Sunday afternoon

The Redskins just got beat by the Detroit Lions, ending that team's 19 game losing streak. As sorry as I am for my teams loss I am happy for Detroit. They must be so happy to finally win and end an dubious honor. It reminds me of my trainer's clients who celebrate when any of us win- we are just happy to have one of us in the winner's circle. The other teams football players must be happy for their fellow football gladiators to finally get into the "pigskin" winner's circle after so long.

It rained 3 1/2 inches last night , so hunting was a little slick. Even tho' I was being very careful, the footing over a bridge ( a big pipe in a culvert) gave way right under my chestnut gelding's hooves just as we were crossing the mid-point. He gave a big lurch and kept going. Thank goodness, it could have been very bad. The same gelding, Red, has only whipped twice now. I was wondering what would happen when I had to shoot off of him. Today I found out as the young entry were very bad and chased a doe , taking all with them. The hounds will try to sneak in a deer chase at the beginning of the season just to try- even tho' the older hounds know not to do it. Sometimes they just get carried away. Well , Red and I were in the right spot and gave them a big correction. I must have got off 5 or 6 shots ( rat shot) right in front of them. They stopped cold and quickly went back to huntsman. Good lesson for the pups at the beginning of the season. They will listen better next time.

Hunting Lily

This morning was very warm. I didn't think we would have a very good scenting day, too humid. So we walked around the cornfields not doing much. I was riding Lily, another retired Thoroughbred. Actually she never made it to the races so perhaps she can't be called retired. My trainer just said, after two months of workouts, that she should " seek employment elsewhere". Just too slow. Anyway she is an awesome little horse when she has a job, which is currently being a whip's horse. She just gets foxhunting. Stands alertly, listening. We both spotted a red fox slip out of the corn and head to the river. The hounds had just been speaking on it but could not follow the scent in the humidity. A minute later two ducks lifted off the river , squawking indignantly. That fox must have been egg hunting.

Lily and I moved further on ahead and tally ho-ed another red hunting mice and heading into the corn. Much better. In fact, there were two foxes and we ran them for about 25 minutes around the corn. I viewed one of the pair running out of the corn hot on the heels of a big buck. They do this to foil the scent. At last, the pair slipped into the swamp by the river and we stopped. Hounds and horses were very warm. It was a good morning after all.

Riding Thoroughbreds

I took my 4 year old "retired" Thoroughbred filly for her first trail ride through the woods that would entail crossing the stream. She has gone around the corn and by the pastures where the broodmares are , but this was her inaugural trip through the infamous "big " stream. Now, we have 5 streams on the farm of varying depth. One is pretty big, two run through the pastures so the horses learn not only to drink from a stream ( useful skill-more about that later), but also to walk sanely through a stream, and the last two are smaller tho' they are bigger ditches -so to speak. This filly is brave but a typical Thoroughbred which means she KNEW the troll lived in the big stream! After planting her toes for the umpteenth time I dismounted , undid one side of my rein and proceeded to show her that the water was only inches deep and the troll was not here today. She snorted and rolled her eyes and very reluctantly slid down the bank and sniffed the water. Now, this filly grew up in one of the pastures that has a stream for drinking- she knows water. What a nut! After a little bit she calmly drank, gave me a long look and walked through the stream like she had done it forever. This is why I love Thoroughbreds- they make you work for every little victory, but then it feels like you really accomplished something. I actually was very proud of her, gave her a pat and rode home. Small steps but they add up to a nice horse eventually. About the stream and drinking, can't tell you how many times I have had to drop a bucket in a stream so that the "new" horse can figure out how to drink from the stream. They drink from the bucket in the stream first!!

