Tuesday June 30, 2009

Today was a pretty special day at Old Friends.  Jockey Calvin Borel visited the farm this afternoon and it was a real treat.  As you know, Calvin won this year’s Kentucky Derby (on Mine That Bird) as well as the 2007 running, on Street Sense.  He is also the regular rider of Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra.   But let me back up a little and start earlier today…

It was a gorgeous day in central Kentucky—about 80 degrees with blue skies and big puffy clouds.  Calvin was due at the farm at about 4 pm, so I went a little early to visit “the boys.”   The big barn was emptied of horses in preparation for the event and everything was pretty much ready to go.  I took a short walk, starting with a quick visit to Fortunate Prospect.  Gramps has been spending his afternoons in the barn out of the sun.  I think he really likes that; Janet says he comes right to the gate and heads into the barn. The stalls have box fans set to blow into the stalls, and Gramps apparently enjoys just standing in front of his own personal breeze.  But today he was outside and he positioned himself in a prime spot for attention.  He made sure he got his share of that attention, too! 

Swan’s Way looked very dapper today, with his halter off and his long, black forelock covering his eyes.   If you have ever met Swannie, you know that he has a very pretty, almost Arabian horse head with a dished face.  Of course, the overall elegant picture is somewhat deceptive.  When you get close, you realize he is his usual dirty self.   Pat him on the neck and you raise a cloud of dust. 

EscapedfromNewYork had zero interest in visiting and never lifted his head from the grass.  So I moved on to Sunshine and his next-door neighbor, The Wicked North.  Both horses were happy to say hello and get some attention.  Sunshine Forever and The Wicked North–two fantastic, gorgeous Eclipse award winners, side-by-side, waiting to be patted.  Where else can you see that? 

I am used to seeing Norty in the barn, and I think I kind of forgot how beautiful he is. Norty is a large, muscular, gleaming red horse with a white stripe down his nose.   He is something to see when the sun shines on him.  But despite that beauty, his best quality is still his kind and gentle temperament.   He never nips or bites, and just loves to be patted and fussed over.   And today I caught another tour guide, who shall remain nameless (Mercer!) communicate very nicely with Norty using….baby talk! 

Kiri was able to be without his grazing muzzle today, for the party.  He won’t be happy when it goes back on tomorrow.  But we have had a decent amount of rain this year and the grass is still amazingly green and lush.  Given his age, we have been worried about his weight and afraid he might founder, eating such rich grass for so long this year.  But for today, he was happy to rub his face against me without the encumbrance of the muzzle.  It’s easy, sometimes, to ascribe human expressions to the horses, but I really suspect his vanity is offended by having to wear the muzzle.

As the afternoon marched on, people began arriving for the afternoon’s festivities.  There were several horses that saw crowds of people and immediately went into “show-off” mode.  The usual suspects—Danthebluegrassman, Bull inthe Heather, Pops and Ring—took advantage of the moment to either run around, or strike poses at the fence.  Even Clever Allemont came over and hung out near the fun, taking advantage of the extra attention.   Ogygian stayed in his run-in shed, apparently way too cool to bother with so much nonsense.  

But  of course the main reason everyone came to Old Friends today was the opportunity to meet Calvin Borel. Calvin, his fiancée Lisa, and his jockey agent arrived promptly at 4 pm.   Wearing jeans, a shirt and a Rachel Alexandra hat, Calvin immediately started greeting people and posing for photos.  He did some media interviews, answering questions about the Triple Crown, Mine That Bird, and Rachel Alexandra .   (Calvin told me, by the way, that Rachel “is not normal,” meaning of course, that she is something very special.)  Michael took Calvin and Lisa to see Mark of Success, who Calvin rode, and then he got down to the business of signing his autograph.  What a guy!  He signed hats, shirts, photos, posters, magazines, Derby glasses and who knows what else.  There must have been well over 200 people standing in line to meet him, and he greeted every single person with a huge smile, chatting with them all.  I think the best part was how willing he was to pose for photos with anyone who asked, making a special effort with the kids.  A nice, nice guy–hands down not your typical professional athlete.    He is exactly the man we all saw on TV, celebrating his Derby and Preakness wins so joyfully. 

