November 2019

That is a cute turkey! Some folks are so creative....

Welcome to November. Sounds like winter is coming.

Don't forget to check out SVET's message on the last day of October. She cordially invites you to her new forum that includes several of the AMMI and HorseNet people.

GRAYMARE:
I did notice that DONNA posts there most mornings in case you are trying to contact her.


It is 32 degrees here this morning. ewwww.....

After a rainy day yesterday, this morning dawned bright and clear, and COLD. 26°. The leaves are dropping rather quickly now.

Ark, you do find really cute pictures. I very much appreciate you keeping this board going, even though there aren't many of us left.

At least it's not snowing Ellen................My SIL stated yesterday it was snowing at her house
outside of Chicago.

On to the races.................

ARK, ha, I can't open the box now to get the addy for SVET's site.............

Everyone have a great day. Boy, between the fires and bad Storme in our country
it's a mess. Prayers for those folks.

And, so sorry about Jessi's SIL, CB. That's hard at her age..............

It didn't snow here yesterday, but it was darned close to it.

GRAYMARE:
Here is the website for SVET's group. You have to sign up to get into it. The photo is from the Kansas City Foopfest on the home page. It's worth going there just to see that!

https://groups.io/g/AMMI

SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT!!! British Idiom won the Juvenile Fillies race.
If anybody had been watching me, they would have thought I had completely lost my mind.

Congratulations Ellen and to your friends.............I'm sure they're delirious.........

Trick or Treating was delayed until this evening, so I had three little trick or treaters. One was a skeleton, one was a witch, and the third was an owl. They were pretty well sugared up, but they will probably crash in a little while. Since they don't have to go to school tomorrow, Mommy said they could have all they wanted. She doesn't do that very often at all.
Little Nora was having a great time, talking up a storm.

Hi everyone,

We had no trick or treaters here. 0. The kids here all go to their churches. My friend
in a different neighborhood had around 40.......they were all older kids like jr high and
above.

Pray for safe travels for Svet as she is going to see her mother.

God bless.

Ellen, I guess today was not Hog Creek Hustle's day, but he stayed in the group for
6th...............

I am the couch potato of the year. I've folded all the clothes and took the sheets
to the clothesline...........

Brandi told me that they didn't expect Hog Creek Hustle to win. It isn't the kind of footing that he likes; it's really deep. She was still just excited to be there and to have two of their horses to make it to the Breeders Cup. They had Classic Empire there about 5 years ago. For a small operation, they have done very well.
They are taking the red eye home tonight because they have some horses going through a sale tomorrow. Then, I expect there will be some nap taking. LOL

I'll bet napping will happen when they slow down...........I'm worn out from watching the races,
I ride each one.................LOL

Graymare wrote:

I'll bet napping will happen when they slow down...........I'm worn out from watching the races,
I ride each one.................LOL

So do I, and I'm still exhausted today.  And now I'm shattered by that breakdown, especially coming in the last race and casting a pall over a really wonderful weekend of racing.

I honestly have no idea if this will post.  I've been trying to catch up with everyone for a couple of days, but have never posted here myself.  We'll see if it works.

ELLEN:
Congrats to your friends!!! How exciting that must be for them! I didn't catch any of the races, but do like hearing about them. Pix?

DOTTIE:
WooHoo!! So good to see you here!! Your post came thru just fine. How ya doing? How close are those fires? Too bad about that last race. I suspect its more than just the footing. I do wish they'd start the horses a year later, that might help.

GRAYMARE:
I know what you mean . When I watch someone cantering on a movie or t.v., I can feel myself riding along, sort of bobbing my head in time with the strides. You must be exhausted after those races!


No trick or treaters for us. It was raining on the 31st, then the make up day on Friday was windy and cool. I did see a batch of kids going into a store all dressed up on Friday afternoon, so I guess some were out.

Today is pretty, but chilly. Donnie and I finished painting the dome (the 'carpenter-who-shall-not-be-named' never showed back up after Monday). It looks nice, but needs to dry a couple of days before we put the new mesh on it. The peacock has a little 4x4 enclosure outside of his house so he can get some sun. Today I found him sitting in the middle of the mesh-less dome, looking very satisfied with himself. He managed to get out of his enclosure, but didn't seem to realize there was no mesh to keep him in the dome itself. I am not sure if he is dumb or brilliant. He may have been laughing at us when he got out of where we thought we had him caught.

Mongolian Groom was the horse injured at the breeder's cup yesterday..........taken from the track
directly to a hospital.......he was euthanized. I know no facts yet. His L hind leg must have been
broken.............Oh, gosh it makes me sick.

I was sooo sorry to hear about Mongolian Groom. He was 4.
I have talked with Brandi about what she thinks might be causing some of the problems at Santa Anita. She thinks this spring it had to do with so much rain. I sure don't claim to know anything at all about track surfaces, but they kept talking about how deep the track dirt is, and that horses get more tired running in it. That's why they didn't think that Hog Creek Hustle would do well; he doesn't like that kind of footing.
The commentators talked quite a bit about the horses being vetted by three different vets several times before they were allowed to race.
I completely agree about waiting a year to race them. I talked to Brandi about that one time too. She relates it to kids playing soccer and football and getting hurt. The difference is that you can't lay a horse down for 6 or 8 weeks while a broken bone heals like would be done with a kid.
However, Justify was not raced as a two year old, and he was lame after the Triple Crown. They might have been able to bring him back, but I guess he was too valuable as a stud to risk it.

As for riding along, I do that over jumps. My leg muscles will react as if I was riding. LOL And it certainly wasn't because I was especially good at it. Mediocre at best.

It's 6:30 and completely dark today.

I know I don't get here often, but I love seeing what is going on in all of your lives.

I saw that Donna posted in her own little chapter in the basket.

I've managed to catch a bug. Sore throat, plugged ears. Not enough to call sick but enough to not feel like doing anything. I haven't done a darn thing today. At least I got a few things done yesterday so the weekend wasn't a total bust.

Update on shoulder injury: Im starting on my second week of not having my sling for my shoulder. Im able to sleep better / longer at night. However, I still must be careful to not put much strain on the joint.

Also: I can drive again!! ... Kubota tractor for yard work as well as my pickup. THAT means a lot to me!!

Nothing else of any great importance happening with me. I realize Im not on here much like I used to be, but not anything really happening around here. I do read here everyday to keep up with whats happening elsewhere.

My best to all … Love, Rick

I guess that this is the place, rofl. It looks familiar anyway. Very Happy I think the wording was what was throwing me. I was looking for post and couldn't find it anywhere.

Hi to all the FOOPS that I haven't seen for quite a while. I see some on FB and some on AMMI email but there are more that I don't ever see.

I'm fine, keeping very busy with the gym, tea with my friends afterwards, errands and then home to do some housework (or not). I go to a cooking class once a week. Nothing much has changed since I was here last. I'm still involved in OES and Church committees, and other activities. I don't want to be involved in anything that requires a regular, every week commitment so pick and choose.

Tommy Girl has moved to New Brunswick with the guy that is her keeper. He took a job at a large equine facility and wanted to take her with him as he knew that I didn't have anyplace to board her here. She is fat and healthy, except for her knee. She developed arthritis in one knee and has been ridden very lightly by really young kids in his riding program, just walk and jog. That keeps her active and she is so good with these kids. Adults had to hold her back to keep her in form and slow but with the kids she just goes slow like she knows she has precious cargo. I miss the barn but don't miss the twice daily trip to the barn and the fact that I couldn't go anywhere. Allison is not interested in her at all so it was an easy decision to let her move with Nick.

The Girls ar all grown up and busy in their lives. Allison lives in Antigonish, that is about five-six hours from me.She works for her BF who is a carpenter contractor with a huge business. She looks after the mini home line that they build while he looks after the huge, expensive houses. She is very happy and he is a great guy so that is all that I can ask. He is so good to her. Erin is in Halifax and works for a Chartered Accountant firm that she worked with during her University work terms. She graduated with her Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie in May. John's Boys are getting up there too, Chase is in University now too and Cameron in grade 11.

It will be nineteen years on the 8th of this month that Tracey died. It doesn't seem possible that it is that long ago, I miss her every day. I think I have been on here since Jack died. If I haven't, he passed away in June of 2017. I don't mind being alone as I keep busy and have Fergie (my poodle) to keep me company.

Well, it is suppertime for me so I'll quit for now. I hope all of you are well, horsing around and eating fudge Smile

Donna

Good Morning Foops,

Rick, good to see something from you. Havent seen you for such a long time, once in a while I see a post on FB. What did you do to your shoulder?

I had to get up, I kept dreaming the same dream and it makes no sense. I was dreaming about my mother (who has been gone since 1986) who was in the hospital and dying. The parking lot was full of hearses and I threw my luggage in one!!!! It was a very disturbing dream, of course I'm questioning what is coming. Glad I'm up and can see daylight breaking.

Two days is a row to be posting here. I did find the Reply place after I had sent the post yesterday.

Going to be a beautiful day. Have a wash ready to go out when the sun is up far enough. I had a deck put on the house this summer and it is so nice to be able to just sit out and veg but most important is that my clothes line is there within reach. Love clothes dried outside.

Enough rambling. You can tell I live alone, Fergie doesn't carry on much of a conversation.

All have a good day.

Donna

Hi all,

I'm up early as usual. It's my bedtime early evening, too.. It's great to hear from Donna
and Rick.........Gosh, really glad you can drive again. And, Donna,I still hang the sheets
outside.

It's 4:15 A Az time. I wake up to go to the bathroom, and then let Rex out, and then I'm bright eyed awake. Then I turn on the local morning news which is crazy. I almost think it is fiction as times have changed so.much. I don't even know what Vapor Fly shoes are, let alone spend the money to
own some................

Everyone have a great day.............

I didn't know what Vapor Fly shoes were either, so I had to look it up. They are Nike sneakers.

Me too, Ellen..............for $249.00..............holy cow.

ELLEN......the reason all of us who spent last winter here in So. Cal. are sure the rain was the cause of most of the breakdowns is because the track was unavailable for horses to school on for weeks and weeks at a time, and we all know that the only way a horse can be racing fit is for it to gallop.  You can't get air into a horse on a machine, or jogging it up and down the shed row..............and, while a horse can be healthy without galloping, without the regular aerobic exercise, it isn't going to have the air for a race............and without having enough air, you have a horse who's full of adrenaline, and wants to run, but gets leg weary long before the finish line and keeps trying to run at full stride anyway......so when it takes a bad step because of not having enough circulation to its extremities to control them, the results are devastating injuries.  It isn't a coincidence that horses couldn't school on the track and they broke down in record numbers in races, it was inevitable.........and the situation is like the elephant in the room........the horsemen know it was the rain, but they can't explain that to the protestors, or the media, or everyone in other areas who didn't know the track was closed almost every day.  So they're all scratching their heads and worrying about the footing.  I honestly don't know if a return to synthetic footing would make any difference in how long it would take the track to dry out between rains or not.......and,  hopefully, we won't have that kind of rain again this year.

 Another factor in breakdowns lately is the fact that a lot of horses are being given a drug that isn't illegal  and doesn't test anyway......and I think the trainers think of it as a sort of supplement......but it's that stuff that they were hyping for post menopausal women to strengthen their bones.........only now they're not hyping it because there have been problems with it, and one of the biggest problems has been spontaneous femur fractures in the women who used it.   It's possible that some of the people who give it to their horses aren't aware of what it is or that there are problems with it.

It's nice to see everyone.  I've missed you!