Sunday morning hunting

Today was a beautiful, beginning of fall cool morning. We met at Mary's Mount for cubbing at 6:30 AM. It was crisp and clear, just cool enough to wear a hacking jacket. We circled the corn, hunting the game(fox) that feeds on the dropped corn. Several runs, several hours later, we called it a day. I was trying my new horse, Red. It was his first day whipping and he was great actually. A little antsy when out of sight of any other horse but didn't spook or get upset otherwise. There was a big blue heron that kept lifting off from the pond and he was cool with that too. I miss Louis, my big guy, but until his coffin bone heals he is sidelined. Red did a very good job considering he is green. The other whip, Greg, was also on a new horse so the whole morning could have been a disaster but it wasn't. Yahoo.

My husband , Mike, was out on his steadfast quarter horse, Bob. I love riding by and seeing him in the second field. When we got together years ago I said," of course, you will go hunting, it's easy". Years later he loves it and has forgiven me my little white lie. (Not really so easy- he holds the record for most falls in one day!)

Yearling Prep

The yearling sales are only a couple of weeks away and I am so ready to stop lungeing and walking yearlings. I have two colts going to Fasig-Tipton , they look good and I am happy to see them graduate. I would love to keep them all but can't do that. We finished x-rays and scopes this morning and fingers crossed everyone is fine. The whole business of x-rays and scoping of these young horses is so crazy and expensive. The Keeneland sales just get more depressing every time I open the Bloodhorse e-mail. The Thoroughbred breeding business is getting harder and harder to make a living at, unless you are a wealthy Sheik or own a California winery.

I love my horses and what I do but am afraid these small horse farms and small Thoroughbred breeders like myself are not going to be able to continue because the costs are so much greater than the profits now. We keep hoping for a Rachel Alexandra but it gets harder to hold onto to the dream.

Trojans

I am watching the USC-Ohio game, still in LA. Sarah is working and I am hanging out, missing my guy :( who is back home in MD watching the same game. I like the USC Trojans, they have the same colors as the Redskins (my team), and my daughter and her boyfriend are USC alum. I hope they win. I met Sarah's boyfriend Kevin last night and thought he was a great guy- good for Sarah. I liked him very much.

I love watching football. Watching great athletes is a pleasure whether they are Thoroughbred horses winning races or NFL running backs jumping over defensive linemen. I watch it hoping to see athletic greatness and sometimes you do. John Elway was awesome to watch when he threw the ball. It took me a long time to figure the game out but now I get it and I love to watch it for those moments when a perfectly executed play works. It is perfect. When a receiver just reaches a little bit more and lifts the ball out of the air before hugging it into him on the way to earth. Perfect.

Hollywood

I am visiting my daughter in Los Angeles for the weekend and it is so different from my life that I could be on Mars. Imagine the scene in Star Wars in Jabba the Hut's bar, remember all the weird aliens. Sarah is playing Marilyn Monroe in a music video that is being shot off of Santa Monica Blvd. in a little bar called Trip! No kidding! They are also channeling all the famous dead (and living) presidents that you can imagine. Lincoln is a cool 7-footer ,at least with the top hat, being chased by John Wilkes Booth. How they end up in this bar in Hollywood where Bill Clinton is holding court with Nixon, Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt , oh, and JFK, I have not figured out. My daughter is JFK's date. There is another Sarah here who is Clinton's current paramour. She looks like Amanda Seyfried, much prettier than any of Bill's girls.

The whole scene is somebody's dream, maybe? I haven't heard the music yet, remember this is a music video shoot, but I have met all the band. The guitarist's dad is from Annapolis (my part of the world) via Dartmouth University and Chicago. The other Sarah is from Dartmouth, new to LA, trying to be an actress..

It is definitely a long way from ... a horse farm. But really fun to see my daughter's world and what she does. And a nice break from mucking stalls and feeding horses. I will miss horses in about 48 hrs. but for now I am enjoying the show! And Sarah makes an awesome Marilyn Monroe, she is really good.

