That first day, I met the rest of the colts, some I rode, some I just helped saddle for them to get used to the tack, and some I just spent a few minutes with in their stalls.
Kit's Contrivance was one of only two chestnuts amongst the yearling colts. He was a big boy, not really in height, but in build, looking more like a young Quarter Horse, instead of a young Thoroughbred. He did have a stubborn streak, but I knew he'd be okay, as a racehorse, maybe not as good as the rest, but I thought he had a chance.
Kit's stubbornness came out in that he'd lean up against the outer wall of the barn and try to rub my leg off of his side. Oh, it hurt like crazy, in fact, one day he did it so hard that it rubbed a hole through my jeans, and scraped my knee. Finally, I was able to get him to stop doing this to me and he became quite a funny horse, that I enjoyed riding.
Why do I say that Kit was funny, well, we had a radio playing while I rode around the barn, to help the time go by faster, so I wouldn't get so bored going one lap after another for anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, per horse. Well, Kit had a favorite song and for some odd reason, no matter when I rode him, that song kept getting played and when it would come on, suddenly Kit would perk up and start trotting to the beat of that song, as soon as the song was over, he'd slow right back down and kind of drag around the barn. His favorite song was "Bubba Shot the Juke Box"!
Kit's Contrivance was by Double Zeus out of the mare Contrivance, a daughter of Barrera and one of the farm's best mares, Turn Capp. Kit raced 42 times, had 4 wins, 2 seconds, and 11 thirds, earning $38,743. I used to joke that if someone had played his favorite song, while he raced, that maybe he would have done better.
Kit's best friend was a dark bay named Call Devise, who I tagged as the zig zag shuffle horse, because when I was first training him, he'd never go in an exact straight line, kind of zig zagging his way down the long sides of the barn riding ring, and as he went, he wouldn't pick up his feet, he'd shuffle them as he went, kicking up a lot of sand all over the place, and it made him more prone to stumble. He was pretty quiet, so when the other girl came to work on the farm, he was given to her, for her to ride, and she then called him Gnarly, though the men didn't like us coming up with nicknames that were that different from their registered names, because they wanted to know who we were talking about, so that is why you don't hear me calling any of these by any nicknames, except for shortened versions of their registered names. I thought Call Devise was an okay horse, but I was never super impressed with him, for some reason.
Call Devise was another offspring of the farm's lone stallion, Acallade and out of Ice Devise, a daughter of Icecapade and out of the mare Red Lamp, the other prolific mare of the farm, with Turn Capp. Call Devise did do a bit better than I suspected, he raced 26 times, had 6 wins, 2 seconds, and 6 thirds, with earnings of $49,005.
On the backside of the barn were kept 4 more colts, all a bit further behind in their training, for a variety of reasons. The one I was drawn to the most, on that side, was Sir Corbiere, who they did allow me to call Corby, for short, since his name was fairly long. He was a flashy boy, but he was also not the nicest of characters, either, but despite his slightly studdish disposition, that could make going into his stall, alone, a bit dangerous, I still felt that sense of there being something a bit more special about him, than most of the rest.
When going into Corby's stall, on more than one occasion, just to feed him, as we had no outside access to their feed pans, he would wheel around and try to kick me. He hated anyone coming into his space, even if it meant food was being served. Luckily, training came a bit easier with him, than I was expecting, and he wasn't too bad to start under saddle and get going. He was late to start training, because of concerns on how his hind legs were growing so fast and his front end was just not catching up, balancing him out, like most young horses. It was like his hind end just kept growing and growing and his front end just grew really slowly. Eventually, about a month or two before I left the farm, he was more balanced looking, so training could begin.
Sir Corbiere was also by Acallade and out of His Consort, by King Emperor. This made him closely related to Gray Strike, who was also by Acallade and who's dam was a daughter of His Consort, so they were 3/4 siblings. Most of these horses had relatives amongst them, through either being by the same stallion or from the same female family. Sir Corbiere did prove me correct, at the track, he raced 49 times, had 10 wins, 9 seconds, and 7 thirds, with earnings of $100,059.
