October 2008
Extreme Mustang Makeover 2008 has come and gone. The best part was getting to meet Mark Lyon before he blew the lid off the show and won it hands down, he is unquestionably a master horseman and I hope to cross paths him again. As for my ‘mustang’, I would have liked to have more time with Iron Will. I think he had the makings of a good horse, but with his history that was not going to happen in 3 months.
Jazz (PFM All That Jazz) turned a real 2 in June. I still want to bring him in and see what a new radiograph shows in that joint. The infection in his pastern joint caused him to spend most of his first year in some form of confinement and/or pain. However with time, youth, my magic potions and more alternative therapies than you can shake a stick at, he seems to have come through it swimmingly. Only when you stop to really look can you see that one pastern is larger than the other because of the fusion of the joint, but I remain hopeful that it is nothing beyond cosmetic in its effect on him and he'll be able to race when he's old enough. In the interim, because he spent so much time hurting, his buoyant personality had really been squelched and he'd become very subdued. This past spring, since he was strong and healthy, I put him in a paddock alongside the irrepressible Prince and it has worked wonders. Jazz and Prince race each other up and down their lengthy runs. I may have created a monster here - Jazz has taken on many of his granddad’s attributes. He's haughty and self assured: basically, everything he was bred to be, apparently my horse psychology program worked. It's going to be interesting come next year when he begins his under saddle training.
I’m very happy with the progress of the thoroughbred runners. Interval conditioning takes a lot of time and patience: kudos to their owner for recognizing the importance of working through the program in its entirety in order to build not just competitive runners, but durable ones as well. We’ve got a filly for whom I have extremely high hopes; she should begin her racing career in late Dec or early Jan.
afn
cb
September 2008:
Hi everybody!!
Well, we’re finally beginning our monthly New and News column.
Lots to catch up on, too much for one edition, so we'll get this started and add more news in the coming months.
Our New Colt and Filly
PFM is watching with pride and anticipation the progress of its two young’uns: a colt and a filly.
In order to preserve the CMK line, we bred Prince to his daughter, Mettle. The result of that breeding is a colt with attributes from 3 generations—that we know of. He is colored and marked nearly identically to his dam, he has quirks from both his sire and his grand dam, Beau, and even a mark on his rump similar to one his uncle has! What else could we name him but: PFM SumthingInTheHeir?!
Our other “baby” was produced by breeding Prince to another mare: Ki (Aliyah Sweet Song). We have high hopes for this one: she’s bright, extraordinarily intelligent, athletic – everything I breed for--and she’s a looker. Once again, the choice of name was obvious: PFM’s Mrs Peel. (Remember the Avengers?)
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In Training:
I have a client who wanted to own and race thoroughbreds – he came to me for the selection, purchase and training because he wanted them interval trained.
We’re working out of Retama just north of San Antonio, focusing on one colt and one filly. The colt should get his first out before the fall meet ends, the filly is huge and high strung so I’ve been going slowly with her, she should be ready to run by Nov/Dec time frame.
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Mustang:
And last but by no means least: I am one of 200 trainers from across the country selected to compete in the 2008 Extreme Mustang Makeover.
The BLM hands you a fresh off the range, newly gelded 4yo mustang. 100 days later you show up at the Will Rogers Coliseum in Ft. Worth to compete and see who’s best in each of 3 divisions. This year the competition will be held Sept 19, 20; then on the 21st the horses are auctioned off.
Fortunately, I entered the middle division because the horse I drew, which I have since named Iron Will, has proven to be quite a challenge. He’s come a long way from the killer he was when he arrived, but I have serious doubts about his being ready for top level competition in the time remaining.
And that’s it for now.
Y’all come back now, hear?
