I arrived at Longwood Farm in Glennwood, MD in the middle of September 1992. After moving into my small house, where I would live, while working on the farm, I went out to say "Hi!" to some of the horses on the farm. I walked across the driveway and was met by three of them curiously looking at me, as they stretched their heads up and over the high fence. I could tell they were some of the yearlings that I was there to train. At first I did not know these were the three yearling fillies, but they looked feminine, so I guessed that they were. I was drawn to the one in the middle, the most, a dark bay with a tiny star. I looked up at the filly and smiled, I wasn't sure what it was about her that I liked, but there was something there. Next I found myself drawn to the blood bay, with a bit larger star and one white pastern, I believe she was a bit bigger than the dark bay, but not by much. There was also a chestnut filly there, though I did not sense anything bad about her, I just didn't sense the same thing about her as the other two. The feeling was so strong, especially to the darkest of the three, it left a very strong impression on me and the filly seemed to be drawn to me, as well.
The next morning, I arrived at the barn at 7:30 to start work and was introduced to the horses. I do not remember my first rides, per se, on each of the fillies, but I do remember what the first few weeks was like.
The dark bay was named Red Devilette (by Oh Say out of Red Lamp, by Tequillo). The first two weeks were a bit rocky with her, as she was afraid of things and it took her some time to trust me, that I was not going to hurt her. I slowly worked with her and won her over. I know I was thrown two or three times by her those first few weeks, but the last time I came off, I will never forget and I doubt Red Devilette has forgotten it, either, because she never allowed herself to get that scared around me again.
I was riding her and she turned the corner, the riding ring was around the outside of the stalls, in the barn, one of the men who worked there moved quickly and I think it startled her, she did not like the men and the feeling was mutual, as they did not like her, either. She began to buck and spin and being in an exercise riding saddle, I tried my best to stay on, but it was futal. What happened did so in slow motion, I can still see it in my mind. I began to fall off and as I headed towards the ground, I saw her knees coming at my face. I even remember thinking "This is going to hurt!" But it didn't, her knee made impact with my chin and I swear to you that all I felt was the lightest of touches, as if a feather had touched me. I have no explanation for this, I should have been hurt, bruised, something, it should not have felt like a feather hitting me, it was a horse's knee, afterall. I jumped up and got out of the way, leaned up against the outer wall of the barn and watched as Red Devilette spun in a few circles. When she had calmed down, I approached her and with help, I got back up on her. The rest of the time I worked at that farm, I was never thrown off of her again. No matter how scared she got, she allowed me to calm her down.
I learned that Red Devilette was a very smart horse and that if I just talked to her, almost as if she was a human, I could get her to do just about anything. The men would be trying to get her in her stall and she'd plant all four feet and not budge. They'd be pulling, hollering, hitting her, etc and she'd just stand there. I'd walk up and say, "Let me try." There reply would be, "Be my guest." And I'd take the lead from them and pet her on the head or neck, talk to her quietly and the next thing she was following me into her stall. It was as simple as that. No fussing, no threats, just asked her to come with me and she would.
I think Red Devilette knew that I knew she was special and the kindness I showed her also didn't hurt. I knew she was going to be a special racehorse and no one could convince me otherwise and this was before I knew much about her pedigree and what her dam had produced. It didn't matter to me, I could feel the power coming from her, not only when I rode her, but when I was just standing with her, quietly in her stall or petting her over the fence.
My mother would come up about every other week to help me run errands, since I don't drive, because of my bad vision, and Red Devilette learned my Mom's car. Whenever I returned from my errands, Red Devilette would greet the car at the fence and follow it up the driveway, back to my house, to receive a pet from me, when I got out.
When turned out in the field, Red Devilette was the boss of the three fillies. They would race around the paddock and the blood bay would usually stay right close to her, the chestnut always trailing far behind. It didn't matter how short their run was or how long they kept running, Red Devilette always kept the lead, the blood bay second, and the chestnut trailing behind.
About six months later I was riding Red Devilette when I sensed something wasn't right. She wasn't her usual spirited self. I told one of the guys that worked there and he said he couldn't see anything as I rode past, but I insisted, so I dismounted. I ran my hands down her legs and sure enough, around her suspensory ligament I felt the smallest of puffiness and a tiny amount of heat. My hands are pretty sensitive, since I use them a lot to tell me about things, horse and non-horse related, as well. The man could not feel what I felt, so I agreed to wait until the next day to see how she felt, before I told our boss, who owned the horses. The next day, she felt the same, same tiny amount of heat, same small amount of puffiness, and she was just not right when I rode her, so I went to tell the boss. He came out the following day and he couldn't see anything, so had me ride her. WIth me riding her, he still didn't see anything, so told me I was imagining things and I was to keep going with the filly.
During the next few weeks, I kept feeling something wasn't right, so I tried to keep her pace slow as she would allow and tried hard not to let her over do it. Still sensing the problem, but it wasn't getting any worse with my careful care.
Unfortunately, I ended up leaving the job and the horses I had grown to love, but I had no choice, I couldn't keep working there. I pleaded with the barn staff and the other rider to take good care of Red Devilette telling them that I knew something was wrong and it would eventually show up, but I don't think they listened to me.
I called one of the men about two weeks after I left, to check up on the horses, and he told me that Red Devilette's front legs had both swollen up past the knees. I was so mad that they hadn't listened and now she was lame and I was afraid this would permanently affect her racing career. She had so much potential and I was afraid it had just been thrown out the window.
I went off to college and I did my best to follow their racing careers and discovered that Red Devilette did become an allowance winner, winning 3 races and $30K, but I knew, deep in my heart, that she should have been a stakes winner, that her career had to have been messed up by that early incident.
I later talked to a lady who exercise rode her when she was at the track and was told that she was handled badly there, as well and she was the only one who could really get Red Devilette to relax, otherwise they'd put a big guy up on her and just muscle her into submission.
No telling how great this wonderful mare could have been if people had only listened to her and treated her better.
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