Inspiring Horse Tails
Here are two animals who got a second chance thanks to some very special people.
Saving Straight Flush
World-famous racehorse Secretariat had a half-brother named Straight Flush. But despite being related to one of the most famous horses in history, in 1999 Straight Flush was on his way to a slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania. That’s when a writer named Stephanie Diaz stepped in and saved him.
Straight Flush was born in 1975 and started racing as a two-year-old. In spite of his pedigree (Secretariat as a half-brother, Somethingroyal as his dam, and Riva Ridge as his sire), he just wasn’t a great racehorse. He lost every race he entered during his first season, but finally won at Santa Anita in 1978 (with Bill Shoemaker riding him). But that was the best he could do. Straight Flush won a couple of smaller races, but he never lived up to the potential everyone thought he had. Within a few months, his owner had sold him.
To the Highest Bidder: Over the next two decades, Straight Flush moved from farm to farm. He went to stud, but didn’t have much success. Finally, in 1999, he ended up at a feed lot in Texas and was put up for auction on the Internet. That’s how Diaz got involved. A friend let her know that Secretariat’s half-brother was for sale and had no interested buyers. So she bid $200 and waited. Within a few days, she found out she’d won the auction—and the horse.
Diaz arranged to pick up Straight Flush in Texas and have him moved to California, where he lived for the next eight years. He was in rough shape—and didn’t have many teeth—but he lived out the rest of his days in a good home. Straight Flush died on September 3, 2007, at the incredible age of 32.(Most racehorses don’t make it past 20.)
My Little Pony
No one knows for sure where Molly came from, but in 2005, the gray-speckled, 16-year-old Appaloosa pony was found wandering alone in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. She ended up at the home of Kaye Harris, who fostered horses and other animals. Molly seemed to be doing all right in Harris’s care until, one day, a pit bull terrier that Harris also fostered attacked the pony in the yard. By the time Harris arrived, Molly was severely injured: her stomach was badly cut, all four legs had been bitten, and the dog was gnawing at her jaw. Harris managed to get the dog to let Molly go, but the pony didn’t look like she was going to make it.
Harris rushed Molly to a local vet, who patched her up. But when the pony got an infection in her right front leg, Harris took her to the Louisiana State University veterinary hospital. Doctors there initially thought she’d have to be euthanized, and Harris knew that the odds were against a full recovery. “[Treating a pony with an injured leg is] so expensive,” she said, “and so hard, and everyone who tries fails. But we just asked them to spend some time with Molly.”
The doctors at LSU fell in love with the pony. She had a sweet disposition and got along well with everyone, even in her injured state. They decided to amputate her leg and fit her for a prosthesis, which was donated to the cause.
A Miraculous Recovery: Today, more than two years after her surgery, Molly is fine. She can walk with and without her prosthetic limb, and also works as a therapy pony—Harris takes her to hospitals, nursing homes, any place whose residents need a good story to brighten their day. In particular, children with prosthetic limbs respond to Molly’s story so well that she’s even become the subject of a book: Molly the Pony was released in 2008.
And what about the dog who attacked her? Harris was convinced that his outburst was the result of trauma caused by the hurricane. Rather than have him euthanized, she found him a home with a family trained to deal with troubled dogs.
The King of Games
When most people think of polo, they envision a team of English gentlemen in striped knickers and shirts, riding horses in an open field and swinging their clubs at a tiny white ball. OK . . . that’s not a bad description, but there’s much more to the sport than that.
4
Number of players on an outdoor polo team. All players are on the field throughout the game, and they play numbered positions (1–4), which are sewn on their team jerseys. Position one is the lead offensive player (like a forward in soccer). Position two is mostly offensive but also plays defense. Position three attacks the opposing team’s offense and is usually his team’s captain. And position four defends his team’s goal. (Indoor polo teams usually have three players; they combine positions two and three.)
7½ minutes
Length of a regulation polo period (called a chukker).
6 to 8
Number of polo ponies each player uses during a game. Full games last eight chukkers, club games usually last six, and players generally use a different horse for each chukker to keep the animals fresh and alert. (The horses are called “polo ponies,” but that’s just tradition. They’re actually horses, and many are Thoroughbreds.)
10 acres
The size of a regulation outdoor polo field: 300 yards long by 160 yards wide—about the size of nine football fields. Indoor fields are 100 yards by 50 yards.
77
Countries where people play polo. These include England, India, Argentina, Brazil, France, Canada, the United States, several Caribbean countries, and many Arab nations. There are at least 10,000 registered players worldwide, though many polo experts say there are closer to 50 million (mostly unregistered) players around the globe.