First morning Cubbing

We went out at 6:30 this morning for our first hunt of the season. It was dark and a little rainy and wonderful. I forget how much I love this until I am back in the saddle on an early Sept. morn and it just feels so right. The old saying "the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a (wo)man" is the absolute truth. One cannot be down or hassled or tired when you are on horseback and it is a cool dawn , the hounds are casting for scent .... Then one speaks, the others hark and soon the chorus of hounds is ringing in the air. Then they are racing through the corn or the woods, your horse stands at attention, muscles quivering, just waiting for the slightest urging and you're off, galloping around the edge of the corn. It is awesome, ancient and it gets your blood going and the world is just right. I feel so at home in the saddle, like the horse and I are perfect together and it is where I belong , right then, at that time and place.

This is when we teach the young hounds what hunting is about. Sometimes it is comical, sometimes it is noble , or scary- but it always feels right. My radio was dead (forgot to charge it), so when I viewed the fox as we were starting home it was a chance to try my own rebel yell! Didn't know I could scream so loud. The huntsman blew for hounds right away, but the scent was rising and that fox quickly snuck away and eluded us all. Nice view tho'.

Rachel Alexandra

What a horse. A filly like this only comes around once in our lives. Do you remember Ruffian? She was also so exceptional, but even she did not take on the older BOYS and beat 'em all! So awesome. I hope Jess Jackson takes good care of her. He says the right words, so hopefully she will have a long and prosperous life. She is so fast -I can't get over it! Rightfully , we should all be awestruck by such impressive talent.

My two-year old filly, Strike A Blow Lass, had a very good work at Laurel on Friday. Not in Rachel's league but, she made me happy and one can always dream. It is what keeps all the small owner/breeders in the game. "Maybe this is the ONE."

Roading Hounds

The beginning of September means the new season of foxhunting or cubbing starts. And for a whip (whipper-in) that means starting to road hounds. Why teaching the new entry or puppies about horses is called "roading", I don't know, but that is what it means. So, we are on horseback , teaching the new hounds to stay with the huntsman and to not run underfoot or not run away basically.

My good hunt horse is in the stall for another month with a broken coffin bone, so I was trying to road hounds tonight on my newer chestnut ex-racehorse. He tries very hard ,but sometimes the whole thing is just too baffling for him and he jumps straight in the air in frustration. Which is OK as long as I am ready. If I am looking elsewhere , at a wayward hound or in the direction the huntsman is heading , he can catch me quite unawares and he result can be unnerving. Sometimes unseating! But tonight we were OK until the very end when, after untacking, his lead rope got tangled in the trailer door. He pulled back, broke the halter and was gone. Now, I am looking at the highway which is very close and then at him as he gallops by, delighted to be loose. His tail is up over his back and head high he gleefully prances past me - " U can't touch this!" written all over him. Disgustedly I chase him for 20 minutes until he allows himself to be caught. He thinks he is so superior some times, I just want to smack him.

My wonderful husband had dinner waiting and a martini. I am so lucky and I needed it tonight.

Field surgery

The Chapel Royal filly finally had her hernia repair surgery. This morning was cool and sunny- perfect. My vet, Dr. Stott, said we could do this on the farm and he pulled it off very neatly. The filly was probably " down and out of it" for only about 20 minutes. He repaired the stomach wall and put in about 6 dissolvable stitches to close everything and she was back on her feet in no time at all. She is the barn for a week or so. I just went to check on her and she is a little wide -eyed, but otherwise fine. My big foxhunter, Louis, the one with the broken coffin bone, is keeping her company in the barn. She is a little wide -eyed looking at him too because Louis is enormous and he is trying to be a good babysitter but it's a little like asking Hulk Hogan to hold your baby!

The fall is coming. Tonight and last night are both down in the 50's. I even put sheets on the two yearlings that are going to the sale. One, the Dance for Ravens, did not like his "pajamas" and, Houdini-like, has managed to get it off both nights. Tonight , I had barely turned around and it was off and he was grazing a few feet away like nothing happened.