As I stood and watched the lines of people wait patiently for their autograph, I was struck by how many faces I had never seen at Old Friends.  Usually, when we have events or fundraisers, I see a lot of familiar faces.  Today was a great mix of regular supporters and people who had never been to the farm but who came to meet Calvin.  There were a few familiar faces from my Sunday tours as well.  I think we made a lot of new friends at the farm today, thanks to Calvin’s support.  I know everyone at Old Friends can’t thank him enough.   

As the day wound down, I found myself with a fan of my friend Wallenda.  And wonder of wonders, Wallenda actually posed for pictures—he usually is more interested in checking out the photographer—and stood relatively calmly to be patted and admired.   A woman, whose father owned the horse Wallenda beat in the Super Derby, also stopped by to see him.  For me, I have to admit, having people admire Wallenda was the icing on a pretty good afternoon!

Well, I guess that’s probably about all the excitement for today.  I’m back to my regular tour and blog schedule next week, although I am going to Churchill Downs on Saturday for the races.  I promise we will be rooting for Calvin Borel, on every horse he rides!   Thanks for stopping by OldFriends on a Tuesday, and we hope to see you soon!

-Val

Sunday June 28, 2009

Just a very quick post to let everyone know I am going to postpone this week’s entry until Tuesday evening.  As you may know, on Tuesday Calvin Borel is coming to Old Friends!   Calvin won this year’s Kentucky Derby on Mine That Bird, and he is the  regular rider of the fabulous filly Rachel Alexandra, who won this year’s Preakness.   We are all really looking forward to the evening, and I’ll post as soon as possible afterwards.   

-Val

Sunday June 21, 2009

After a quick trip north, we’re back in Kentucky. I didn’t get to the farm this week,  so we have a different kind of blog posting today. If you move your mouse cursor over each photo you should see names.   Thanks to Rick Capone for the photos, and to Tim Ford, who took over tour duty for me today.  (If you can’t get enough of Rick’s photos, he has a nifty book available through the Old Friends gift shop.  Rick has kindly donated all proceeds from the book to Old Friends.)

-Val

Sunday June 14, 2009

It was another warm, humid day in central Kentucky, although I can’t complain because we didn’t get any thunderstorms during the afternoon.  It’s a little after 6 pm now, and the storms are firing up, so we were lucky.  We had a full day of tours, lots of people, some kids and one handsome german shepherd!

First thing this morning, I got out of my car and heard a little voice sing out “hey, it’s me, Braden!  I’m back to visit Dan!”  Braden was last at the farm on Mother’s Day weekend, and during that visit Dan and Braden really bonded—Dan kept ticking his new friend until Braden couldn’t stop giggling.  Dan was not into tickling today but he was happy to visit with his buddy.  Today’s visit, as usual, involved lots of carrots, a few mints and some photos.  I am pretty sure Braden will be back again before the summer is over.

All the horses were very well-behaved today.  Most of them usually are, but there is always one who is a little obnoxious.  But even the hoodlums, Pops and Ring, behaved themselves today.   Creator took carrots like a gentleman and one or two ladies were able to sneak in a pat on his nose.  He must be mellowing, because I swear he liked it! 

Swannie was in his run-in shed out of the sun.  He might even possibly have passed on the treats, preferring to snooze, but as soon as he saw Escape getting attention it was just too much to bear.  Out he came, tossing his head and trying his best to distract the crowd.  It was kind of funny.   

The other one who got all worked up was Awad (of course!)  This afternoon we had the aforementioned german shepherd on the tour.  While he was leashed and extremely well-behaved, for some reason neither Awad nor Sunshine liked this dog. They both did the “I am stallion” thing—prancing and snorting with their necks arched.   After a few seconds Sunshine decided it was too much effort to be upset, but Awad never did want that dog around.  Considering how much Jake, Marley, Duncan and Shane are on the farm, it was kind of surprising.   But that’s Awad—something different in his routine and he gets all worked up.   He’s a creature of habit for sure.

