My First Thoroughbred

In the late winter of 1997, I was still caring for my first horse, Bunny, who had suffered an injury the previous September.   No one knew if she would be sound enough to ride, physically or mentally, so I started thinking about a second horse, despite being on a limited income and in college.   I wasn't really serious about looking, but I just kind of skimmed through some horse sale sites and one day I spotted this pretty chestnut Thoroughbred mare, named Mayo Lane.   SHe was built more like a Quarter Horse than a Thoroughbred, but the 3 pictures of her, on the for sale page just caught me and I just had to see her.   I got a video of her and a few others that the lady was helping to sell and liked her even more, when I saw the video.  

Most people I showed the pictures and video of her to did not think she was that attractive.   And even through the years, a lot of people have not thought of Mayo as beautiful, but she has her own beauty.  She has a big head, for her size, but Mayo does everything big, except her height of 15.2.  She weighs about 1100 lbs, has a lot of muscle and bone, has a big stride, a huge jump, and is just one of the most powerful horses I have ever ridden.   According to my husband, she just grows on you.

Mayo was 5 years old, had been trained to be a racehorse, but had never raced, due to a minor injury at 2 years of age.  Her owner had decided not to risk racing her, after that injury, rather being safe than sorry, I was told.  

Mayo Lane was born January 15, 1992, she was sired by Sorta Jolly, a son of Northern Baby, and out of the mare Carriage Lane, a daughter of Darby Creek Road.   Mayo is inbred 4 x 4 to Round Table, something you rarely ever see.   This means she has him twice in her geneology, both times in the 4th generation.  Northern Baby was a well known sire of steeplechasers and Darby Creek Road got a bit over shadowed by two great racehorses, Affirmed and Alydar, but he was a great racehorse in his own right.

I was in college at Middle Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Mayo was located just outside of Louisville, Kentucky, so during that spring semester's spring break, when most college students head to the beach, my friend Mary and I headed to Kentucky.   We planned to see Mayo first, then go do some touristy things, like go to Churchill Downs and go to Lexington to see a few farms.

Mary and I arrived at the farm where Mayo was around lunch time and both of us stood and watched her being ridden, then we each took our turn putting her through her paces.   She was obviously green, but nothing I couldn't handle, we believed, so I decided to buy her.

Mayo arrived at the boarding stable on Easter Sunday, after I had attended Mass with Mary.   Mary worked at the stable I was boarding at and helped me to take care of Bunny and was going to help me with Mayo, as well.   I had already made plans to live there that coming summer, with Mary, so I could be with my horses, while finishing my degree in Animal Science.

Things went well with Mayo, for awhile, she was definitely green, but she was learning.    One day I went for a trail ride around the big back pasture, with the owner's son.  He was riding his pony, who Mayo loved.   Unfortunately, he had not been taught proper riding etiquette.   While we were walking quietly around the pasture, suddenly he gunned his pony into a full run, with no warning.   Me being on Mayo, green, and who had been in race training, well, she decided to take off after her pony friend, but as she did, she decided to get rid of me, as well.

Mayo grabbed the bit in her teeth, giving me absolutely no control, as she took off.  With each and every stride, not only did she get faster, but she let out a huge buck.   Some bucks were definitely bigger than others, and one monsterous buck made me lose both my stirrups.   I was riding in my english saddle, but it was fairly deep seated, so I hoped I could hold on.   Then she put her head between her front legs, and I remember praying "God, please do not let me fall off infront of her!"   I held on as long as I could, then another monsterous buck and I felt one of the stirrups hit me in the face, right in the mouth, while I was still astride, it was that huge.  I have never heard of anyone else telling me about being hit in the face with a stirrup, while still on the horse.   I only remember a few bucks after that and the next thing I remember is rolling on the ground and watching Mayo run off without me.   Yes, I was wearing a helmet, as I always do, thank goodness.

I laid there for a second trying to gather what had just happened and how I might be hurt, when the kid comes riding up to me, as Mayo had passed his pony, of course, on her way back to the barn.   He asked me if I was okay, right as I remembered that my face had been hit with a stirrup.  I put my hand to my face and looked at it, as I pulled it away and it was covered in blood, I just showed him my hand and said, "Does this look like I'm okay?"    He raced his pony back to the barn.