Next to him was a huge blood bay named Gusandcharlie, named for the owner's two grandsons, again, I was allowed to shorten his name to Gus. Gus was very well bred, but he just didn't give the appearance of a race horse, the men saying he looked more like a cart horse. I wouldn't go that far, as I rarely see a horse that I would call ugly, but I did know, pretty much right away, that Gus was not destined to be a racehorse, he just didn't seem to have that personality, at all.
Gus was a bit stubborn, sluggish in his movement, when compared to the others, I guess you could say he had more of a lazy streak than the rest. But he was friendly and easy to get along with, so I did like working with him.
Gusandcharlie was by the stallion Apalachee and out of the mare Outspoken, by Turn to Reason. Outspoken had already produced a nice stakes winner and Gus's full brother won his first race easily, before he got hurt. Gus definitely proved me right and the others, as well, as he only raced once and was unplaced, earning only $330.
On the other side of Gus, was Roys Call, named for the man who mostly helped us in the barn. Roys Call had some leg issues, if I remember correctly, I'd get him started and then have to stop. He gave me the sense that he'd be an okay race horse, but nothing special. Because of not dealing with him very much, I do not have many memories of him, as he just didn't stand out to me.
Roys Call was another son of Acallade and out of the mare Capp Ice, who was by Icecapade and out of Turn Capp. He, also, proved me right as he raced only 10 times, he did manage one win, 2 seconds, and one third, earning $17,735.
The last colt that I met was Jitters Call, named for the other gentleman that worked on the farm. I liked Jitters Call, despite his spooky disposition. I guess I have a knack at helping calm these types down or something, but like Red Devilette and Say Capp, I think he was misunderstood, to some extent. He was another dark bay, but had a big star on his face, I think he had one white pastern, if I remember correctly.
Like Roys Call, I'd get Jitters Call started and then have to stop due to some leg issues, but I did get further with him than I did with Roys Call. I think his leg issue was just a freak injury in the field and had nothing to do with his soundness however.
I remember a bird scaring him one time and I thought I was on a rodeo bronc. I amazingly stayed on for a bit, but as he spun me in circles, continueing to buck harder and harder, I finally flew off, and as I was coming off, he put his head up in the air, from it's down position, and his neck or head collided with my knee, so it spun me into the air and I ended up doing a swan dive into the dirt, hurting my ribs a bit and my knee. Luckily, I think I only came off of him the once or maybe twice, usually able to stay on when he spooked.
Jitters Call could be hard to catch, running around the barn, as we would bring them in from the pastures, but if the men stood back, and even the other girl, for that matter, I could usually calmly approach him and get ahold of his halter.
I figured that if he could ever get over this nervousness or spookiness, that he could do alright at the track and I was right, he ended up being quite a sound individual. He raced 71 times, had 4 wins, 7 seconds, and 10 thirds, with earnings of $51,376.
I would love to find out what happened to each and every one of the horses that I worked with at Longwood Farm, I only know about a few of them. If anyone reading this knows of any of their where abouts or what happened to them, even if it is a small tidbit of info, I'd love to hear about it.
I know that Kit's Contrivance was rescued out of a slaughter auction and has an awesome home. I know that Miss Slewpy died, and i think I heard that Call Devise also has died. And of course, I now own Red Devilette and I plan to tell that story soon, as I have had several requests, already, to tell it. But there are 7 more of the yearlings that I trained that I have no idea what happened to them once their racing careers were over and I hope I can find out something.
I also worked with some of the weanlings, the foals born in 1992, at Longwood Farm, so any info on them would also be greatly appreciated. I did, also, work with the mares, from time to time, but that was mostly Jitters job, I know most have died by now, though, but anyone who has a foal of any of the mares of Longwood Farn is also welcome to contact me.
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