Along with Braden, we had Haley this afternoon.   Haley and her dad are from Utah, making a “horse trip” to Lexington.  Haley is one of those young teen-aged girls who loves horses, and who horses love in return.  She fed them all, but I think Kiri liked her best.   (He’s still clearly miffed at me over my refusal to remove the grazing muzzle.)  He barely acknowledged me today, and took right to Haley instead.  Later this afternoon, several ladies on the tour reached over the fence to scratch Kiri’s back, so he was mostly happy.  He looks great, though, and the grazing muzzle is doing its job.  (Now that I think of it, there was a lot of back scratching going on today. Bull had a couple of fans taking care of his itches, as did Dan, Charmie, Escape and Gramps.) 

Speaking of Bull, if you’ve been to the farm in the last year or so, you know he has those special rubber shoes in his front feet—the ones that are affixed to his hoof wall with acrylic.  One lady today called them his “French tip manicure.”  A way too girly description for macho man Bull, but kind of true, too!  Bull was very well-behaved today—not once did he even try to take a nip at anyone.  I think it was the back scratching; he figured he better not scare anyone away. 

At one point, we had part of the group admiring Bull, while some folks fed Gramps.  That was enough to get Clever Allemont over to look for treats too.  He got his share, and was especially gentle with the kids.  I’ve said this before, but we are fortunate to have some exceptionally nice stallions. We had some horse people today who commented they never met such nice stallions.  I love to hear that, although do you think maybe I am biased, just a little?

The last tour of the day featured twin girls; I guess 3 or 4 years old.  Mom told me one was an animal person and the other was not, but as usual the horses and Marley won them over.  Both girls fed carrots, patted noses and generally enjoyed themselves.  By the end of the tour they were sitting in the shade with Marley, one on each side, climbing all over her.   Small children are Marley’s favorite thing, so she just sat there grinning.  I imagine there are some cute photos.

Before I wrap up, I want to let everyone know there won’t be a blog entry next weekend.  We are traveling to New York State to see my family, and so I am taking the week off.  I’ll be back in Kentucky too late on Sunday to go to the farm.  But who knows, maybe Kiri will be over his snit by then!

I want to thank all our regular readers, especially those of you who send comments each week.  We read them all and enjoy knowing we have so many friends and fans.   We couldn’t do what we do without the support of all of you.  So, many thanks!   

 We hope you can visit us soon.  In the meantime, thanks for spending this Sunday with Old Friends.

-Val

P.S. I am testing an idea here–this is a photo of EscapedfromNewYork, taken by Rick Capone…

Sunday June 7, 2009

After missing last week’s tours, I was really happy to be back at the farm today.   I would like to think the horses were happy to see me, but I am probably deluding myself—anyone with a carrot bucket works for them.   I made a point to visit every single horse on the farm today—all 45 or however many; I have lost count.   Let me tell, you, I am beat.  Poor Marley worked every tour today.  She is crashed and out like a light!

I do think there was one horse that was especially happy to see me.  Kiri’s Clown is the latest to sport the hot horsey fashion accessory—the grazing muzzle. When he saw me this morning, his eyes lit up like “oh thank goodness, she’ll have pity and get this contraption off me.”  Sorry Kiri, no can do!  The grass this spring has been especially rich and lush, and we don’t want any colic or founder.  So, for the more susceptible horses, the grazing muzzle is the solution.   But the hole in the bottom of the muzzle is just large enough for a carrot, so Kiri still got his share.  

EscapedfromNewYork has turned into a nice little horse.  His coat is a beautiful reddish bay, all shiny and smooth.  He loves treats and runs right over to the fence when he sees people.  I guess he thinks he died and went to heaven—all the food he needs with lots of grass and water, topped off with treats and attention.  Couldn’t ask for more if you are a horse!  He really draws people in, too.  Everyone is touched by his story and amazed at how far he has come, in such a short time.   But as someone said today—those New Yorkers are a tough bunch!

Today was immunization day at the farm.  Now, everyone knows what Creator thinks of humans–we are not his favorite people.  As you can imagine, shots are REALLY low on his list.  But Kent caught him, and patiently hung out with him until Creator relaxed.  Then, a quick shot on each side of his neck, a little more bonding time and some treats, and it was over.  Very nicely done.  