His father, who was known for the same kind of stunt that his son had just pulle don me, racing horses away from other riders, with no warning, was back at the barn, with his older son.   Mayo  made it back to the barn and his son grabbed her, opened the gate and his father drove the truck out to look for me, his younger son meeting him and telling him where I was.

At this point, I had gotten up and was working my way back to the barn, but I couldn't walk in a straight line, I was listing to the left, but I couldn't figure out why, I was so in a daze that I felt no pain.

I got in the truck and he took me back up to his house and started to help clean up my face to see how bad it was.   My upper lip was cut and I had two loose teeth.   We decided I needed stitches, so waited for his kids to untack Mayo and the pony, and I called my Mom to let her know what had happened and that I'd keep her posted.   As I was on the phone with her, the pain started to hit.  I guess the adrenalin was wearing off and I was becoming aware of the fact that my right foot hurt, and it hurt a lot.

I ended up with 7 stitches in my upper lip, the two loose teeth, and a fractured bone in my right foot, so I was unable to ride for about a month or so.

Mayo ended up with some injuries, too.  Apparently, after passing by the kid on his pony, instead of going through the open gait that goes from the back field into the barn paddock, she decided to jump the 6 foot high fence.   Unfortunately, the top strand was barbwire.   Sense no one saw her do it, we only have the damage to her and to the fence to go by what happened.  The top strand of barbwire was broken, but no other part of the fence, Mayo had cleared, at least, 5 feet!  Her chest and front legs had scratches all over them, she had one deep cut on her chest and it developed a hematoma.   The vet came out to see her, and Mary took care of Mayo, while I couldn't get to the barn, as I was on crutches, and even then it was hard to get around due to pain.  The hematoma swelled up as big as a football, I'm told, though I never saw it at that size.   By the time I could get to the barn, it was down to about a softball size, due to Mary's excellent care.   Mayo still has a robin's egg sized bump on her chest, from that incident.

I worked with Mayo on the ground and then, when I was able, I got back on her.  I kept us in smaller areas, though, as whenever I did try to take her into larger places, she would get very strong.

After I graduated college I moved to Lexington, Kentucky, taking Mayo and Bunny with me, of course.  I found a little cottage to rent on a private horse farm, where I was able to board my two girls.   I loved it, the pasture was on 3 sides of the cottage and I could lay in bed and hear the horses running around my little house.   I was in heaven.

I got a job working on a small Thoroughbred farm, as the farm secretary, but it didn't last long, about 6 or 7 weeks, because I was let go, due to my eyesight, a problem the manager was well aware of, when she hired me.   Plus, one of her dogs had started to attack my Seeing Eye Dog, Zach, and somehow I was at fault for this, and it was just another reason for me to be let go from the job.

I tried to apply for a few more jobs, went on an interview at a company that I would have loved to work at, that deals with Thoroughbred research, but when the boss walked off the elevator and saw me sitting there with my beautiful male black Lab, Zach, my interview lasted maybe 10 minutes, if that.   All the questions circled around my vision and how he didn't think I could be a receptionist, which was the job I was being interviewed for.   I explained that I'd done that kind of work, before, was very good with computers, learned quickly, but none of this mattered, he just saw my blindness.   I had been told on the phone, that I was the first he'd interview, because I had the best resume and cover letter, but being blind changed all of that.   It was very discouraging and left me a bit depressed, to have been let go from one job due to my vision, and then to be turned down by another job, that would have been a great fit for me, also due to my vision.  

A friend of mine had tried to see if he could find me a job on another farm as a secretary, but by this point, I had gotten very sick, Mayo had developed an upper respiratory infection, and then my family started pressuring me to return home to Virginia.   Then an older relative of mine, who had a cattle farm, became ill and I was the only one in the family who knew anything about cows, besides him, so I was asked to come home to help him, being told I could bring my horses to his farm, as well, so right after Thanksgiving, after only living in Kentucky for 3 months, I had to leave.  It was very hard for me to do.  I don't think anyone knows how hard it was for me to leave a dream like that.

So, my two horses, Bunny and Mayo, my Seeing Eye Dog Zach, my new Jack Russell Terrier puppy, Sweetie, and I all headed to Virginia and the next chapter in our lives.