Nice Horse

Ok, one of my fav things is horse racing. I'm talking throughbred's not the jiggy joggers. To that end from time to time I'll write about it in this space.

This is one of those times.

A few weeks ago my family friend was in town and he invited me out to the nearby Paddockhurst Stables where his broodmare and unnamed filly are at. The broodmare was as one expects, pregnant to the farms hot stallion Hurricane Center. The yearling was thin and that usual dispropotion between legs and body (ie waiting to grow up and fill out). The young filly is also sired by Hurricane Center.

Later, I got to see the big horse. Hurricane Center himself. A son of the legendary Storm Cat; the same Storm Cat who's stud fee is $500,000. Now I've seen alot of horses in my time but this beast was particularily impressive and made a lasting impression. One would describe him as aggressive, cocky and full of himself. As though he knows he's the king of the farm. I'm weak at judging conformation but it looked fine to me, very muscled and in my opinion he seemed to be of good size for the Alberta race scene. He is a solid looking horse. Here's hoping he gets good results.

We also went and saw Royalty Boy, he was fun to visit, he tried to bite me and wound up nearly missing and getting ahold of my coat. Not sure if he was playing or not after a bit as he didn't seem too interested in letting go. The farmhand said that he's been nipping alot lately so that makes sense I suppose. I said "bad horsey, my coat" but 1500 pds of horse didn't really seem to interested in letting go so I had to yank. Let this be a repeat of a lesson I learned when I was very young. horses bite and it hurts. When I was a little lad (5ish?) I was petting one of the horses that my dad owned while we were at the track, the horse named Big Smoke. I was petting his nose and I remember the horse lowing his head to my leg ( iwas thinking something like what is he doing) and CHOMP. ouch, tears etc. Remember, horses bit and they didn't leave scars on me so I'd look tough for the chicks ;)

So how's that for a non gamling horse racing entry?