We had some terrific people on tours today.   People came from Ohio, Illinois, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and New York City.   As he left, one little guy ran back to tell me “I’ll see you next time—I’m coming back again!”  His mom told me he was already making plans.  I think it was The Wicked North who got him hooked.  But then, who doesn’t get hooked by Norty?

For the last tour today, I took my group up to the “back 40.”  We walked up and back—this was the hike that did Marley in for the day!  But it was a fun walk.  Elvis, really named King James, came right over for treats.  He is a pretty dark brown horse with four white ankle socks.  He doesn’t have as much chrome as Williamstown, and he is very handsome.  I can kind of see why he is nicknamed Elvis. 

Speaking of Willy, he has moved to a new paddock at the top of the hill.  I think he loves his new digs—he has lots of space and a nice line of trees for afternoon shade.  He looked great too, and came right over for treats.  Glitterman and Polish Navy were waiting by their respective fences as we walked to see them.  Their paddocks overlook the housing development behind the farm.  I’d love to look out my back door and see those two guys grazing behind my house! 

Wallace Station and Appygolucky are paddock-mates now.  Wallace Station is significantly taller than Appy, so they are a bit of an odd couple.  Still, they seem very happy together.   My pal Kudos looks terrific.   One of the ladies remarked on how soft and smooth his coat and mane feel.   His mane lies perfectly and there was no mud or dirt on him. He looked like he just got home from the spa. 

Siphonizer has always been somewhat moody–standoffish one day and friendly the next.  Today he was a certified treat hound—he pretty much followed us around waiting for attention.  He, Futural, and Affirmed Success finally lined up perfectly for the group photo I have always wanted—you know–dark brown, chestnut and bay, all shiny and pretty.  But did I have a camera?  No, I did not. 

I think, however, the horse who looked the very best of them all today was Bonnie’s Poker.  She is fat, shiny and dappled. She, Cozy Miss and Hidden Lake were hanging out in their run-in shed out of the sun but as soon as Hidden Lake came out for treats, they all wandered over.   (Klassy Briefcase and Personalized apparently aren’t allowed in their little clique and were farther out in the paddock grazing.)  But for everyone who has asked how Bonnie has been doing since her friend Narrow Escape died, I can enthusiastically say she looks fabulous, maybe the best I have ever seen her.  No way does she look her age.  And Hidden Lake?  Gorgeous! 

Well, that about covers the day at the farm.  Great weather, terrific horses, nice people—as one man said this morning, “what a great way to spend time on a nice day.”  I am very lucky to be able to do this each week!

We hope you can visit us soon.  In the meantime, thanks for spending Sunday with Old Friends.

-Val

Sunday May 31, 2009

Another fine Sunday in Kentucky.  You know the kind of day– warm, sunny, blue skies–the kind of day that just begs you to be outdoors.   Sadly, I’ve spent it at home nursing one of those annoying summertime colds.  I apologize for not getting to the farm this weekend, and thus for not having an updated blog entry today.  I will be back next weekend with a full report.  Thanks for your patience!

-Val

Sunday May 24, 2009

Welcome to summer!  It’s hot, muggy, and did I mention hot??  It felt good, though, in a drippy, sweaty way!  Even a lot of the horses were sweating just standing still and except for Pops, Ring and Awad, no one was moving too much.  But, none of the people seemed to mind the heat too much, and so we had a full day of tours.   We started at our usual time, 10am, and didn’t leave the farm until 5 o’clock.

Pops and Ring  were quite active today, although because of the temperature their usual gallop up the hill was a trot.  Pops looks wonderful; as good as I have ever seen him, all shiny and dappled.  As usual, neither he nor Ring was wearing their halters, and Pops struck his movie star pose—head up, ears pricked, gazing off into the distance– for photos. 

Awad gets so upset when Pops and Ring get too much attention.  As Kiri was his usual calm and friendly self, he got more attention as well.  Awad was just beside himself, so irritated he could barely contain himself.  He fidgeted and banged on the fence and tossed his head incessantly, wondering what he had to do to become the center of the action.  Poor guy. 

