and i'll forget about the bad bits... life is too short to be narcy!
It felt like summer today when I woke up... mind you it took all three dogs to get me moving this morning; not even Matilda and her bad breath woke me out of my exhaustion induced coma! However, I was very pleased to see my cup of tea there waiting for me... I reached out and it was drinkably warm.... which meant that Evan must of been up and out the back for about half an hour. Chris the vet from Warwick Vets was coming out this morning to microchip the last of the yearlings, to give Sunny a check up and to take out Nanna's caslick.
Sunny, it seems has a URTI (upper respiratory track infection) and the right thing for her was to be home getting over it. I have to say that I was in awe when I saw her... she looks terrific! The thing is though, her temperament is still as sweet as the day she was born. It was unfortunate to hear that one of our friends who had a colt running as well had to pull him out due to leg trouble, which is a whole lot more serious than our girls.
My answer is to see how they perform in their 3rd year. The chances will be that most of them are down with injury or requring surgery. Some have gone in the head and cant do it anymore. Is it the lure of the 2yo money that makes us push our little ones? This makes me think of Curly Coated Retrievers. They are large dogs and dont mature at least till they're 3 or 4 year olds (um, in saying that, my Jack was still a baby at 10!). Curlys are fully grown at 3 but their brains dont mature until they are 5, 6 .... or 10 as was in Jack's case.
Are the 2yo's being pushed to do something that their heads are not ready for? Certainly it seems their bones are not fully grown and stablised at the age of 2, so why are the racing entities (i.e. the clubs and the entities that put forward the bonus scheme money) pushing 2yos to race? All too often I hear of horses having troubled 3yo years after a full 2yo season. Not racing 2yos is something that Evan and I decided not to do a long time ago as we didnt feel it fair on the babies and we wanted them to have good, long racing careers if they had any ability. Stil its up to the individuals and Iam sure that people will turn their noses up at our philosophy for the horses born at Massie Lodge.
I digress slightly (as I always do!). Sunny was a perfect angel for Chris, so was the mishievous Miss Caramel. I had to laugh when Evan brough my Nanna (Splendid Feeling) up into the crush as she nearly didnt fit into it as her belly is humungous! As you will see from the photos, it was "business as usual" for Nanna in the crush.
Charliefarley. The news is good for young master Charlie. Charlie has been bought by a businessman in Hong Kong who would like to race him in Hong Kong. First off Charlie is to be broken in with Paul Mody then he will come back to Massie Lodge for a holiday. Then he will be off to Dale Sutton at Wadham Park for preparing so that he can take the MRA vet examination which requires them to be galloped, scoped and x-rayed. I will miss Charlie when he goes (as I do), but he has an exciting life ahead of him. We have since put in for his name to be registered as "Time Legend" as per his new owners request.
Maddie is now up here at the house stableyards where we can keep an eye on her. She is starting to bag up, so I figure it wont be long. Evan and I currently have a bet going as to when she will give birth.
Susie is third emergency in a 1300m maiden at Toowoomba tomorrow. I have no idea if she will start, I guess we will find out tomorrow morning. This race is more of a "lets see what she can do and where she is at" race. In saying that though, she drew barrier 9 and will have a jock on board I have never heard of.
While speaking of Susie I have to make mention of one of our friends, J Baxter, who has sorted out the case of the "missing colours". John has done a very selfless thing and ordered us a new set of colours and I was speechless when I heard what he had done. Its very rare these days for someone to take ownership of someon elses' problem and just sort it out. To you John, I give my heartfelt thanks - please take a bow!
My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.
--Indira Gandhi
Helen.
It felt like summer today when I woke up... mind you it took all three dogs to get me moving this morning; not even Matilda and her bad breath woke me out of my exhaustion induced coma! However, I was very pleased to see my cup of tea there waiting for me... I reached out and it was drinkably warm.... which meant that Evan must of been up and out the back for about half an hour. Chris the vet from Warwick Vets was coming out this morning to microchip the last of the yearlings, to give Sunny a check up and to take out Nanna's caslick.
Sunny, it seems has a URTI (upper respiratory track infection) and the right thing for her was to be home getting over it. I have to say that I was in awe when I saw her... she looks terrific! The thing is though, her temperament is still as sweet as the day she was born. It was unfortunate to hear that one of our friends who had a colt running as well had to pull him out due to leg trouble, which is a whole lot more serious than our girls.
My answer is to see how they perform in their 3rd year. The chances will be that most of them are down with injury or requring surgery. Some have gone in the head and cant do it anymore. Is it the lure of the 2yo money that makes us push our little ones? This makes me think of Curly Coated Retrievers. They are large dogs and dont mature at least till they're 3 or 4 year olds (um, in saying that, my Jack was still a baby at 10!). Curlys are fully grown at 3 but their brains dont mature until they are 5, 6 .... or 10 as was in Jack's case.
Are the 2yo's being pushed to do something that their heads are not ready for? Certainly it seems their bones are not fully grown and stablised at the age of 2, so why are the racing entities (i.e. the clubs and the entities that put forward the bonus scheme money) pushing 2yos to race? All too often I hear of horses having troubled 3yo years after a full 2yo season. Not racing 2yos is something that Evan and I decided not to do a long time ago as we didnt feel it fair on the babies and we wanted them to have good, long racing careers if they had any ability. Stil its up to the individuals and Iam sure that people will turn their noses up at our philosophy for the horses born at Massie Lodge.
I digress slightly (as I always do!). Sunny was a perfect angel for Chris, so was the mishievous Miss Caramel. I had to laugh when Evan brough my Nanna (Splendid Feeling) up into the crush as she nearly didnt fit into it as her belly is humungous! As you will see from the photos, it was "business as usual" for Nanna in the crush.
Charliefarley. The news is good for young master Charlie. Charlie has been bought by a businessman in Hong Kong who would like to race him in Hong Kong. First off Charlie is to be broken in with Paul Mody then he will come back to Massie Lodge for a holiday. Then he will be off to Dale Sutton at Wadham Park for preparing so that he can take the MRA vet examination which requires them to be galloped, scoped and x-rayed. I will miss Charlie when he goes (as I do), but he has an exciting life ahead of him. We have since put in for his name to be registered as "Time Legend" as per his new owners request.
Maddie is now up here at the house stableyards where we can keep an eye on her. She is starting to bag up, so I figure it wont be long. Evan and I currently have a bet going as to when she will give birth.
Susie is third emergency in a 1300m maiden at Toowoomba tomorrow. I have no idea if she will start, I guess we will find out tomorrow morning. This race is more of a "lets see what she can do and where she is at" race. In saying that though, she drew barrier 9 and will have a jock on board I have never heard of.
While speaking of Susie I have to make mention of one of our friends, J Baxter, who has sorted out the case of the "missing colours". John has done a very selfless thing and ordered us a new set of colours and I was speechless when I heard what he had done. Its very rare these days for someone to take ownership of someon elses' problem and just sort it out. To you John, I give my heartfelt thanks - please take a bow!
My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.
--Indira Gandhi
Helen.
1 comment:
Guess it must make you wonder why you bother breeding when all these hiccups happen. It must be disappointing to know that the mare will not have her chosen mating. With costs spiralling due to drought, it sure must hurt when the extra expenses come in. Three cheers for the gentleman replacing the colours. What a lovely gesture.
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