600 BC
Year of the first recorded polo match. Opponents: the Turkmen and the Persians. (The Turkmen won). No one knows why they played this match, but more than two centuries later in 336 BC, Darius III, the emperor of Persia, sent a polo mallet and ball to Alexander the Great with a message that said, roughly, “Play polo, not war.” And an ancient stone tablet, found near a polo field north of Kashmir, was inscribed with this verse: “Let other people play at other things—the king of games is still the game of kings.”
1975
Year that left-handers were officially banned from the game of polo for safety reasons. Southpaws swing their polo sticks in the opposite direction of right-handers, which can cause serious accidents.
1982
Year the World Elephant Polo Association (WEPA) formed in southwest Nepal. The tradition of playing polo from the backs of elephants, instead of horses, began at the turn of the 20th century in India, where there were few horses—but many elephants. Elephant polo is now a professional sport. The WEPA sponsors a world championship in Nepal every winter, and the Thai Elephant Polo Association sponsors global tournaments in Thailand every September.
$5,000
Average price of a good polo pony, generally one that’s 10 to 12 years old. But they can range from $1,500 to more than $100,000 (the priciest ones usually just show up in prestigious matches).
$174,000
Average annual income for a professional polo player. The tops riders, though, earn $500,000 or more through sponsorships, endorsements, and their match winnings.
Track Duty
You know about trainers and owners, and we’ve told you about jockeys (on page 28) and grooms (on page 191). But what about the other people who make a racetrack or stable run smoothly? See if you can choose the correct title based on the job description. (Hint: Some of these jobs are international.)
1. Buys and sells horses. Must be an expert in racing, pedigree, athleticism, bodywork, and the horse market in general. Special skills: marketing and sales.
a. Trainer
b. Bloodstock agent
c. Breed broker
2. Oversees a stable’s breeding program and maintains breeding records.
a. Stud foreman
b. Track clerk
c. Stock keeper
3. Operates the vehicles that move horses from one place to another. Must be experienced with horses and time management because he or she needs to make sure the horses get to their destinations on time and that transportation records are accurate.
a. Skinner
b. Community coach
c. Float driv
er
4. Gives people the opportunity to see different areas on horseback. Must possess exceptional horsemanship skills and get along well with other people.
a. Horse trek guide
b. Outrider
c. Rawhider
5. Typically an early morning job. Exercises and helps to train horses and reports back to the main trainer about the horses’ progress.
a. Dawn rider
b. Trackwork rider
c. Steward
6. Can be part of a groom’s job but is sometimes a separate position position. This person cools horses down after exercise or a race.
a. Late trainer
b. Stable boy
c. Hot walker
For answers, turn to page 222.
Horsing Around
While we were studying all the serious subjects for this book, we found these jokes.
What’s the best kind of story to tell a runaway horse?
A tale of WHOA!
What did the horse say when it fell?
I’ve fallen, and I can’t giddyap!
What’s the vampire’s favorite part of a horse race?
When it’s neck and neck.
What breeds of horses can jump higher than a house?
All breeds. Houses don’t jump.
Why can’t horses dance?
Because they have two left feet.
Why can’t a pony sing?
Because he’s a little hoarse.
Boot Camp
Now an American staple, riding and cowboy boots owe a lot to European history.
Riding High
Boots have always played a role in the footwear of humankind—cave paintings dating back as many as 15,000 years show men and women wearing them. But by the 16th century, boots were mostly worn by soldiers, who needed to protect their feet and legs on the battlefield. Knights often wore boots up to their thighs to protect their knees. Over the years, boots moved into the general population, and nonmilitary riders usually preferred knee-highs—they were high enough to protect the lower legs from chafing but not so high that they interfered with riding.
During the 17th century, boots became increasingly popular in Europe. Royals and other elites liked to raise and ride horses, and the boots they wore while riding came to signify status. In particular, the size of the boot’s heel was important. Riding boots came with heels of up to three inches—leading to the term “well-heeled” to show that a person was rich enough to own a horse. The thicker the heel, the thinking went, the wealthier the person was.
Beef Wellington
By the 1800s, riding boots were common among wealthy cavalry officers, and even among some regular citizens. But they could be uncomfortable, especially thigh-high military boots. Then came Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, who decided to change that.
When Wellington defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he didn’t just strike a blow for England, he also made a case for fashion. He didn’t like the military boots he had been issued, so he directed his cobbler to create something calf-length, to offer a tighter fit around the legs. His boots (which came to be called Wellingtons) also had a lower heel than typical riding boots to make it easier for the rider when he wasn’t in the saddle—higher heels stay in place better while riding, but aren’t as great to walk (or fight battles) in. Plus, the boots were easy to mass-produce. Soon, riders all over Europe and the United States were wearing Wellingtons.
Northern and Southern soldiers wore Wellingtons during the Civil War, and the boots were so well received that, when the men returned home, they brought their footwear with them. It was perfect timing. The cattle and beef industry in America was booming in the late 1860s, and the cowboys who herded the cattle needed a comfortable boot.
