Special Time With Scarlette

Now that both my little girls are in school, when I go out to feed the horses in the morning, there is no longer a rush to get back in the house, I can spend as much time out there as I want.   I always feel closer to God when I'm with the horses, it's very special time.

After feeding, checking water tanks, and checking over a few of the horses, I was standing out in the paddock by the barn where I saw Scarlette standing nearby.   Scarlette is a special horse, she was not treated very well in her younger days, at the farm where she was born and raised, she was feared, handled roughly, etc.   I was the only one who showed her kindness and we had an immediate connection to each other, that was so powerful, we were just drawn to each other, all those years ago.

When she arrived on my farm, in the fall of 2004, we had not seen each other in almost 12 years, but we picked right up where we had left off.

In the almost 9 years since she arrived, our relationship has gotten even closer.   She is, no doubt, one of the smartest horses I have ever been around and worked with.   I talk to her in plain english, as if I am talking to a person, and I swear she understands.   This morning was no different, but it was so special.

Scarlette rarely approaches even me, when she is loose in the pasture, but this morning, I asked her if I could check her over and she stood still as I approached, instead of turning and walking away.   I ran my hands across her neck, over her topline, over her ribcage, across her flanks, and rump, checking her body condition.   Now that she is 22 years old, I am trying to watch her weight carefully as I can, along with the other 2 senior horses on the farm.   I recently changed to a new grain and am watching for changes to tell me if I have made a good choice.

After checking Scarlette's body condition, she stood close to me and I gently touched her face and discovered some seeds of some sort on her face and I carefully picked them off of her fur.   There had to be near 50 of them, it was a lot.   She stood letting me do this and then when I was done, she shifted her weight and I thought she was going to walk off, but she moved and seemed to be asking me to scratch her neck and shoulder on her right side.   After a few minutes, she backed up 2 steps and repositioned herself so I could do her left side.   I never moved, I let her do all the moving.

As we spent this time together, I started talking about our history together and if you have read the story of our time together at Longwood Farm, you will know of the Angel experience we had together.   For some reason I asked Scarlette, "Do you remember the Angel?"

At that very moment, she stepped back again, raised up her head, ears pricked, and then she gently put her nose to my face and continued to gently sniff my chin.   You will know the significance of this if you've read that story or if I have told it to you.   I will put the link to it at the end of this post, but if you have not read it, I was touched by an Angel feather on my chin, to protect me from Scarlette's knee hitting my face, when she threw me off one morning, when something scared her.   No one can tell me otherwise, that it was definitely an Angel experience.  Scarlette never threw me again, from that day on, she always let me calm her down.

Scarlette and I continued our peaceful and loving conversation and rubbing session for almost a half an hour.   It was of her own free will to spend this time with me and it was, by far, the longest time she has ever spent with me, of her own free will.

As I scratched her itches, from time to time she seemed to tell me "Thank you!", she'd wrap her neck around me, put her head on my shoulder, and sniffed my face a few more times.   Most of these things are not her normal behavior, as she is not the most affectionate horse, but I have noticed that she seems to be becoming one, in her older years and maybe as she realizes she's here to stay and at peace.  

I told her of her son, Marcus, and how proud we are all of him.   We always tell her about his races right after we get home, but I just decided to talk more about it.   I even told her that if he continues to do well that maybe we could breed Glory, her daughter, next year, and she could see her grandbaby running around the fields in the next year and a half.  She seemed to like that and pricked up her ears and even looked over towards Glory, at that moment.   As I said, this mare is smart and understands what i'm saying to her.

This morning was definitely a very special time with my beloved Scarlette.   She is now retired from breeding and will live out her life with me and I look forward to many more special times with her.   What a blessing from God she is to me.


You can read the blog entry "Red Devilette's Yearling Story" at:

http://theblindhorsewhisperer.blogspot.com/2011/05/red-devilettes-yearling-story.html

Praise God for the Geese on the Track

It truly is amazing how God works and what His plans are.   Sometimes there is a really good reason for Him to say "No" or "Not now" to a request, prayer, wish, etc.

For those who know me or have read my previous blog posts, you know of the love of horse racing I have had since I was a child, that I have been involved in the sport, off and on, for over 20 years, and that I am currently racing in a partnership the gelding, Marq Your Bible aka "Marcus", who I bred and raised and am now the Managing Partner of his racing partnership that allows us to race him, to help me fulfill a dream.   You know this road has not been easy, it has been very tough, but I have stayed the course, because I truly believe with all my heart that this path is the one God wants me on.

Marcus had a very tough year last year, his first year racing, and his best finish in a race, came in his first start, which was a 6th place finish.

It just seemed like we had bad luck and some other things went on that I won't go into, as they don't really have to do with the reason for my writing this.

We made a trainer change in February of 2013, moving Marcus to Karen Dennehy Godsey at Eagle Point Farm.   She worked with Marcus to build his confidence, get him back into condition, and to evaluate his potential.    It did not take long before I was being told, "I can win with this horse!" by Karen.   She said that he had some talent, but it was still unclear how much.

As the spring progressed, he got stronger and stronger and we were pointing him towards a return to the races at Colonial Downs.   Everyone involved with him was getting excited and hopeful that we were now on the right path with Marcus and that the bad luck was behind us.

He was entered to race that first Sunday afternoon at Colonial Downs.   He looked great, he was ready to run!   Karen thought we had a really good chance in the race.

As the horses raced down the backstretch he started to pass horses on the outside when suddenly we heard the announcer call out that there were geese on the track and Karen said that she thought he'd run through them.   After the geese, which had slowed him down, of course, he did try to pick up his pace a bit, but then got in a big traffic jam and had to check hard and so lost all that momentum and ended up 8th.

We went inside and sat down at a table and Karen came and found us after she had talked to the jockey.   The jockey said that Marcus, indeed, had ran through the flock of geese, and had killed at least 2 of them, maybe more.   He said it was one of the scariest moments he'd experienced.

Karen commented, "If this horse has any luck at all, it's bad luck."

So, we regroup and enter him to race again on June 21st, which happened to be my brother's Birthday and my Dad and his wife, would be in town, so we all agreed to meet at the track.   My Dad, his wife, my brother, his wife, my Mom, my husband, our 2 little girls, and I were all there to cheer on Marcus, who now had another jockey, an up and coming apprentice named Chelsey Keiser.  

Several horses were scratched and as post time approached, we watched the odds in shock, as Marcus was bet down to the 8-5 favorite.   A horse that had never finished better than 6th, was the favorite?   Granted, his new jockey and his trainer were having a great meet at Colonial, but it was still surprising to all of us.

Chelsey was told to just get Marcus in a good position for the first turn, let him relax in the back of the pack, where he could settle, since he always breaks slow, and let him slowly start to pick through the field and pass horses.    Chelsey rode him perfectly, following these instructions to a T.   As they came out of the final turn onto the homestretch, she had him sitting in 5th, when suddenly the horse infront of them tripped and lost it's rider.   That jockey fell off right infront of Marcus, so Chelsey had to check him hard and turn him to avoid the fallen rider.

People who have seen the video still remark, "How on earth did he not step on that jockey?"   My only answer to give is, "The geese!  God put the geese in that race before this one, because He knew a jockey would fall infront of Marcus and Marcus would need to know how to avoid something in his path, while going at top speed.  God used the geese to save that jockey's life."   It's that plain and simple and I praise God now for those geese.

We all thought it was over, but not Marcus, who after passing the fallen rider, and getting his course straightened, set dead aim on the horses infront of him and he accellorated with an explosive move, split between two horses, and was suddenly in the lead as they raced towards the finish line.   He continued in the lead and eventually won by 3 lengths!

I immediately dropped to my knees, crying and praising God, thanking Him for what He had just allowed Marcus to do.   I had everyone petting me on my back and hugging me

It was an amazing experience, one I will never forget and it was my first win as an owner.   God's timing is so perfect, His plans are amazing, on how He can place obstacles in a path, that are meant to teach, not just us, but a horse, so that a life could be saved.

Marcus continues to do well, he has raced 4 more times since his win, and now has a 2nd, two 3rds, and a 4th, which was in his most recent start on September 23rd at Delaware Park.

Whenever I visit him, he nuzzles me, sniffs me, and is just a total sweetheart.  I was there from the beginning as he was trying to come into this world, upside down, and I had to help him and his mother, so they could both survive that tricky situation.   I will always have this horse in my life and pray he is never claimed from us, because he means so much to me and the lessons God has taught me through this horse, his mother, etc are just amazing to me and I owe it to Marcus to care for him for the rest of his life.    He will continue to race until he says it's time to move on to something else.   I actually pray, that after his racing days, that I can use him as my own pleasure horse around the farm.   It will happen, God willing!

Praise God for those geese and the lessons He teaches us all!