God Says "Pray for Marcus"

I have prayed for most of my life, as I became a Christian and a true believer in Jesus at a very early age.  True, prayer time and it's importance seems to vary at times, but I am trying hard to be a even more prayerful person.

I felt God leading me to horses shortly after I was saved and a few years later, I felt the draw to horse racing.  I knew then I would take part in the sport, at first wanting to be a jockey, but getting too tall and being already super thin, I was still considered too heavy at 118 pounds.  My lack of eyesight wasn't really the issue, so I then learned how to be an exercise rider and then started yearlings that were heading to the track.   This is when I met Red Devilette, who I now own and call Scarlette, back in  September of 1992.   Can it be almost 20 years ago?  Wow, time has flown.

I prayed a lot when working around Scarlette and the other horses at Longwood Form in Maryland and Scarlette and I developed a special relationship, which you can read about in an early post to my blog.  

God has given me gifts and sometimes I just know what to do to help calm a horse down that is upset or scared.  God showed me several things to do with Scarlette, all those years ago.

I have prayed for all my horses, including Marcus, Scarlette's youngest, who is now a 3 year old gelding and in race training.   I pray every night for him to be safe, stay sound, and not suffer any injury similar to his half sister, Glory.   I pray God help him be a nice race horse and race to his potential, showing the talent God has bestowed upon him.

So, before this past Friday's race attempt, I was praying, but it was just not meant to be.  I will never know why Marcus wasn't supposed to race Friday night and why things unfolded the way they did, read my blog post "Colonial Downs Doesn't Like Me" for the details.   As it was happening, I prayed for Marcus to be safe, silently, and I've prayed ever since.   I saw him afterwards at the barn and he had 2 scratches and seemed fine, but I have not received an update, as of yet, from the trainer, so I continue to pray that he is alright and that no news is meaning good news.

This morning at church, I kept feeling God was trying to tell me something.   During Sunday School, where we watched a video and were told and reminded not to worry so much about what others think of us, it is what God thinks of us that is the most important thing.  We strive to want to hear, when we get to Heaven, God say to us, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."   We should not worry so much and stop trying to please everyone.   We also need to stop trying to conform and realize, "I am an original masterpiece, made by God."   Flaws and all, He loves us the way we are.

So, my heart opened further, I was ready to hear the sermon, by our new pastor, and it really hit home.  As I said, I do try to pray, I probably pray more than I realize and think, just don't keep track of how many times a day I do, but I know I can do better and do more.   Then God spoke to me, "Pray for Marcus!"   Yes, I have been, but this time I knew what God meant.

"Dear God, I pray for Marcus.  Not only that you keep him safe and sound and free from injury, but that when he is scared, you will teach those handling him what he needs to calm down.  Have those handling him instinctively do what Marcus needs from them.  Amen."

I prayed longer than that on this, during service, several times in fact.   But that is the main point of my prayer.

So, we came home, I ate lunch and I had a slight headache, so I went to lay down for a little bit.  Instead of allowing myself to drift straight off to sleep, I made the decision to pray, yet again, for Marcus.

So, I started the prayer above, again.

"Dear God, Please help Marcus, keep him safe and sound and free from injury.  Please do not let him be hurt from this past Friday's incident.  Please Lord, teach those around him what needs to be done to help calm him, when he is afraid or nervous.  Lord, like you taught me to circle two fingers on Scarlette's neck, when I rode her, to calm her down.  Lord, like you taught me to gently tap my fingertips on Bunny's forehead to get her attention back on me and not what was making her nervous or afraid.  Lord, what can they do to help Marcus.   Lord, if you could tell me, maybe they could do something like..."

And then a word popped into my head, "Sing!"   It said.

"Lord, was that you?  Do they need to sing to Marcus?"

"Sing!"  I heard it again.

"OK, Lord, I hear.  I will tell them and glorify you.  I will praise You.   Lord, I know you can do miracles, Marcus could be a champion, not in the worldly sense, but for You.   Lord, make Marcus Your champion.   Let people hear the name Marq Your Bible and know.   Let it be a way to open doors to help me tell people about You and what You have done for me and others.  You are in control and I know Marcus will be as goood as You want him to be and You alone will dictate how well he does in the worldly sense.  Yes, Lord, I want him to be a successful racehorse, but You determine that level of success.  Please continue to keep him safe, You know I love him and consider him a gift from You.   Amen."

So, because I feel led by God to do so, I am sharing all this on my blog.   And I will also try to get out to see Marcus before his next race, because I feel God telling me to directly pray over Marcus, lay my hands on him, and pray, and maybe God will lead me to sing to Marcus.

If you are a believer in God and the power of prayer and that God will answer prayer, I ask you to please pray with me that God protect Marcus and teach those handling him, from his trainer, to riders, grooms, etc what needs to be done and when to help Marcus and if it truly is to sing, that they will just start singing and not know why, but those of us who believe, will know exactly why they are singing to Marcus.   But if there is something else they can do, that God will lead them to do so instinctively, as well.

Some might think it silly to pray for a horse, but those who have known the love of a horse or any other animal, will know why I ask this.   Especially, if you have seen God work through animals, like I have  that you will understand and join me in Prayers for Marcus.

Colonial Downs Doesn't Like Me

Should have known it was going to be a bad evening when it took the waitress over an hour to bring me my dinner and those of my 2 children's on the 4th floor of Colonial Downs.   My husband and one of the partners that was with us, got theirs very quickly, but the stupid waitress actually thought she had brought all our meals, even came to the table twice to refill drinks, and obviously couldn't count plantes to people.   Then blamed it on the kitchen staff.   At least we got our meal for free, but still had to pay for drinks.

We went down to the paddock and, of course, a storm was brewing, some lightning in the distance and a little sprinkling, but they were not holding off races, as lightning was far enough away.

Well, Marq Your Bible aka Marcus gets brought up to the paddock to have his lip lifted and I'm not sure exactly what happened, but he reared, his handler went down and off Marcus ran.

The outriders just sat there as if "Oh, there goes a horse.  Hmmm..."   None of them went after Marcus and shouting crowd members got jeers back from the outriders.  They did absolutely nothing until someone got on the radio and said something like, "Hey, you better get to the backstretch and catch that loose horse."

I thought their job was to go after a loose horse as soon as it was running off, what on earth is wrong with these people?   If they had gone after him, things may have turned out a bit different.

So, they finally go get him, and instead of taking him to the receiving barn, on the backstretch, where they catch him, no, they bring him back to the paddock with a broken lead shank!    So, yep, another flash of lightning and he rears and gets away a second time, because the handler had no shank to hold onto.  

Crowd comments, "Wow, that's a fast horse."   Doesn't make me feel much better, even though it is a compliment.

He's caught a second time and, yep, brought back again, to the paddock, where he stayed until after the race.   Friends and partners I was with reassured me he was walking sound and didn't look too sweaty or like anything was wrong.   So, i did breathe a little sigh of relief, but when the race was over and the horse he beat in his last start was 2nd, my heart sank, again.   Man, we could have done really well in this race.

Fast forward to the barn, where I meet up with my trainer, and am told all Marcus has are two small scratches, cooled out in less than 20 minutes, despite all the running he did.  

And then she proceeds to tellme how lucky we truly were, as a vet saw what he did on the backstretch and it could have been really bad.

Apparently, Marcus ran by other people who did nothing, as he ran off the backstretch into the barn area, he crashed through a gate and then through a chain link fence, to get back onto the track, and that is when the outriders caught him.   Vet said no one tried to catch him, just a people standing around dumbly just watching.

I mean, wouldn't you want someone to help if that was your horse?

I remember being on the backstretch in the early 1990's, and people helped each other.   They helped when horses got loose, helped with problem loaders into horse trailers, and so on.   What on earth is going on at Colonial Downs where no one wants to help someone who really needs it?

I'm really disheartened right now.   And just praying the report from the trainer, tomorrow evening is that he is fine.   I know injuries can show up later and I'm praying hard he has nothing but those two little scraches.

So, now, most likely he is on a Paddock List and will have to school at a track on a race day and get cleared before he can enter to run again.

Only thing I can think of is the storm had him spooked.  Three weeks ago when he was being brought over for his first race, a tornado danced around the parking lot and then the infield.   They just barely got him back to the barn area, where he spent the bulk of the storm in the receiving barn, but he isn't stabled there, when he ships in, so it was not "his" barn and other horses were acting up.

As we drove through the barn area tonight, we saw other horses acting up with the approaching storm, so we know it was not just Marcus who was possibly haveing a flash back to the tornado.

But, man, what could have been, with the horse he beat finishing 2nd.   I hope this means something and hope he can prove it in a few weeks.

But I'm really starting to think Colonial Downs doesn't like me, especially when you also consider his half sister broke down there almost exactly 2 years ago (July 17, 2010).

When will things go right?   I hope one day I can look back on this night and laugh or tell it as a tale of what happened on Marcus' road to success.  But for now, all I want to do is go have a nice cry.

Oh, yeah, today was our 10th wedding anniversary, so it put a damper on the celebration, for sure.

Please pray for Marcus and that he is okay after his solo tour around Colonial Downs.

Day 3 of Road Trip: Chincoteague Pony Center and Visiting Baron

We had a busy Wednesday.  We were pretty tired from our late arrival at the hotel on Chincoteague Island, so slept in a little bit.   Luckily, the hotel had a small restaurant across the parking lot where we were able to grab a little breakfast.

After a filling breakfast we got into my Mom's car and headed towards the Chincoteague Pony Center to visit with some of the ponies and meet up with Laura, who now owns Baron (horse pictured in main blog photo with me).   Laura works at the Center and her mother and her had graciously invited us over to their house for a informal cookout after Laura got off work, so I could visit with Baron, who I had not seen in almost 3 years.

At the Chincoteague Pony Center, Laura introduced us to most of the ponies, including several descendents of the famous Misty of Chincoteague.      We met a gorgeous palomino named Sunfire that was a great great grandson of Misty and he found Dextra very interesting, sniffing noses with her through the fence.

Both of my girls got to ride another one of those Misty relatives, a chestnut mare named Sunny.

My oldest went first, as she has had a few riding lessons and I thought it would be a good idea for my youngest to watch her big sister and that might make her want to ride more, as she can be a bit more timid about things, at times.  

After 3 times around the small ring, my oldest got off and my youngest couldn't wait to get her turn.   The two boys working the pony ride helped her get on and while one led the pony the other held onto my daughter's left foot and ankle.  The whole time she was riding she kept a huge smile on her face and I was very happy to see this.

While Laura finished up her morning duties we went into the gift shop and my girls got to pick out a few things.  We got several small model horses, that are kid safe, and several horse books.

After Laura was finished and ready to head home, we got into my Mom's car and followed her the 25 minute drive back into Maryland where she lives.   Her mother met us at the car and was so sweet.  

They took me straight out to see Baron.  Laura went to get him, as he was a little ways away from the fence and when he got to me, he took in a long deep sniff and looked like he was thinking.   He then turne his head to Laura and I smiled as he was telling me he remembered me, but that Laura was now his person.   I was so happy to see him so happy, loved, and spoiled.

My girls played in the yard making friends with the Labradors that lived on the farm, while Laura's mother grilled hot dogs and chicken.

We decided to eat inside and had a lovely late lunch, talking and enjoying the wonderful food.   I am so grateful to Laura and her mother for inviting my Mom, my girls, and I over for lunch and to let me see Baron, what extraordinarily nice people.   You don't run across people like them very often these days.

After we ate, we sat on their porch and talked a little more, before I went to say bye to Baron and then we felt we had taken up enough of Laura and her mother's kind time and headed back to Chincoteague Island.

We decided to go for a little swim in the  hotel pool and enjoyed about an hour out there.   My Mom and I took turns holding each of my daughters, but my youngest wanted to stay with me, the most.  The temperature started to drop so we got out and went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

We found a nice Crab Shack on the island and had a late dinner.  I got snow crab legs, which always take forever to eat, but oh so worth it!   Everyone was patient and let me finish and enjoy my dinner.   Luckily the restaurant had a nice outdoor area where we sat and then after my Mom and girls were done, they could get up and play a little, while I finished.

It was another late night, but it had been a full day of fun with horses and friends!

Day 2 of Road trip: Baltimore Acquarium

On Tuesday morning we woke up around 7:30 and got everything ready to go, before we headed down stairs to the restaurant in the hotel, for breakfast.   My Mom had woke up earlier and had asked if she could take Dextra out for a short walk, for me, so I let her, so I could stay with the girls, especially since Mom was dressed and I wasn't, just yet.  This was the first time my Mom had done this and Dextra was wonderful for my Mom.   I rarely have others take my guide dogs out for me, but sometimes it just makes sense and is sometimes necessary, so it is good for her to learn to relieve herself with someone else holding the leash, than myself.  Dextra can be a bit stubborn about relieving, at times, so I thought this was good practice for her.

After a nice breakfast of pancakes and bacon, we loaded up my Mom's car and headed several blocks away to the Baltimore Acquarium, where we had a 10:30 AM entrance time slotted for us, already.

We found local parking and walked two blocks to the acquarium, Dextra enjoying city work, traffic not bothering her in the least, as we crossed roads with ease.   She seems to come to life in cities and really enjoys the extra challenge.

We got our tickets and headed into the acquarium where we were met with a huge crowd of people.   It was all quite confusing for all of us, at times, but we all remained composed and managed to stay together.   I did hold the hand of my youngest sometimes, but mostly had my oldest daughter's hand, that way if people cut infront of Dextra and she lost track of my Mom, who she was trying to follow, most of the time, my oldest daughter could help me and Dextra relocate my Mom.   Sometimes Dextra and I took the lead, to let her work the crowd and take my oldest daughter to the exhibits, while my Mom followed us with my youngest daughter.  Again, Dextra loved the challenge of working the crowds.

First we went to the dolphins.  We sat watching a short training session and my daughters both totally fell in love with the dolphins, which were also my favorite, as well.   Dextra was very interested in the noises the dolphins made, but remained laying down, like the professional Seeing Eye Dog she is.

We then went down some stairs and watched the dolphins swimming below the water line, sometimes swimming right by the windows.  It was really neat and my girls squealed with excitement.   A little later they did a more formal show and we watched as they introduced all the dolphins and had them do a few of their trained behaviors.   The dolphins really seemed to love working with the trainers.

i was impressed that things had changed since the last time I was there over 12 years ago.  Now they do not seem to do a set show, they do short training sessions and most of the behaviors the dolphins were asked to do had more to do with playing and getting them into positions that they may need to get into for examination by vet or trainer, to check them over for health reasons.  I think the dolphins seemed much happier.   We went back later, at the end of the day, and saw them a third time and saw a third different interaction session, so no more of the same thing over and over again, which I think is great.

After the dolphins, we saw a lot of different things, from rays, sharks, turtles, frogs, a few birds, like the Puffin, which was a major favorite of my oldest daughter, and so much more.  

We spent almost 5 hours in the acquarium, some of it was spent trying to figure things out, as the map was very confusing.   Even staff members admitted to the new map being confusing.  We took elevators a lot, because they had escalators, and though a lot of guide dog users use these with no problems, I  prefer not to, unless I absolutely have to and my Mom agreed we would not risk it.   Different elevators took you different places, which added to the confusion.   Luckily, the staff was always helpful.

Part of the confusion was how they have floors labeled.  They have a basement, a ground floor, which you would think would be the 1st floor, but it is not, the floor above ground floor is called Level 1, which really made things confusing, until we figured this out.   I've never been in a building that had floors labeled like this, it's very odd to me.

We ate in their main restaurant, but were not impressed with the level of the food quality for the price, which was extremely expensive.  If we go again, we'll eat right before we go in and then eat again after we leave, to avoid that issue.

After our third trip to the dolphins we went into gift shops and my Mom got the girls some nice items, including t-shirts, necklaces, stuffed animals, etc.

We left the acquarium around 3 or so and were back in the car, heading to our next destination, by 4 PM.    We were going to drive down to Chincoteague Island, where we'd spend the next two days.

On the trip, down from Baltimore, we had to cross the big bridge near Annapolis, MD, over the Chesapeake Bay.   My Mom has some fear of heights, but she did a great job getting us over the bridge.

A heavy downpour met us on the other side, but luckily didn't last too long.

We stopped at McDonalds for dinner and then headed on our way.

While passing through Deleware, going through a small town, suddenly my youngest, who will be 3 in September, called out, "Dairy Queen!"   My Mom looked around and couldn't see it, but my oldest then spotted it up the road aways and on the opposite side than we were on.   So, of course, we had to stop.   I took Dextra out to stretch her legs and relieve herself, we all got out to do the same and then we went through the drive through and all of us got ice cream.

Mom continued the long drive down to Chincoteague, where we finally arrived at the hotel around 9:30 PM.   Exhausted we all got out of the car, unloaded what was needed and got into the room to settle down for the night.

Another fun filled day passed at the Baltimore Acquarium, new animals seen for the first time, and Dextra getting to strut her stuff in the city.

Day 1 of Road Trip: Mount Vernon Tour

On Monday, July 9, my Mom arrived around 8:30 AM to pick my girls, Dextra my Seeing Eye Dog, and I up for a few days of travelling.   We were going to head up to Mount Vernon to take a tour, later that afternoon.

We got the car loaded up and headed on our way.    It was supposed to take about 3 hours, but ended up taking a little over 4.   We arrived at Mount Vernon a little after 1 PM and headed into the museum and got some lunch.

After we were refreshed from the drive we headed out of the museum and out towards the main house.  We walked the dirt road towards the house, where they had us stop to wait in line.  The person in charge of tour sizes, of course, immediately saw Dextra and the usual question flowed from her mouth, "Is that a service dog?"   With my polite response affirming that Dextra was indeed a Seeing Eye Dog, this woman immediately got on the radio  to inform the interpreters along the tour route that a guide dog was coming.   Is this really necessary?  I mean, she's in harness and if the first person let her through, wouldn't they think the appropriate questions were asked and all was okay?  Do they really have to tell everyone a guide dog is coming?   Just seems funny to me.

Dextra, was, of course, her stellar self, well behaved, following the group as we made our way through the main house.

First we actually went into the servant's house, where guests of George Washington would have their servants stay.   Then we made our way into the main house, first into the huge dining room, with it's huge windows at the end looking out onto the green grass and the Patomac River.   Unfortunately, it was dark in all the rooms, so I couldn't see much detail, with my limited sight, so I just listened to what was described and asked a few questions.

After the large dining hall, we went to the front porch, then to the foryer, which had 4 rooms off of it, two parlors, a smaller dining room for the family, and a small guest bedroom.  Hanging in the foryer was a key to the Bastile prison in France, given to Washington as a gift.

From the foryer, we headed upstairs, where the main hall had 4 more bedrooms off of it.  We could not go up to the 3rd floor, which had 3 more bedrooms.   In one of the 2nd floor bedrooms was an original cradle given for the birth of a grandchild of Martha.

George had a master bedroom added, at one point, and it was at the opposite end of the building from the dining hall, on the 2nd floor.  I could peek in the room and see a bed in white, which they said was the original bed and the one Washington died in.

We then headed down a very narrow and steep private back staircase, which Dextra worked perfectly, being super cautious as we made our way down it.   We then went into Washington's study, where he kept over 900 books.  He had a chair that you could lay in and peddle and as you peddled it moved a fan that would help cool you off.  That was neat, I had not heard of such an invention.  There was also a chair in the room that was the chair Washington sat in when he was President.

We then headed outside and to the kitchen, which was quite the large building.  After that we were on our own, for the most part.   We went back around to the front of the house and sat on the grass looking out at the river and over to Maryland.

From there we headed to look at the rest of the outbuildings.   These included the wash house, bath house, smoke house, carriage houses, barns, etc.

We then walked down the hill to the old crypt and then to the newer crypt, where Washington was moved in 1831 and buried with quite a few family members.

We continued down the hill and my youngest still didn't want to ride in the stroller, luckily it was an unbrella one, so I held her hand, while my Mom carried the stroller and held the hand of my oldest daughter.   I was also carrying a heavy backpack, with drinks, snacks, diapers, etc.  We had to make it down a lot of steps to make it down to the warf, where they luckily had a water fountain.  We all got a drink, including Dextra.

There was a pioneer village left to see, as part of the outside touring areas, but we decided it was hot and getting late, so we would head back to the museum.   Luckily, they had a shuttle bus to take you back up the hill, so we got on one.

Once inside the museum, again, we walked around a little bit, before finding the hands on childrens room, which both my girls totally loved.  There was a huge dollhouse of Mount Vernon that both spent a long time playing with, especially my oldest.  My youngest played tea party with the tea set, for a little bit and also enjoyed pushing the buttons on the interactive wall, where animal noises would come out when she pushed buttons on each animal. 

Dextra took that opportunity to take a nap, while the girls played and my Mom went to look in the gift shop.

Mom returned and wanted the girls to look at some things in the gift shop to decide what they wanted, so we headed over there.   The girls picked out a t-shirt that had a horse infront of Mount Vernon on it, each getting the same one.   The shirts came with a cute stuffed horse.  They also got a few childrens books and a coloring book.

My oldest learned about George Washington this past year in school and says that he is one of her heroes.  What a smart 6 year old she is!

As we were paying for items, suddenly a dog from behind the counter started to go nuts.  Sounded like a small dog and it sounded quite mean as it spotted Dextra.   So, I quickly got out of the gift shop, to avoid any confrontation between the dogs.   Dextra has already been attacked once, while in harness and I was not looking for a repeat.   Not sure what this dog was doing in the store, if it is a service dog, as well or one in training, but it was a small dog of some kind and with it's nasty sounding attitude towards other dogs, if it is a service dog or one in training, it doesn't sound like it really should be doing that job.

After we were done in the gift shop we headed towards the exit and somehow that same dog got near us, yet again.   We quickly made our way out of the building and away from the growling and barking dog, Dextra doing her job beautifully, ignoring the hurling insults the other dog must have been throwing at her.

We got back to the car and prepared for the next leg of our journey, heading towards Baltimore, where we had a hotel reservation for that night, so we could get an early start to the Baltimore Acquarium the next day.

We arrived in Baltimore around 7:30 and got to the room to freshen up a little, before heading downstairs to eat.  Luckily, the hotel had a restaurant that we could get dinner in, so we didn't have to walk or drive anywhere.

We finally got to bed a little after 10, much later than my girl's usual bedtime, but it was a vacation and they had experienced a full and fun day.

Marcus is now a "True" Racehorse!

On July 7, 2012 Marq Your Bible aka "Marcus" marked a major milestone in his life, by competing in his first race.  He was in the 10th race at Colonial Downs, a 5 furlong race on the turf for Maiden's, with a Claiming price of $25,000.

It was super hot, again, but this time no sign of any storms, thank goodness.  Reports are that last week there really was a tornado at Colonial Downs that was spotted crossing the far parking lot, jumped the grandstand, where a good sized crowd was hiding, and touched down in the infield, before jumping the barn area.   Colonial Downs, all the people, and all the horses, were very lucky last week, for sure.

With Marcus race being the 10th, it meant a very late night, as the post time was 10:54 PM, but it also meant cooler temperatures for his race, though the humidity was still very high.

Right before the 7th race, I was surprised by a lady I had only previously known via emails and Facebook.  Mary contacted me a few years ago after acquiring Perfect Pet aka "Hope", a filly a bred and then sold, who happens to be Marcus' full sister.

Hope raced 20 times, won once, and had 10 seconds, including a second in a stakes race, with earnings of around $60,000.  Mary now rides Hope all over trails, up and down mountains, through rivers, takes her swimming, and more.   She says she loves it when people find out Hope is a pure Thoroughbred who raced successfully, because she is so calm.

Mary wanted to help cheer Marcus on in his first race and drove almost 2 hours to get there.

Mary and I sat and talked and I really enjoyed her company.  She helped the time pass so much more quickly for me, as the waiting was really hard.

I had earlier tried to pass the time by picking a few horses in earlier races and I did pick one winner, which was nice, Queen of the Disco.

After the 9th race we all headed over to the Paddock to await Marcus arrival.   He walked in calmly and nothing seemed to bother him one bit.    Even when a nearby horse flipped out and started kicking the walls of the saddling stall he was in, creating a lot of noise, Marcus did not seem bothered one bit.

Ryan Fogelsonger was Marcus jockey and came out and got a leg up with no problems.   A few more laps around the Paddock and out to the track he went where he was led by a beautiful Paint horse.

Again, Marcus was as calm as he could be, trying to look at the crowd, despite his blinkers.   he remained well behaved during the warm-up and then it was time to go in the gate.  The horse led into the gate right before Marcus acted up and flipped over, prompting a delay to the start of the race, as the other horses had to be backed out of the gate and the fallen horse gotten up.   That horse was scratched at the gate, to make sure he was okay, they did not want to race him.   So, they had to wait to get that horse away from the others and then the field started the loading process all over again.

This time all went well and Marcus had a slight awkward start, but the horse next to him had broke sideways which may have caused this, as the report does say the horse interfered with the horse on the other side of it, as well.

Our trainer, Diana McClure had told us before the race that Marcus had recently been changing his attitude and that before they thought he was going to be a sprinter, like his full sister, but in the last few weeks, he had been showing signs of rating and then finishing stronger the longer his gallops and breezes had been getting, so she told us that the race may actually be too short for him, but only the race would tell us, so we watched in anticipation.

He was 6th at the top of the stretch, but as they neared the wire, he did seem to be picking up speed and he did close the gap between him and the 5th place horse, by several lengths, but still ended up 6th, but that last kick showed us he did  have something, but he needed a longer race.

After they crossed the finish line, Marcus was just getting going, into top speed, and quickly passed the slowing horses, passing all of them quickly.  It did take Ryan some time to slow Marcus down and his report back to Diana echoed what Diana had started to suspect the last few weeks, Marcus needs a longer race.

So, now we will look for a race at about a mile to try him at next time.

We'll see how he comes out of this race and that will depend on how quickly he is put back in a race. 

he cooled out very quickly and seemed fine after the race, so if all is well, there is a chance he could run again next weekend, but that will be up to Diana to decide.  We will be happy whatever she decides, whether it is next week or we wait two weeks, we'll let Marcus tell Diana when the next race will be.

We are very happy with his performance, last night, he did beat 2 horses, including the overwhelming favorite.   Diana had him truly fit, which he showed several times and finally with the quick cooling out.

So, with his first race under him, Marcus is now officially a true racehorse!

No Race for Marcus: Tornado Instead!

We were at Colonial Downs last night for Marcus first race, he was in race 5.  As they were saddling the horses for the 4th race, I noticed how dark the sky looked to the west and I started to hear thunder.  I immediately started to worry, because I knew that they would delay races and even possibly cancel them, due to storms, but I hoped maybe they could get one more race in, before it hit, depending on how fast the storm was moving.

After the 4th race was run, they started to bring the horses over from the barn, the long walk around the clubhouse turn, but the sky was getting darker and darker and the thunder louder and louder and then my husband noticed that about half the people bringing horses over had turned around and were heading back to the barns.   Just then a track employee came over to us and told us we needed to go inside, because there was a tornado warning and a severe storm on it's way.

My husband pushed our 2 daughters in the stroller, we have a sit and stand, which provides a seat for an older child, along with the spot for the younger.  It made things so much easier.  I told Dextra, my Seeing Eye Dog to follow him and she kept me super close as we made our way back into the grandstand.