Someone asked me today why I haven’t been writing as much about the horses who moved to the new paddocks at the back of the farm.  So I apologize for that and I promise to fill in some gaps on those horses today and next week.   Having said that, we once again spent today touring the front of the farm.  It was too hot to hike that hill to the back.

The horses are all doing great.  In fact, I would say that Will’s Way, Creator, Special Ring and Kiri’s Clown are downright fat.  The horses in the new paddocks are especially chubby.  I barely recognize Siphonizer, and Futural is massive.  One of the new geldings, Rocky, is kind of short and he just keeps getting wider, too.  We had to put a grazing muzzle on Cozy Miss because she was getting too fat.  The grazing muzzle still allows her to eat grass; it just slows down her consumption from large mouthfuls to more reasonably-sized portions.  It’s the Cozy Miss diet program! 

EscapefromNewYork looks terrific.  He has shed out his dull, old coat and is now a shiny little bay horse.  He handled his recent gelding well and I was thrilled to see how happily he came over to get his carrots today.  When he first arrived at the farm, he didn’t know how to take a treat.  That has completely changed!  Everyone who meets him just falls in love. 

I suppose mostly because of Escape, we spent a lot of time today at the intersection of Swan’s Way Lane, Sunshine Forever Drive and Escape Road.  All three horses happily hung out with us, taking treats and winning over their own fans.  In fact, it’s fun to see who gravitates to which horse.  If someone is a Barbaro fan, they often adore Sunshine, given that he is related to Barbaro.  Swannie always gets the people who root for the underdog, and the Boston Red Sox fans.  (If you didn’t know, Swannie is a member of the Red Sox Nation.)  And Escape seems to draw in the soft-hearted, the folks who recognize that he never had much in his young life.   One of the best things about Old Friends, as I’ve said before, is the different personalities of the horses.  It’s just as cool to see how people find some connection to one certain horse and he (or she) immediately becomes their favorite. 

I had couple of young helpers today, at 10 am and 3 pm, ironically both named John.  My first new friend John was maybe 8 or 9, and his parents told me he wasn’t that thrilled about coming to see horses.  But he had a great time, feeding carrots and patting noses.   The second young man named John carried the carrot bucket for the entire 3 o’clock tour.  After a long day in the heat, I could not have appreciated that more!  

Today , both Judge’s Case and Mark of Success moved over to the main farm from Dr. Byers’ place.  Now I feel sorry for poor Bull.  Judge’s Case is a pretty gray gelding, meaning Bull is no longer the “only” gray horse on the farm.  And since so many people love gray horses, Bull is going to have some competition.   Knowing Bull, I’m not sure he is going to handle this well at all!

We have a bunch of new horses that I have not talked about yet.  Over the past month or so, we also welcomed Discreet Hero, an 11 year old gelded son of Honor and Glory, and King James, who is affectionately known as Elvis.  We also are getting to know Early Pioneer, a millionaire son of one of my favorite stallions, Rahy.  The horse I mentioned above, Rocky, is really named Northern Stone.   And just this weekend we welcomed Personalized, one of only four offspring sired by our late, great stallion Precisionist.  Personalized arrived at Old Friends following her rescue from a slaughterhouse pen.  We are feeling pretty good about having her with us, as you can imagine. 

Since this is a holiday weekend, Happy Memorial Day! I hope you are having a fine day, wherever you are located, and will take a moment to remember those who have served our country.   Thank you for spending this Sunday with Old Friends, and we hope to see you soon!

-Val

Saturday May 16, 2009

Ok, so I am cheating this week. I am not going to be at the farm for tours on Sunday. I’m actually going to the steeplechase races. Never been to jump races, so it’ll be fun. Anyway, since I won’t be doing tours this week, I took some time to visit with my own very favorite horses. Selfish, but what can I say? It’s a perk of volunteering! I also have a couple of links everyone might like to see.

