GIACOMO - Surprise winner of the Kentucky Derby

Sometimes surprises happen...even in the world of big-time horse racing. When they happen there, a few brave souls actually make a lot of money! The winner of the 2005 Kentucky Derby was one of those profitable surprises.

No one expected the beautiful dapple-gray thoroughbred, Giacomo to win that day. Mastis, one of the star unicorns of Behind the Mist and Mists of Darkness is a dapple-gray. That is my favorite color although I don't buy a horse for color. Anyway, his sire, Harry Bull failed to live up to his reputation in the 1994 Derby and came in 12th instead of the expected winner's circle appearance. Not only that, but the same jockey rode both father and son! So, of course everyone was thinking "like father, like son." But, surprise, surprise. The son vindicated the father and zoomed across the finish line first! It was also the first win for jockey Mike Smith after 12 Derby tries.

Don't you love it when the underdog wins!

I found an interesting fact on www.horse-races.net. They said on that site that "Giacomo is owned and was bred by Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Moss. They live in Los Angeles and have been active in Thoroughbred racing and breeding for many years. Moss is the co-founder of A & M racords along with partner Herb Alpert of the Tijuana Brass. They sold A & M to Polygram in 1990 but Moss remains active in the music business today. This is shown by the fact that Giacomo is named after recording artist Sting's 9-year-old son."

He is now at stud and loves to show off for his many visitors. He loves people and they love him! And he loves red peppermints as do my  horses!

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The Print version of Mists of Darkness will be out soon!

IAN MILLER - 10th Olympics and future unicorn rider

Above, you will see the fantastic show jumping of team Canadian Ian Miller on Star Power. Of course, you will not be surprised to learn that the equestrian events are my favorite Olympic sports and I was only able to see a little. I get tired of the track and swimming events, sorry. I want to share with you some information on the Olympian who has been in the most Olympics...Ian Miller, the 65 year old rider from Ontario, Canada. Ian has been an Olympic competitor for 40 years. The only Olympics he has missed was in 1980 when the Canadians and many other western countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics for political reasons. In Canada, Miller is known as "Captain Canada." He is a national sports hero. He has won the jumping world's World Cup twice but only one Olympic Medal...that was in China where he rode a clean round with a broken hand and still came home with a silver!

 Speaking of broken hands. Did any of you read that stupid article by the woman who calls herself a journalist. She argued that Roller Derby should be in the Olympics but Dressage should not. She claimed that the most you could get hurt in Dressage was to break a fingernail. She continued to show her ignorance when she wrote that she didn't know much about Dressage, only that you have to jump over "little puddles without getting a foot wet and jump over little fences without knocking down a board." Well, she said one thing right...she doesn't know much about dressage...I would venture to say that she knows NOTHING about Dressage or any other equestrian sport for that matter!

 Enough of my ranting. Back to Ian Miller. When Ian Miller competed in the Olympics this year, he did so as one of the oldest Olympians. As I mentioned before, he is 65 years old...and he isn't quiting yet. He still has his eyes set on Rio de Janeiro in 2016. He says he just keeps getting better. The key will be how his horse, Star Power, is doing. I want to nominate Ian Miller to become a Unicorn Rider. He certainly deserves the title. He is an inspiration to all of us and proof that Equestrian sports are a life-long sport.

Once the Olympics are over, read

Behind the Mist and Mists of Darkness.

If you love horses and fantasy, you will love the first two books of The Mist Trilogy.

MOLLY THE THREE-LEGGED PONY

I, like most equestrians, always figured if the horse loses a leg, the owner loses a horse. While that is true 99.999999999999999999999999% of the time, there is a pony who beat the odds.
Molly was a victim of Hurricane Katrina. She was rescued by Kay Harris. That should have been a happy ending but, alas, Kaye also rescued a pit bull who attacked the pony and mauled her off-front leg. The vets at LSU amputated the leg and fixed her up with a prothesus. Now, this precious pony brings hope to children who have also lost a limb. Watch the news story below.



OTHER NEWS:
Neville the Devil (see the post on June 25, 2012) made it on the Olympic Team. I seem to be focusing on horses (and, therefore people,) who overcome the odds. Most of us are struggling right now. Let us look to our animal friends for good examples of rising above and reaching our potential!

Colorado Horses in the path of the wildfires!

My beautiful state is on fire! Between the damage to the trees from the pine beetles and the dry winter and spring, we have fires buring all over our beautiful mountains. Most, but sadly not all were started by lightening. I am including a notification I received from the US Equestrian Federation about a fund they have started to help take care of the hundreds of horses that are now without homes.

USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund


From the USEF Communications Department

Lexington, KY - Fires blazing across the Colorado landscape have together burned more than 100,000 acres in the past few weeks. The Waldo Canyon and High Park fires near Colorado Springs and Fort Collins respectively have ravaged the natural beauty of the area, destroyed nearby homes, and left many displaced people wondering what to do next. For horse owners that uncertainty is even greater. Hundreds of horses have already been displaced and, while local Horse Parks, Fairgrounds, and Equestrian Centers have graciously opened up to evacuated horses, the cost of caring for those horses magnifies the stresses of an already trying time. Efforts to help are already underway but outside assistance is badly needed.

With the support of CEO John Long, the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) asks that equestrians, equestrian fans, and all people who share a love for horses make a donation to the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund. Cooler weather and calmer winds are helping firefighters in Colorado contain the blazes, but the cost of relocating, feeding, and caring for horses is a burden that local residents and humane societies will carry long after the fires have ceased to burn. With luck, many horses will be returning home soon, but some will have no home left to return to. With your help we can ensure that all affected horses are well cared for and help Colorado's devastated communities re-build.

NEVILLE BARDOS-From Glue Factory to Celestia

I love stories about children who grow up in the worst of circumstances but rise above all the challenges that life throws at them. Some horses have done the same. Take the chestnut, thoroughbred gelding Neville Bardos for example. The 16.1 hand beauty with a wide, off-center, white blaze down his face was born in Scone, Australia. Bred to race, he proved to be a washout on the track and a problem-child to boot. On his way to the glue factory, an Australian rider and trainer by the name of Boyd Martin yelled over the fence, "I'll buy him." So, for $850 Martin had himself a horse. For a while, the rider thought  he had made a mistake. Not only was the horse difficult to work with but he had the awful habit of "Wind Sucking" or Cribbing. This is very addictive behavior and is often treated with a "cribbing collar" that prevents them from expanding their windpipe enough to suck in large gulps of air. It turned out that the cribbing collar would later save his live. The horse's bad behavior caused Boyd to name  him after a hot-headed gangster from a movie and the nick name: Neville the Devil!

Boyd Martin is a champion Event rider and trainer. In Mists of Darkness-Book Two of the Mist Trilogy ,

now available exclusively on Amazon's Kindles, the evil unicorn, Hasbadana, sends his mist of darkness to the Rolex Three-Day Event in Kentucky to persuade many of the horses competing there to join  his army of

rebels. Eventing is the Tri-athelon of Equestrian sports. Here is a video of Neville on the cross country course.

In 2007, Boyd Martin moved to the US and set up an eventing stable in Pennsylvania. . In 2011, Martin's barn caught on fire. Six of the eleven horses were killed. Neville was the last horse to escape, Boyd leading him out of the black, smoke-filled barn by his cribbing collar!  Neville miraculously healed from both the burns and the far more serious smoke inhalation. He spent an hour a day in an oxygen tank for two weeks.

Now, this USEF International Horse of the Year is gearing up to represent the US in this summer's Olympics in London. The final eventing team will be announced in July and I will let you know if he makes the team.

Add Mists of Darkness to your collection of wonderful Horse and fantasy books! It is available now exclusively on Amazon's Kindle Store. It will be out in print soon!

Author Marketing Club

Are any of you authors of ebooks out there...not just about horses, of courses! If so, you can get great ideas and helps promoting your book on the Author Marketing Club Website.

FIRST FEMALE GRADUATE FROM THE SPANISH RIDING SHCOOL...AND FUTURE UNICORN RIDER!

Hannah Zeitlhofer shown here with one of the Spanish Riding School's stallions.

(photo courtesy of the Spanish Riding School.)

Women equestrians have always competed on an even playing field with men at all shows...including the Olympics. And we have done very well, I might add. But, until last month, there was one prestigious organization that had never included a woman rider in its ranks...The infamous Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Four years ago, they finally admitted the first female to train under their rigourous program.

She was admitted to become and "eleve" or apprentice rider. She was trained for hours a day on the lounge line then dismounted to clean stalls, tack and horses.

But now, things have changed for Hannah. In April, 2012, she made equestrian history when she and one other rider, Christopher Egger, were advanced to the level of "Assistant Rider" thus qualifying to perform with the Lipizzan stallions. Hannah is the first woman to reach this rank! Way to go, Hannah! All of us women equestrians both admire you and feel just a little bit jealous!

As you know, I love dressage and the Spanish Riding School has taken this art form to the highest level. I wrote a detailed post about the SRS on Feb. 22, 2012. You can read it for more information.

In the first book of my trilogy: Behind the Mist, Nick is trained to become the first unicorn rider. In the second book of the trilogy: Mists of Darkness, Bethany begins her training in an attempt to become the second. It was just released exclusively on Amazon's Kindles for three months before you can find it elsewhere. So, I am nominating Hannah to become a unicorn rider some day!
Congratulations, Hannah!

Information for this post was taken from Equus.

Send me the story of your noble and great horse to: mjevansbtm@gmail.com.

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http://www.behindthemist.com/

Mists of Darkness-Book Two of the Mist Trilogy has just been released and is available as a three month exclusive on Amazon's Kindle.