At first we stood about 40 to 50 feet from the doors.  My husband noticed that some of the horses were actually in the paddock, so he ran out quickly to see if our Marcus was one of them.   While he was out there, Dave Rodmon, the track announcer, made an announcement that a tornado had been spotted in the area and they were asking everyone to seek shelter on the first floor and well away from windows and doors.

My husband quickly returned, reported that Marcus was not one of the horses in the paddock, thank goodness, and that some people were pointing to something in the sky, so he ran back to us.   We moved our location to near the bathrooms, which put us well away from any windows or doors.   Despite this, we could easily hear the wind, rain, and thunder.   This had to be one of the most intense storms I have ever been in.

I pulled out my cell phone, as my Mom doesn't live too far from Colonial Downs, about a half hour, and she had the news on and indeed, a tornado had been spotted near us.

I called the other partners that own different percentages in Marcus to let them know what was going on.   At this time, I did not know if races would be cancelled or not, but told them it was a high possibility.

The storm raged on and on and the power went out at the track.  Emergency power kicked on and someone started to make announcements with a bull horn, but never came close enough to us for us to hear him.  My husband called out this fact, as loudly as he could, but did not get the guy's attention.

I was on the phone off and on with my Mom and a good friend of mine, who is one of the partners on Marcus. 

The announcement was finally made that the races were cancelled due to the severity of the storm.  So we waited a little longer and when there was a break in the storm, people started to head out to their cars and we did, as well.

I kept trying to reach our trainer, Diana McClure, but her cell wasn't working, so I figured a cell tower must have been damaged or something.

As we raced to our car, Dextra picked up a wonderful trot and seemed to sense the urgency of the situation.   As we crossed a road a car turned down it and started speeding towards us, but luckily slowed at the last second, but Dextra was on her toes and was watching it closely, making a curved line across the street to avoid it.   Then as we were on a long straight away of sidewalk, we all started to walk faster, again and then my husband had to stop quickly, due to someone infront of him and Dextra came to an immediate stop, keeping me from bumping into him.   There were no lights in the parking area, just some headlights and the amazing display of lightening to the south.

We got everyone and everything into the car and decided to go to the barn area to check on Diana and Marcus.  It wsa almost 9:45, an hour past when Marcus race was supposed to have run.   We arrived at the barn area, just in time to see them load Marcus onto the trailer, Gordon got out and I stayed in the car with the kids, and he was back in 2 minutes, so we all could get on the road.

We headed towards my Mom's house, which was on our way home, anyway.  Another bad storm was hitting her area, but by the time we got there, it had passed.   She had power and we went in for a few minutes for a pitstop and a nice cold soda.  Thanks Mom!

As we were there, they had on their NOAH weather radio and I listened as they mentioned a severe storm warning about to go over our farm.  It was about 10:30 and the storm was to hit our area at 10:35.

So, we feared what we might find when we got home, as we had left the horses out, due to extreme heat and the weather forcast had not called for all these storms.   When I had last checked, it was calling for only a 30% chance of isolated storms.   Well, we hit the jackpot of storms.

We drove the remaining hour home and pulled into the driveway around 11:45.   Took us a little longer, due to occasional heavy rain, stem on roads, and lots and lots of lightening.

As we unloaded the car, I told my husband it sounded like the thunder was getting closer.  So, while I got the kids into bed, he went to the computer to check on the weather to see if he should bring the horses into the barn.

Computer was not cooperating, so when I came into the den, I said I'd turn the TV on.  He doubted they'd be talking about the weather at midnight, but he was wrong, it was such a severe situation that they were talking about it non-stop.   So, he rushed out and brought our horses into the barn and checked them, all appeared fine.  Thank goodness.

That storm passed fairly quickly, but we got another one about 4:30 and another severe one around 7 AM.

My husband went out around 8:30 to let the horses out and survey any damage.   We do have a few trees down, but luckily not in pastures or on fences, just in our woods and beside the fence, so we got lucky.

Had an email from Diana this morning and they made it home safely.  Marcus is fine, along with the other horse that raced in the 4th race, that she had, who finished 4th.    She is going to spend part of her day taking water to neighbors with horses, who are without power.  She is a great woman!

So, Marcus's first race will have to wait for another day.