As you know, any tour of my mine has to begin and end with Wallenda. I no sooner walked into the barn than he started nickering. He knows I think he is special, and he expects his attention to begin NOW! With the rain we’ve had recently, all the horses have found good patches of mud in which to roll. Wallenda had his share of dried mud on his left flank. And across his back. And completely ringing his left eye. And in his mane. You can just imagine, right? Dried, crusty mud. And every bit of it ended up on me! Wallenda loves to have his face brushed and rubbed, but I have to remind him of that every single time. He tries to avoid face brushing until he remembers “oh yeah, this feels good.” Once he remembered, he just closed his eyes and stood still until I was done. He was in an unusually mellow mood (for him, anyway) and I think he really enjoyed the attention.

The other stallion who stays indoors during the day is The Wicked North. Norty has the tour procedure down. As soon as he sees a group of people, he lifts a hoof and starts banging on his stall door. It would be hard to miss him, given the racket he makes. But once everyone gathers around him, he is so kind and nice I sometimes can’t imagine him being a big, bad racehorse. But he was a grand racehorse, an Eclipse Award winner with speed, heart and determination. Thus the first link for today, one I neglected to add last week: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/videos/watch/43F75F9B-642A-4408-919B-ACDF7A732363  Thanks to regular blog reader Rich for reminding me!

Having spent a couple of years getting to know the farm’s horses, the more I understand three things. First, the best racehorses are very, very smart. Second, they are good racehorses not only because they are fast and love to run, but because they are intensely competitive by nature. And third, good racehorses understand adulation and applause! Don’t believe me? Watch one horse start running, just for fun or to show off for a crowd, and then see all the horses around him run around faster. Want proof? Ahh, this leads me to today’s second link.

A wonderful photographer named Candice Chavez was at the farm all afternoon last Sunday. You’ll see a bunch of pictures of our new gelding, Appygolucky, as he is turned out in a paddock for the very first time at Old Friends. Scroll down and you’ll see photos of Will’s Way, taken at the same time, in the neighboring paddock. Will saw Appy run and said, “oh no, my new little neighbor. I won a million bucks and the Travers Stakes. I am the man in this neighborhood!”
Check out Will, Appy, Fortunate Prospect, and more, here on Candice’s Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24553848@N03/sets/72157618000318978/.
Thanks, Candice, for your wonderful photos.  I also want to say–aren’t dogs Jake and Marley pretty darn handsome, too?  Yeah, I know I’m biased.

As you can see from Candice’s photos, Fortunate Prospect is doing great. At 28, he is a little shaggy and a lot gray. But he maintains his routine—eat a little, nap a little, jog a little, do some serious sleeping, and round it all out with more grazing and greeting visitors. Gramps could write a book, ”The Fortunate Prospect Secret to Life, Love and Treats.”

At one point I looked up just in time to see Clever Allemont running across his paddock. No reason that I could see; he just felt like it I guess. He sure looked like he was having fun and feeling great.

The laugh of the day, courtesy of Silver Charm: Charmie’s little paddock is normally pretty devoid of grass, as we have to carefully manage his rather delicate little-horse digestive system. But with all the rain we’ve had, the corner area where he normally eats his hay is sprouting little blades of grass from the seeds in his hay. You think he would even lift his head to visit with me today? Not a chance. He figured he was getting’ while the gettin’ was good!

Mightly Mecke had some surgery today. Yep, he was gelded. It’ll be good for him as he was getting a little, shall we say, rambunctious. EscapefromNewYork (the horse formerly known as Nameless, from the Paragallo farm in New York) had the same surgery. Thanks to Hagyard Clinic for the services. I heard Escape did fine with it, but knowing Mecke, I bet he was a little unhappy!

Dan and Flick were hanging out near the fence today, hoping for some treats. Dan looks wonderful. It’s really taken him a year to fill out and lose his lean, lanky racehorse look. He is so handsome, and Flick has also put on significant weight. Dan rules that roost, but in a nice way. While Pops and Ring beat on each other rather relentlessly, Dan is much more subtle with Flick. He stretches out his neck like he is going to bite Flick, but then never really makes the final connect. He’s more like the big brother who picks on his kid brother in a lovable way, even though Flick is really the older child! Pops and Ring are just hoodlums with one another, even though no two horses are closer buddies.

I do have to comment on the Preakness today. Rachel Alexandra is awesome, and Mine That Bird is a real racehorse. But really, how about Musket Man? Count me as a huge fan of all three.

That about does it from here. We hope you can visit us soon, but in the meantime, thanks for spending this time with Old Friends.

-Val

Sunday May 10, 2009

After what seems to be weeks and weeks of rain (but was more like a few days, I suppose) today was a fine, sunny day in central Kentucky. The grass is really deep and lush and we had a gentle breeze, rather than a monsoon wind. All in all, who could complain? And Happy Mother’s Day, to my own mom and all the other mothers out there.

We started out the morning with my favorite kind of tour—we had kids! First of all, there was Braden, who really, really liked the horses. Braden was maybe 3 or 4, and about that tall, too. He and Dan really hit it off. Dan was nuzzling Braden’s hair, which caused Braden to giggle. Dan apparently likes small giggling children because the more Braden giggled, the more Dan nuzzled and tickled. It was really cute. Braden was quite friendly, even inviting me along on a trip to see an octopus next month. You don’t get that kind of invitation every day!   I won’t be able to make it, but it was a great invitation, Braden. I hope you and your brothers come back.

Another young man, Bradley, was on the same tour. Bradley, Pops and Ring had a little race up the hill. Pops and Ring mostly used the opportunity to show off, bucking and kicking. Bradley might actually have won, although Ring came on strong at the end. Pops and Ring felt a little rowdy, running, biting one another, begging for treats and generally hamming it up. And the more attention Pops and Ring got, the more agitated Awad became. I think I have said this before, but Special Ring is extremely good at annoying Awad, who lives in the next-door paddock. They are just like kids–you know, when one says “Mommy, he’s looking at me! Make him stop!”  One lady remarked that she didn’t realize horses had so much personality. But they surely do.

Silver Charm, on the other hand, was quite accommodating. And I have figured out what he did in his previous life.  I’m positively sure he ran for political office.  Today he walked the fenceline like a politician, stopping to visit each person for a pat and a few words before moving on down the line.  Silver Charm, Mayor of Old Friends.

We had a pretty vivid demonstration of Clever Allemont’s hearing loss this afternoon. We had a van tour group, and despite many visits their tour guide, Nicholas, had yet to see Clever Allemont up close. So I walked into the paddock to get Monty.  I talked to him the entire time I was walking over to him, and as I made a wide berth around his bad eye, I kept up a running chatter. Nevertheless, he was startled when he finally saw me.  He clearly had not heard me at all. But once he knew what I wanted, he happily came over to the fence to see everyone. He does love to be patted and fussed over.

 As I mentioned last week, we have three or four new horses. I’m going to have to admit I have yet to learn their names, but one of them arrived just yesterday and his name I do know. It’s Appygolucky, and he is a 12 year old bay gelding who retired from the racetrack just this week. He started in 100 races (!), winning 24 times. We were lucky enough this afternoon to be able to watch as he went outside to a paddock for the first time. He ran and ran, which caused his neighbor Will’s Way to run and run, too. (Will is very competitive—he did have to prove that he is faster!) But Appy really loved being outdoors and we are looking forward to getting to know him. Yep, it was a fun day.

On a sad note, yesterday we lost one of our newer horses. Gold Spring, who just arrived last month, died after a paddock accident. I barely knew Gold Spring, having met him maybe three or four times over the past few weeks. He was a lovely chestnut stallion who had been a graded stakes winner in both his native Argentina and in the United States. Because I didn’t really know him, I can’t offer any great insights into his personality, or talk about funny stories or quirks that he had.  But I can say this: as far as I can tell, Gold Spring was one of the lucky ones. His people cared about him and made sure that he had a good home.  I’m sorry that I won’t get to know, and share, those funny stories and facets of his personality. But I am happy that he had a good life, surrounded by people who loved and cared for him.

And on that note, I’ll sign off for this week.  I hope you can visit us sometime soon. In the meantime, thanks for spending this Sunday with Old Friends.

