BLACK JACK - Earned his Unicorn horn in the Army

November 22, 1963. That morning is seared in my memory like a brand on a horse's haunches. I was sitting in Mr. Lomax's music appreciation class at Lake Oswego Junior High School. It was a windowless room made of cement bricks that had been painted a pastel color, probably blue. Mr. Lomax was desperately trying to get a group of seventh graders to understand some aspect of music theory, a subject that I wouldn't appreciate until I was thirty, when a voice came over the intercom and interrupted, permanently, Mr. Lomax's lecture. President John F. Kennedy had been shot. A few other events are equally embedded in my memory: my marriage, the birth of my children and historical events like the first moon walk, 9/11, and today's anniversary...the Columbine shootings (we Coloradoans really remember that day!) But surprisingly few. If you weren't alive at that time, you probably can't envision what it was like. The media had made us believe that we were living in Camelot with King Arther (or, perhaps Lancelot) at our lead. It was like looking in a mirror and having it suddenly shatter before your face. I remember watching the funeral on our black and white T.V. I remember seeing a lovely, lean black horse being led down the crowd-lined avenue, riderless with riding boots placed in the stirrups...backwards.

(Photo taken by Ron Williams from the Arlington National Cemetary Website.)

I want to share with you what I found out about this horse. His name was Black Jack. He was named for the General of the Armies: John "Black Jack" Pershing. He was foaled on January 19, 1947 and became the last of the Quartermaster - issue horses. He entered the 3rd U.S. Infantry Stables at Ft. Myer on September 22, 1953. He was given the last Quartermaster brand on the left shoulder and the army serial number 2V56 on the left side of his neck. Black Jack served a long and honorable army career, including participating in the funerals of President Kennedy in 1963, President Hoover in 1964, President L. Johnson in 1964 and Five Star General Douglas MacArthur in 1964. When a riderless horse is led in a funeral procession he is called a "Caparisoned Horse." He is the symbol of a warrior who would ride no more. Apparently the tradition started with Genghis Khan. The draping on the horse, including the backward boots are part of the tradition. Black Jack died on February 6, 1976. His remains were laid to rest in a plot at Fort Myer, Virginia. He joined Comanche as the only other horse buried with full military honors. In the horse fantasy story, Behind the Mist, it is the noble and great horses that are chosen to become Unicorns once they enter animal heaven. If they complete their training, they are inducted into the prestigious Legion of the Unicorn. I, hereby, nominate Black Jack, the last Army horse, to the Legion of the Unicorn!

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SEABISCUIT - looks down from Animal Heaven

With an informative book and movie out about Seabiscuit, you undoubtedly know a lot about this amazing horse and his story. Horse stories are wonderful, especially when they are true! As you watched the end of the video about the match race at Pimlico did you notice the jockey, The Iceman, on Seabisuit turn back after he crossed the finish line and yell something to War Admiral's jockey? I wish I knew what he said! When the two horses were head to head, Woolf said, "So Long, Charlie!" and Seabiscuit took off. Let me back "track" and give you some background on this famous horse: Seabiscuit was born on May 23, 1933. He was the son of Hard Tack and the grandson of Man 'O War. His name came from his father's, both of which stand for the crackers eaten by sailors. He grew up on Clairborne Farms in Paris, Kentucky and was owned by Gladys Mills Phipps. He had a rather inauspicious start in life. He was small and knobby kneed and his only desire in life was to eat and sleep. (Party Hardy in the second book of The Mist Trilogy: Mists of Darkness is like that!) He failed to win his first ten races. As a two year old he was raced 35 times. (Readers of this blog know how I feel about that!) Even with such a hard race schedule, he managed to still win five times and come in second seven times. In the great scheme of things, that is very good. However, he didn't catch any one's eye. Three of those races were "claiming" races where he could have been purchased for $2,500. No one claimed him. Seabiscuit was sold as a three year old to auto entrepreneur, Charles S. Howard for $8,000 who saw something in the awkward, lazy colt that he liked. He hired washed-up and unconventional trailer, Tom Smith. Smith, in turn hired Canadian Jockey, Red Pollard. Their formula worked for Seabiscuit. His fame spread as he began winning races under ever increasing amounts of weight. In 1937, Seabiscuit was the leading money winner, winning eleven out of fifteen races. That was also the year the beautiful War Admiral won the triple crown. (As I wrote The Mist Trilogy, I pictured the evil unicorn Hasbadana looking like War Admiral!) In 1938, Pollard was badly injured while racing another horse so his friend George Woolf, nicknamed the Iceman, was selected to ride the "Biscuit." Throughout 1937 and 1938, while the country suffered under the effects of the Great Depression, speculation was rampant about a match between Seabiscuit and War Admiral. While the west coast favored the Biscuit, the rest of the country put their money, if not their hearts, on War Admiral. The long anticipated "Match of The Century" was held on Nov. 1, 1938. The grandstands and infield were packed with 40,000 people while 40 million more listened over the radio. The video shows you the results of that race! Seabiscuit was named the 1938 "Horse of the Year" and the little brown colt became the national symbol of hope through hard work...something we need now! Not long thereafter, Seabisuit tore a suspensory ligament in a race. He and his friend, Red Pollard went to Charles Howard's ranch to recover together. Slowly, they both learned to walk and run again. Against all odds, Seabiscuit, with Pollard aboard, did race and win again. Their big comeback was in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap where they walked away with the $121,000 purse. Seabiscuit was retired on April 10 and lived out his life at Ridgwood Ranch in Willits, CA. He received 500,000 visitors a year! A statue of Seabiscuit was erected at the ranch on June 23, 2007. Side note: There was an earlier movie about Seabiscuit filmed in 1949/50 titled "The Story of Seabiscuit" staring Shirley Temple! All of you Shirley Temple fans should check it out!