Feet First
Before the 1860s, cowboys had to put up with a lot in their footwear. Mostly, they had to sacrifice comfort for function: that high heel again. Many boots also had very pointy toes, which made them fit more easily into stirrups, but pinched the rider’s feet when he was out of the saddle.
But after the Civil War, Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, and other cowboys started wearing Wellingtons, which led to an evolution in cowboy boots. Over time, the boots developed a lower heel and more rounded toe, and had a slicker sole that helped the cowboy slip out of his stirrups quickly if a horse got out of control. From there, riding and cowboy boot evolution was pretty much complete. Over the last 150 years, boots have changed very little, and the basic medium-heeled, slightly rounded-toe style remains popular.
The Cowboy’s Prayer
May your horse never stumble,
Your spurs never rust,
May your guts never grumble,
Your cinch never bust!
May your boots never pinch,
Your crops never fail,
While you eat lots of beans,
And stay out of jail!
Clop, Clop, Clop
Here come the Clydesdales!
•The breed originated in Scotland around 1750 in an area known as the Clyde valley. Flemish stallions were crossed with native Scottish mares to produce large, heavy draft horses who could do farmwork and haul the region’s coal.
•A stallion named Blaze, foaled in 1779, is the breed’s foundation sire. He stood 16.1 hands and had the two markings that Clydesdales have become known for: a white blaze on his face and four white feet.
•On average, Clydesdales stand between 16 and 18 hands tall and weigh 1,600 to 1,800 pounds.
•Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser beer, maintains the largest herd of Clydesdales in the world: approximately 250 horses.
•A team of six Clydesdales first pulled an Anheuser-Busch wagon (filled with beer from the company’s St. Louis brewery) in 1933 to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition. Since then, the horses and hitch teams have become the beer company’s primary mascots. The horses appear in print ads, marketing materials, and, of course, those Super Bowl commercials.
•In the early 1950s, Anheuser-Busch added a new animal to its Clydesdale teams—Dalmatians were fast enough to keep up with the horses and were trained to guard the wagons when drivers had to leave them unattended. Recently, the dalmatians have appeared with the Clydesdales in a series of television commercials.
To read more about draft horses, turn to page 99.
Horsey Q & A
Q: Why do velvet riding helmets have a bow at the back?
A: Like so many things, the bow once had historical significance but now is just tradition. The English started putting ribbons on their hunting hats in the 1700s. The color of the ribbon denoted the type of hunting: fox hunters wore black ribbons; stag hunters wore red. The ribbons’ length showed the hunters’ societal status: Only hunt masters and their staff were allowed to have the ends of their ribbons hang below the edges of their helmets. Commoners had to cut off or glue down the tails of their ribbons, and it was a great faux pas for the “wrong” person to have the wrong ribbon length.
Born Free
On page 17, we introduced the wild ponies of Assateague and Chincoteague. Here are two more feral herds that run free along America’s East Coast.
Banker Horses
Today, the Outer Banks, a group of islands off the coast of North Carolina that shelter the state’s shore from the Atlantic, are connected to the mainland by a bridge. But for hundreds of years, the islands were isolated . . . and so were the horses who lived there. No one seems to know for sure when they arrived. Local lore says they were shipwreck survivors, but it’s more likely they came over in the 1520s when the Spanish tried to colonize the area.
Today, about 400 horses still live on the Outer Banks, and the group has been recognized as its own breed. The Bankers look a lot like Spanish horses: they’re small (14 to 15 hands tall and 800 to 1,000 pounds) and have broad foreheads, strong backs, and silky tails and manes. They’re also generally calm and friendly and take well to domestication if captured—in fact, during the late 19th and ear
ly 20th centuries, mainlanders regularly rounded up the horses and sold them at auctions.
Banker horses adapted well over the years, and the seashore has become their natural habitat. But as people moved onto the islands, the horses had less room to roam, so locals have started moving the animals to uninhabited areas where they can be protected. On a few of the islands, the National Park Service looks after them.
Cumberland Island Horses
Off the southern coast of Georgia lies 18-mile long Cumberland Island. Most of it is undeveloped and under the protection of the National Park Service, but the rest is owned by the Carnegie family, who used it as a retreat in the early 1900s. Before that, the island hosted an English fort and then the home of Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene, whose widow built a mansion called Dungeness there. The mansion burned to the ground during the Civil War, but its stone walls and chimneys remain and are a frequent grazing spot for the island’s feral horses.
On Cumberland, the horses rule. Cars aren’t allowed (except National Park vehicles), and rangers warn visitors to yield to horses in their path—the animals are used to human visitors, but they aren’t used to changing their habits to suit the tourists. The original stock probably came from 16th-century Spanish explorers, and over the years, the island’s various residents introduced new breeds, too. Today, about 250 horses live on the island.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Horse Lover's Companion Page 8
