the concrete. The hoof wall has been crushed at the cornet band and needs to grow out a little and strengthen.

Entered TS Faye right back for Sunday as I like the timing for her since she comes back so soundly and sanely. Unfortunately the race was not used. Perhaps we can get into a similar race on Thursday . We will know by tomorrow night!

T.S. Faye and Washracks 101

TSFay is none the worse for wear...we may go back and run Sunday again as she didn't put herself out much in last race. She is in small grassy paddock for today and I must decide by Thursday if we head back for Sunday.

Washing a Yearling

This view shows how my wash rack is enclosed and can contain the horse if he gets loose!

Nicks and Scrapes

Wax Poetic had stepped on herself in the break in her race on Sunday. We kept it clean and it appears to be healing well.

What we hadn't noticed until later was that she was apparently also stepped on in the scramble of the break. Her left front foot on the outside was stepped on which may have caused her to step on her right front there on the inside.
Looking at the replay in the gates she was not standing with all four feet on the ground. The starter tries to have everyone like that but it can be difficult with these two year olds.

I think this injury is going to take a little more time to heal since the hoof wall was compressed and the interior laminae need to rebuild. It had been a possibility to go back again this Sunday but with this issue I think she needs a little more time.

2 works and 2 Racers at Calder Yesterday

Here we are at Calder race course at7AM getting Spitfire Red ready for his breeze. Because he has had the back issue we are putting a double pad on him.

Both Spitfire and Tiny broke from the gates(video below). I told riders to breeze 3 furlongs as it has been a while since they worked. Tiny did 3 in 36 and out in 51. That was pretty good for first time on track. She came back and "corded" up...as you can see her muscles are tight, she might be a little sore tomorrow but should walk out of it and be ready to work again in a week or ten days.

As usual it is very hot and we cool with lots of water.

Spitfire worked out gates 3 furlongs in 39. Not very fast, but according to rider he still doesn't feel right in the hind end. I must figure out what is bothering him. It seems to be back related.

This video has the gate work and lead up to the race. Alex is still trying to figure out how to post the actual race here...

Both horses in same race make for a busy paddock time for me.

TS Fay is being good.

Waxed Poetic was very nervous in paddock-not unusual in a second life time race.

She was better once she was saddled.

In the walking ring.

Here comes Waxed Poetic.

Up you go!

To the track!

Wax better, listening to rider...

Right after race I like to hear what jock says...before they have time to think of excuses. Fay ran competitively until horses came up on both sides...she seemed to suck back at that time and coasted in last. Jock felt she needs the experience of race...that she was nervous when in tight with other horses. Could be- I expected to see more improve off the last race. She seems to have come back all right. We will see how she looks tomorrow. I will try her at same distance until I see a reason to escalate.


Wax poetic jock said she was lugging in. When we looked at her we saw that she caught her "quarter". That means that she hit her inside "ball of heel"of right front with her other hoof-either her front left or a hind hoof in the break. Since she warmed up good it might have been at the break.

Lots of hosing ...but Wax cooled pretty fast...she was slow to break and jock held her out as he didn't know why she was lugging in. But she seemed to try when he straightened out in the stretch. She passed TS in stretch and since her first race had been two furlongs a month ago and she had been trained lightly, she showed better fitness than I had expected.

When a horse hits itself, it can feel like being hit with a hammer- those metal shoes Hurt! In a day or two we will see how this looks!

It could cause what the jock felt...trying to get off right front she is heavy on the left front!

All things considered, it was a successful trip. The youngsters got some track experience and we are getting a better idea of their talents. If you are training from the farm and hauling in, it really can make sense to use races as works. It does not do anything for your stats, but Backyard racers measure things differently. Besides, at some tracks, they pay down far enough that an also ran can pay for the trip.