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ARKLE - Greatest Steeplechaser of all time

This blog is dedicated to the Noble and Great horses in our lives and throughout history. In Behind the Mist, the reader learns that these are the horses, that are chosen to become unicorns in the animal heaven. Behind the Mist is the fantasy for horse story lovers!



















Do any of you remember the movie, "National Velvet?" I LOVED that movie. It starred a teenaged Elizabeth Taylor and a very young Mickey Rooney. That was a wholesome, touching movie that really focused on horses as oppposed to some horse movies where the horses are just an after-thought. That was my first exposure to steeplechasing - races of various lengths that include jumps. This is a cool video with great horse clips from the movie.


Considered the greatest steeplechaser of all time, Arkle was a bay Thoroughbred Gelding born on the 19th of April, 1957. His father was Archive. His mother was Bright Cherry (I like that name!) He was bred at Ballymacdl Stud farm, near Naul, Dublin County, Ireland, by Mary Alison Baker. He was owned by Anne, Duchess of Westminster, trained by Tom Dreaper (who also trained his archrival) and ridden by Pat Taaffe.

Arkle had a strange quirk. When he jumped, he crossed his front legs. Even with that, he won 27 of his 35 starts at varying distances and often carrying lots of extra weight. In fact, the Irish Grand National racing authorities devised two different handicap weight systems: one for when Arkle wasn't racing and one for when he was!

Arkle was extremely successful during his short racing career. He won 3 Cheltenham Gold Cups in a row: 1964, 1965, and 1966, plus tons of other big races. In December of 1966, Arkle struck the guard rail at the open ditch while running in the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park. He broke the pedal bone in his hoof but finished the race anyway, coming in second. He spent the next 4 months in a cast but never raced again. His owner rode him for pleasure after that. (Called hacking.) Arkle was put down at the young age of 13.

Arkle was so famous and such a favorite in Ireland that the slogan "Arkle for President" was painted on a wall in Dublin. Everyone referred to him as "Himself" and fan mail was sent to him addressed simply as: "Himself, Ireland" and it would get there!

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RUFFIAN - Lost race, Lost Life

In Behind the Mist, The reader learns that the noble and great horses on earth are selected to become unicorns in the afterlife. This blog is dedicated to the Noble and Great horses that we know and love.

Ruffian may well have been the greatest thoroughbred filly to ever race. She won all ten of her races. On the eleventh race, she not only lost the race but she lost her life. This is the story of Ruffian, a noble and great horse that has surely earned her horn.

The beautiful filly, Ruffian, was born on April 17, 1972. Her racing career was phenominal. But it ended suddenly and tragically. In her eleventh race she was paired up with the 1975 Kentucky Derby winner, ..... It was billed as the "Equine Battle of the Sexes." Both horses had been ridden by the same jockey, Jacinto Vasquez. For this highly publisized race, Vasquez chose to ride Ruffian, thinking her the better horse. 18 million T.V. views joined the 50,000 people at Belmont Park to watch the race. The 1st quarter was run in an astonishing 22 and 1/2 seconds and Ruffian was ahead by a nose. About 1 furlong later, Ruffian was ahead by half a length. Suddenly, both sesamoid bones in her right foreleg snapped. The poor jockey struggled to get her to stop running but wasn't able to do so before her leg was pulverized.

After three hours of surgery, Ruffian awoke and began wildly thrashing about while laying on her side on the padded floor of the recovery stall. Her wild flailing undid all the repair work done during the surgery and the vets were forced to euthanize her.

I struggle everytime I see a race horse break her leg. My hanovarian, Jazz, (yes, he is the star of Behind The Mist,) didn't even have a rider on his back until he was four. These thoroughbreds are raced at TWO! I wish that could be changed.

People have suggested that the in-breeding is to blame for the delicate bones. Indeed, Ruffian seemed to have inherited weak bones. Her sire, Reviewer suffered four breaks before being put down. Her dam, Shenanigans, was put down after the second break. Her Damsire, Native Dancer, is considered the purveyer of "softbones."

One good thing happened as a result of Ruffian's death. It led to the invention of the "Recovery Pool," where horses awaken from surgery suspended in a pool of warm water.

Ruffian is buried by a flagpole in the infield of Belmont Park with her nose pointed toward the finish line. She was posthumously awarded the 1975 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Three-year-old filly. Sports Illustrated listed her as the only non-human on their list of Best 100 Female Athletes of the Century! She was 53rd on the list. Also, in her honor, the Ruffian Equine Medical Center opened on May 26, 2009. It is located outside Gate 8 of Belmont Park.

Attached is a touching tribute to her life. Beware, the beginning is quite disturbing.

The words to the song let you picture Ruffian galloping through the animal heaven as it is described in Behind the Mist.

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