Highly Favored

 

We had a blessed and welcome break from the aggressive cold and snow today. We greeted the warmth, sunshine and low winds with enthusiasm. The winds admittedly picked up mid-morning, but one can't be too picky these days. If we go by the definition of low wind for this area, it remained a low wind day, gusting somewhere in the 20s or 30s. Or the 10s, it's hard to tell when anything under 30 mph is considered low wind.

We took advantage of the weather to evaluate Halley, JC Highly Favored, under saddle. She comes with a story. She found herself at Centennial Livestock Auction in Colorado in July with her paperwork from the track, including Jockey Club papers, in tow. Historically, our nonprofit, Center for Racehorse Retraining, has cautioned against kill pen horses, as their backgrounds are unknown, but we have tried a different strategy this year for no reason other than it felt like the right thing to do. We're here for all Thoroughbreds, even if that means picking them up from the lots for rehoming or retirement. She came to us thin and nursing a seemingly minor right hind fetlock injury. We found her breeder, who has been fantastic. She sent us foal photos, videos of her first rides, and told us more about where she went after she was sold to someone who would take her to the track. She ended up going from that home to another one, which then took her to Colorado to train. Luckily, one of the trainers at the track that we have worked with a lot knew a little about her. She did injure her right hind, which landed her at CLA.

Long story short, she went through quarantine with no issues then came to us to gain weight. Her fetlock was of little concern in her initial vet check, and she never showed any soreness on it. She had some minor filling but little else. So, we kicked her out and left her alone for the most part, other than taking her for little hand walks around her pen or to the arena. She had been nervous but tried to please. She needed weight more than anything, so we didn't ask for much.

Today, we pulled her out, threw a saddle on, and she relaxed. She seemed more comfortable with the familiarity of the saddle and the riding process, so we continued and went for a brief, easy ride. She showed us a quiet, albeit green walk, and a few strides of quiet, unbalanced trot. She has a long way to go to become a sport horse, but she is sweet, willing, and broke. We're going to go back and focus on her confidence being handled on the ground, but she'll get there. She had a good start with her breeder. Eventually, she's going to be an uphill, big mover.

It's exciting to see her come along. She plays and has fun in her field. She has opened up and greets us when we go out there.

On a side note, we thought we broke the ultrasound, but we just had to unplug and plug the probe back into the machine. We spent an hour trying to fix it before the company had us try that. We feel a little foolish.