-Val

Monday May 4, 2009

Ahh Monday… what a weekend! Yesterday, in a cool and drizzly rain, we had the annual Homecoming event at Old Friends. I actually think in many ways it was among our most successful. Lots of people ignored the weather to come out and support the horses and everyone seemed to have a great time. There was a great deal of laughing, camaraderie, music and fun. Wallace Station (the restaurant, not the horse) provided their usual outstanding food; we had bluegrass music from Bullshippers and a remote broadcast from radio station 92.9 The Bear.

The horses took all this in stride, of course. Wallenda had to move from his usual stall in the big barn to temporary housing in the small barn. Given his tendency to act like a teenager, I expected him to be a little aggravated when I went over to see him. Nope, he was laying down taking his usual afternoon nap. I went in to say hello and rub his face, so he got up to visit for a bit. He then became engrossed with peering through the gaps in the stall wall at Cowboy next door. Not one bit of stress for the big horse. I was watching replays of previous Kentucky Derbies on TV over the weekend and saw the 1993 edition, featuring Bull inthe Heather and Wallenda. Bull was much, much darker—a dappled steel gray, almost unrecognizable. Wallenda, though….anyone who knows him would pick him out immediately. His carriage and demeanor was exactly the same.

Fortunate Prospect had a great weekend himself. On Saturday, his grandson Musket Man finished third in the Kentucky Derby! I can’t even describe how exciting that was. Yesterday, I went over to tell Gramps how terrific he is. He just calmly looked at me as if to say, “Well, of course I am.” The whole Derby thing clearly impressed me more than it did him!  Not much gets Fortunate Prospect going, including the shindig last night. He hung out near the big barn, keeping an eye on the proceedings and making himself available for photo ops, carrots and admiration. He’s one very cool customer.

Clever Allemont paid absolutely no attention to the event.  I guess to him it was just some extra activity that had no bearing on his grazing.  At one point, Swannie and Wallace Station were racing one another like a couple of, well, racehorses. Bull kept a hopeful eye out for treats and Creator kept his eye out for potential victims. Volunteer Viv, from our MySpace page, (http://www.myspace.com/oldfriendsequine) was assigned as victim protection. She spent most of the event sitting in the rain near Creator, keeping the unsuspecting away from his chompers! She either had the most fun or no fun at all, I’m not sure which.

A couple of guys and Michael were playing soccer with Silver Charm. Charmie was having a blast, since there were plenty of people cheering him on. He is such a ham. You know, he really does think he is a big Thoroughbred. Maybe he is, as a visitor pointed out a couple weeks ago “he was just a short-race specialist!”

Before the festivities began, I took a couple of rounds of the farm on the golf cart, once with Kent as he did the afternoon feeding and once with Greg, just for fun. So I did get out to see all the horses. Everyone looks great. Cozy Miss is now wearing a grazing muzzle since she has gotten too chubby!  The muzzle helps limit the amount of grass she can grab in one bite. She’s in good company though, because I believe that AP Indy often sports the same fashion accessory.

Will’s Way ran over for his dinner. He’s so handsome, and I say that after he bit me last week.  Awad looks especially terrific this spring, and Pops has finally gotten rid of nearly all his winter hair.  We have some new horses on the farm as well, but I’ll spend more time talking about them next week.

The highlight of Homecoming for a lot of people is the auction, both live and silent, of horse memorabilia. As you may know, halters worn by well-know racehorses and stallions are very collectible. We had some great ones at the auction yesterday—Rags to Riches, Big Brown, Cigar, Giacomo, and Medaglia d’Oro among others.  We also had some great Moneighs, which are paintings done by some of our horses including Danthebluegrassman, The Wicked North and the late, great Ruhlmann. Of course, we also offer tours during homecoming.

All in all, it was a great weekend despite the weather. I was happy to meet some regular blog readers, as well as see some of our returning regulars. Thanks to everyone who attended the Homecoming event, and we look forward to our next event! If you didn’t make it to Homecoming, we hope you will be able to visit us soon. In the meantime, thanks for spending Sunday with Old Friends!

-Val