Photo Thoughts Part 11: Horses

When I see pictures of Thoroughbred yearlings and weanlings in my Twitter feed, I marvel at how large and mature they already are. Dingus, nearing a year and a half in age, is the size of a weanling bred for the track. His three year old sister was ready for training a year ago, at two, not as a yearling like most of the horses I see across the racing world.

I'm not knocking the racing industry. Instead, I am simply marveling at the variety in horses.

Dingus will be ready physically for backing at two and a half years, in the winter of 2018/2019. I have a year to make sure that he is mentally ready, too.

Thoroughbreds are often backed between the ages of one and two, and are already galloping and doing more finesse maneuvers by the time their second birthday rolls around. Some, especially precocious ones with birthdays later in the spring, are nearing their first workouts.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Lippizans often aren't backed until fully mature - between four and six. It is a heavy, sturdy breed bred for the show ring. The finest Austrian-bred stallions perform in the Spanish Riding School, and the mares do other work or are kept exclusively for breeding. And they can live useful lives well into their thirties.

Dingus's purpose in life is to be versatile. He is to be a mount for the children, if/when his mind is ready for that, and to track cattle, reenact, trail ride, and be a good all-round gelding.

Gelding. Yeah, we still need to do that. Blegh.

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Big news: I am delaying the release of my book. I just ordered my proof copy this week and it won't be here in time for the release this weekend, so I am delaying that until November 20.

Sorry!

Well, it's Ma's birthday. Yay! Happy birthday to my beloved's grandmother and the great-grandmother of my son!

Dingus has been worked with this week several times, and he remembers his lessons from a year ago! And, he has grown up a lot, so it's easier than ever to lead him around without him throwing a tantrum. That's good, because at his size and strength that could be quite dangerous.

As far as the Breeders' Cup goes, I picked the winners of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, Breeders' Cup Distaff, and Breeders' Cup Mile, with 3 coming in second and 6 third. I picked a total of two per race, or twenty-six horses, and 12 finished in the money - a 46.2% success rate. My winners were Mendelssohn, Forever Unbridled, and World Approval, while Sharp Azteca, Rhododendron, and Beach Patrol came in second, and September, Paradise Woods, Disco Partner, Mind Your Biscuits, Bolt d'Oro, and Highland Reel were third.

It's gonna be an interesting winter. Holidays always make it that way, and with Yance around it will be even more interesting than usual.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, followed by Christmas and the New Year. We have two new Baker great-grandbabies to enjoy!

I'm featuring another Breyer model - a perfect gift for a horse-loving child that you know.

American Pharoah, Classic size. And I actually have this one, a Christmas gift last year!

I watched both his Belmont and Breeders' Cup Classic wins, and this horse is utterly fantastic. His first weanlings are selling this week, and are lovely stock indeed. If you want to know more, look him up on Wikipedia.