Thoroughbreds...

From Jim: We've got a bunch of Thoroughbreds. They're off the track, or from eventing or dressage. Most are bays with longs legs and necks and the small beautiful heads that are a part of their breed. Everyone on them is over 16 hands and most are over 17. To a horse, they are sweet and gentle and love people. Don't get me wrong, they can be a handful if you don't respect their sensitivity and capacity for great emotion. I didn't know much about T-breds until we started the sanctuary. We'd saved a few orphan T-bred colts a long time ago that came from a large breeding ranch. They were an introduction to a great breed that I didn't pay much attention to. Back in the day, my appreciation for horses was pretty limited. They were trained up and ridden. They were often misunderstood by me and I was pretty ignorant about their true nature. That was over 40 years ago and things are sure different now. Let me take a minute to tell you about Chance. He's four now, coming five soon. He was two when he came here. In his fourth race, he fractured his left knee. He was in a slaughter pen when he was rescued. He was one of the sweetest colts I've ever met and, to this day, has one of the best dispositions I've seen. And I don't mean for a Thoroughbred, I mean for a horse of any breed. He moved from track training to pleasure riding in about 2 weeks once his knee healed up. Our vet has declared him sound for regular work, but has cautioned about jumping or eventing as there's a risk of arthritis developing. Chance, our stable name, not his track name, is a big love. He insists on pets and likes to rest his head on your shoulder when you're with him. He comes when called and catches you. You never have to worry about trying to catch him up. When we brought him home, he was underweight. Turned out that not only had he been starved down at the slaughter pen, he had really sharp little teeth and needed a float as a two year old. Once that was taken care of, he's been an easy keeper. His hooves need some extra care as the walls are thin and the quarters can break out. That's not real unusual and doesn't affect his soundness. He sheds off to a shiny dark bay, two socks on his hind legs. A very striking boy! I'll have to take the time to share about some of our other T-breds. Everyone of them is pretty special. I wish to racing industry would let the colts grow up before they race them. I wish they would take care of these great animals when their track days are done. I wish it was about horses not gambling. Secretariat was a nice movie. They didn't spend much time telling about the fate of the horses that didn't win. Wouldn't have been so uplifting and heartwarming. The average race horse doesn't have a fairytale life. I'm going to spend some time with Chance when I feed later this morning. Maybe you can find some time to love on your horse.