Spring Doings
March came in like a lamb in my neck of the woods and although cold at night, and even if we had a dusting of snow last week, the grass is turning green, the willow trees have leaves and the pastures are showing signs of life. I have to cross a large ranch on my way to and from work and almost every cow has a calf. The other day there was a big group of them close by the highway. They don’t play like horses who love to play race, chase and mock fighting. Calves mostly just gambol and play at butting heads. Anyway, it was fun to watch them carrying on as their mothers watched from close by. Do you know cows will babysit other cow’s calves? You will often see a bunch of calves lying down and one mama cow standing guard while the rest of the herd goes off to water. Cows often range far from water holes looking for food and the babies can’t always make it back that far.
Speaking of cows, one of my neighbors runs a bunch of steers down in the river that runs by my house. Well, I doubt many of you would call it a river although it can get pretty furious when we get a big storm. It bubbles up out of the ground (this river runs both on top of and underground) about a mile north of me and flows sort of like a creek past my property. There is a lot of wildlife down there and some good grass. It’s pretty cool to live on a river when you are in Arizona and I must admit that was one of the reasons I bought my place. Back to the cows. A dead tree fell on my fence last summer and even though I cut the tree off, it lowered and loosened the wire. If there is any weakness in a fence, cattle will find it, and they did. I heard the horses running before I saw the line of cows moving past the arena out in a far corner of the property. My thoroughbreds are not very cattle-wise and they thought the devils had come to get them. Butch, the old horse, is an ex-rope horse – he knows cattle are good for chasing, and he looked at Tizzy and Nae Doot like they were nuts – racing around with head and tails up, their eyes bulging.
I called my neighbors and pretty soon they came and rounded them up. It was an exciting morning. I thought that was the end of it and that they would fix the fence because their cows had torn it down. But nooooo. The cattle were back the next day and when I called the neighbors, they told me technically, I had to fix the fence because this was open range. I thought when our little town incorporated, we were no longer considered open range, but I guess it was just the town itself and the open range law says I have to fence cattle out if I don’t want them on the property. However my neighbors were nice and they did come fix the fence.
Ok, enough about cows. I have slowly but surely been sprucing the property up. I had a cement slab torn out (the tree roots had cracked it to the point where it was dangerous) and had a new one poured so I have a nice patio. The painters are coming this month to paint the outside of the house and I will do the inside when it is warm enough that I can open a window and let out the fumes. The mower man finally came and the fields look wonderful. I am probably going to have to put the farm up for sale one of these years and buy something smaller. I am 65 and I no longer can run up and down these hills like I used to, mending fences and fixing sprinklers. Matt is a big help and I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it this long if it wasn’t for him.
The racehorses have been doing well. Cash Receipt finally made a start after being in training for 5 months and even after being off almost a year he didn’t disgrace himself for $20k claim. Unfortunately he didn’t come back well and may need a new home soon. That is so disappointing as according to my trainer, he is the best horse, talent-wise, that I own. Not to mention it took five months to get him ready to run.
Personally, I think Icy is my best and he won another race the early part of February. That makes four in the last nine months and is pretty good for a cheap claimer. He runs next in a three race marathon series. I don’t think he can get the final distance but he should be ok for the first race and maybe the second. Unfortunately the first race is a claim and you need to keep from getting haltered. He set a blistering pace and I thought sure he who is first the first part of the race will surely be last at the end, but he kept going and finished second back ¾ of a length for all of it. Best of all I got to keep him. He came back pretty tired but very proud of himself. He is such a cool horse.
Barilla also found her way to the winner’s circle. It was a terrible field but then we don’t care what we beat as long as we beat them. You know the old saying – Keep yourself in the best of company and your horse in the worst. Anyway, I was pretty proud of her too, and she got lots of peppermints. I haven't seen her win picture yet as my trainer hasn't sent it, but I hear it is a nice one.
Crown Secret has been retired. Fillies have a way of letting you know when they are no longer interested in racing and she was telling me she didn’t want to play anymore. So she is now in New Mexico at the court of Silver Wagon. He is a multiple Grade I winner, taking the Hopeful at Saratoga as a 2 YO and also The Grade I Carter Handicap at Aqueduct as a 6 YO. Some nice people bought him and shipped him out from New York to stand in New Mexico. He certainly appears to be the best in our area and so I didn’t hesitate to book Secret to him to him. Besides, he’s gray. So only a couple of years after I said - no more babies – here I go again! I haven’t decided whether to bring her back to Arizona to foal or leave her in New Mexico, which has a very lucrative breeder program.
So that is about it for this time. Spring is a busy time here but it is sure nice seeing the leaves coming out and the grass turning green. I have to go renew my driver’s license tomorrow and I am terrified I won’t pass. Then I have to get started on my taxes. YUK!
