Visiting Marcus

On July 3, 2011 I got to go visit Marcus (Marq Your Bible), the racehorse that I own in partnership with family and friends.   Marcus is a 2 year old gelding sired by Marquetry and is out of my mare, Red Devilette (by Oh Say) aka "Scarlette".

I helped bring Marcus into this world, as he was malpositioned during delivery, so I was the first human that he ever smelled, touched, and saw.   He has always been very sweet and gentle, to handle.   Despite being in race training, he appears to be keeping his wonderful disposition.

Shortly after we arrived at Diana McClure's farm near Berryville, VA, I was taken to see Marcus, who was in his stall.   He immediately put his nose to my face, greeting me.   He sniffed me all over and was loving the attention.   My 5 year old daughter, also gave him kisses, hugs, and pets, just like she did when he was growing up on our farm.

I went into Marcus's stall and ran my hands all over him, feeling how much his muscle tone had improved since he was moved to Diana's farm in the middle of May.   He has grown over an inch, in height, his muscle tone has improved greatly, his bone has appeared to gotten stronger looking, and he's gotten wider in his chest.  He is just looking better and better.

I offered to groom him for Diana, so I could spend a few more minutes with him and she graciously let me.   I truly enjoyed getting to brush him and spend that time with him.

Diana then saddled him up and we walked out to the training track, where we could watch him train and my husband, Gordon, could get some pictures.

He usually goes out with a chestnut filly, but this time he went out with a grey gelding, because the filly was a bit under the weather that morning, luckily, she is doing totally fine, now.

Marcus and the grey gelding were brought out onto the training track, were ridden into the starting gate and he had to stand there quietly for a few minutes, before they walked out and headed down the chute, picking up a trot.   After about 1/4 mile or so, they picked up a gallop and they went twice around the 5/8th's mile training track.

He stayed with the grey gelding, who is a very experienced retired racehorse, and when the grey picked up the pace, Marcus took him on.

When Diana came back, she said th ey were very impressed with how he behaved with the grey, keeping up with him, as the pace increased and he showed his conditioning by hardly breathing hard at all, despite the heat and humidity.

Diana rode him back to the barn, untacked him, and then Marcus got a nice bath.

We took more pictures of him and then he was taken back to his stall.

Diana has a fairly famous lead pony named Brownie, who led Big Brown to the gate for the Preakness.   Brownie is fairly well known in the Mid-Atlantic.   He's a big Quarter Horse, I think about 16 hands or so.

Diana tacked him up and my 5 year old daughter got to get on him, for a nice ride around the barnyard.   Diana then had her husband stop Brownie and they showed my daughter how to get into a jockey position.   She has great form!

We then put my 22 month old daughter up on Brownie, infront of her sister, and taught my older daughter how to hold onto her baby sister properly.    Diana's husband continued to lead Brownie and Diana walked right beside them, as they went for a lap around the barnyard.   I then tried to get my youngest daughter off, but she folded her arms, refusing to get off and said, "No!"   So, they went for another lap around the barnyard and Brownie was led back to his stall, where we got my daughters off, with a lot less protest.

Both girls thanked Brownie for letting them ride him.  My oldest even said how much she was going to miss Brownie, she really loves horses.

It was a great visit to Diana's farm and I can't thank her enough, for taking time from her busing schedule to give two little girls a major thrill.

Marcus got his knees x-rayed on Tuesday and his knees still need a bit more time, so he will just continue to do long gallops, probably increase the distance he gallops, but no speed will be added until the vet says so.   We'll x-ray again in early August and we hope his knees will be closed, so he can start speed work.   We think he'll have enough conditioning, by then, that it will only take a few weeks or so to get himr eady for a sprint race. 

His full sister, Perfect Pet, was a sprinter, with a lot of speed, an some other siblings have had speed, while others can carry their speed over a distance, so we'll try at sprints and see how he does, but be willing to move him to distance races, if he shows he can do that, as well, or would prefer that.

We are so excited about Marcus and his potential!   We are still willing to sell a few shares in him, if anyone is interested.   Or you can just become a fan of him on Facebook, by searching by his registered name "Marq Your Bible".   I have put up lots of pictures from our visit, so please check them out  on his fan page.