The $45 horse

A friend of ours mentioned to Darren that he wanted to sell cheaply or give away the horse he had racing last night, after his race. He had asked Darren to hold him in the paddock and cool him out, and mentioned that the horse had to go afterwards. The 9 yo "Countontherun" has a pathetic form, but he DID win a race last year and has lifetime earnings of about $100k - far from a hopeless case. Darren asked me to go look at the horse whilke he was feeding ours dinner, and when I pointed out his lack of recent success on the track he mentioned that perhaps I could use him as a lead pony or for the kids to ride. I almost had a heart attack - my SO suggesting I get a horse NOT for a racehorse!!! YES!! We must encourage this type of behavior, no matter what, am I right ladies? :)

So I walk over to the next barn to look at the horse - and Count's groom (and one of his former owners) was grooming him. He was tied to the front of the stall as she brushed him and he studied me as carefully as I studied him. Count had large, intelligent eyes, an attractive head with a cute stripe, good front legs, and a swollen back leg. I asked quite simply "Does his leg always look like that?" and his groom started crying. Apparently he would often "hit" or interfere and hit his back leg on the pastern when he trained or raced, and there was an accumulation of scar tissue that by its very nature made him interfere even worse because it was larger in diameter than normal. As she tried to brush him she told me that his very well meaning owner, her boss, had taken him to the farm after his last race and was turning him out daily. Great for the horse's mind, but he had developed an awful case of rain rot - he was literally ENCRUSTED with it down his back and over his rump. It is the kind that LOOKS like hair, but when you touch it feels hard as a helmet, nothing to scrub off unless you take everything off in huge patches down to his skin.

So the owner/trainer Tommy came back to the barn and tells me that he had only kept and raced this horse for the "starts" - each trainer needs to maintain a minimum # of starts to keep their stalls - and to quality for the trainers health insurance program. The horse wasn't going to hurt himself in the race and anything can happen, the rest of the field could fall down and leave him the sole horse on it's feet to cross the finish line. Dreaming a bit, but things like that DO happen sometime (altho it is usually a horse or 2, not the WHOLE FIELD!). He told me he wanted the horse to go to a good home, hopefully with a kid of his own to love and dote on him. He told me the horse needed a job to mentally challenge him, a new routine. Then he said "But I just put new front shoes on him this morning, I would like to get that $45 back, so I guess I want $45 for him" I told him I would be back in a couple mins after talking to Darren.

I got cash from Darren & came back. to Tommy's barn. I said "You want $45 for him?" and handed him 2 twenties and a five - he said "But I have to pay Darren $40 to hold him in the paddock and cool him out" and he returned the twenties. So technically he was a $5 horse - how often does get to buy a horse for $5???

Since he was my new horse, I ended up holding Count in the paddock and cooling him out myself in order to get to know him a little better. He was a bit arrogant, and very opinionated in the paddock - but perhaps he just didn't want to run or knew he wasn't going to do well. He shoved me around in there a few times and I thought "OMG what have I DONE taking on this wild man?" as Count went out on the track to run. He did ok, making a little bit of a run around the turn, then hitting a wall at the top of the lane and tiring badly. He beat 2 horses - one of which was eased. With the recent track resurfacing, the track is OH so deep, and many horses are getting dog tired on it. But it is much SAFER that way, with a nice deep cushion.

So I take him back to the barn and cool Count out - he didn't drink a single drop of water and was a pushy arrogant son of a gun. We will have to work on him respecting others' space. But he came back sound - when his previous owner/trainer came over to get the bridle and the rubbers from his bandages he commented to Darren "Boy he came back a lot better than last time out" telling me he came back a bit "off" last time (nice to hear after I bought the horse, but for $45 what can I expect?).

After cooling him out I COVERED him in MTG to try to soften up those scabbies, and covered and sweated all four of his legs with it. Never sweated with MTG before but this horse is so EXTREMELY encrusted in scabs it that I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.

So, that's the story of my $45 horse. He looks black to me but the program says chestnut - other people who have known him and worked with him in the past say he is a beautiful liver color in summertime.

Here is a pic of Count all cleaned up: