The author and his wife are full time residents of Puerto Peñasco, and plan never to leave. In the last issue I was telling you about my experience raising horses from start to finish. This will be a continuing saga, issue to issue. So sit back, open a Corona and enjoy. In these tales I refer to my last wife as Old What’s Her Name, OWHN, so you don’t get confused, and I don’t slip with the wrong name when talking to my wife Nancy. Whew !!!
By now we have bred and raised some colts and fillies to the age of two. Tried to sell them since they were born, with no luck. But we should hold on because this is a ‘money making’ business. Did I tell you I don’t like to ride horses? I’m not afraid of them, I just don’t like to ride. I suppose they don’t like my 240 lbs on their back either. One of OWHN’s sayings was, “Hold On Don’t Let Go”. As I was saying, I’m 240 lbs and this baby is 500-600 lbs by now. Who do you think is going to win in this situation? I should say, who is going to lose? Me, that’s who!! One day we had to remove a bandage from one of the horses hind legs, and of course he didn’t want any part of the deal. So, me being the obliging, dutiful husband, I tried to “Hold On Don’t Let Go” as she said. Down we went on the ground. I got him in a scissor lock and a headlock and we commenced to roll around, him trying to get loose of me and I’m trying to hold on. I had horse do-do in my ears, mouth, eyes and all over me because we tried to do this in the corral where they do their business. Couldn’t have done this out in the grass could we? He was kicking and trying to get up and beating me to death but I held on and didn’t let go. That done, I was a seasoned veteran. I can do this, yeah right!
We could not sell the horses, so now they are 3 years old and OWHN decides we are going to send the filly (female horse under four years old) to a race trainer and put her on the track cause that’s where the money is. We found a trainer and his fee was $12.00 a day plus everything else such as special shoes, vet, and of course the hauling from here to there. And, it only takes 90 days of training before they are in shape to race! At $12 /day plus special shoes, vet and etc, it won’t be long until we are in fat city. We don’t even know if she is fast enough to race but the trainer just says, “She will be tough”. Well I’m tough now, after all that hay loading and “Don’t Let Go” deals, but I can’t run for crap. Race day comes finally and at the last minute the trainer tells us we have to RUN across the track to the race office and pay our license fee and workers comp policy. What’s with that? It’s a horse. Seems we have to insure the jockey in case he falls off while trying to get our horse to the finish line first. Another $250.00 and all the trainer says is she is “going to be tough”. I need another Corona over this.
She won her first race .We made money, finally. Well some money anyway. Got $175.00, of which we had to give 10% to the trainer and 10% to the jockey and the jockey didn’t even fall off! And guess what? The horse hurt her two front legs (shin splints), more vet bills, more “Hold on Don’t Let Go’s” and now she can’t race anymore. But she WON!! Now we are hooked. That was fun. We need to do this some more! She ran fast, so lets breed her. Maybe we can sell her babies.
More in the next issue .We will talk about some more “Hold Ons”, and mules..
Although I was never around horses I found this to be an interting read.Almost makes me want to hop on and take a ride (or fall off) But a good story so far. Wondering how much I have missed. Thanks for sharing!