AT LAST! A TRIPLE CROWN WINNER: AMERICAN PHAROAH

HE DID IT!

THE NEW TRIPLE CROWN WINNER: AMERICAN PHAROAH

I posted earlier that I am always hoping for a triple crown winner. Finally, after 37 long, dry years, American Pharoah became only the twelfth horse to earn the title. Twenty-three horses have won the first two races: The Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but only a dozen have won all three!

Here is the list of the 12 Triple Crown Winners:
1919: Sir Barton
1930: Gallant Fox
1935: Omaha
1937: War Admiral
1941: Whirlaway
1943: Count Fleet
1946: Assault
1948: Citation
1973:Secretariat
1977: Seattle Slew
1978: Affirmed
2015: American Pharoah!!!!!


During the 1970's, as you can see from the above list, there were three triple crown winners and I had come to expect that every few years there would be one. WRONG! Thirty seven years is a LONG time to wait for a new one, especially when, every year, I am hoping for it to happen.

American Pharoah's name, including the misspelling, came from his sire: Pioneerof the Nile, and his Dam's sire: Yankee Gentleman as well as his owner/breeder's Egyptian heritage. He was born on Groundhogs Day, Feb. 2, 2012 at Stockplace Farm near Winchester, Kentucky.  He was bred and is owned by Ahmed Zayat.

American Pharoah is described as a people-lover. He is gentle and calm for a race horse. His two most outstanding characteristics are his long smooth stride, seen in this picture,

 and his short tail! Apparently, a stable mate chewed it off!

He is a beautiful bay with only a tiny hint of a star and no other white markings. You can see the star in this picture. (Jazz, the star of Behind the Mist also has a tiny white star! Perhaps American Pharoah will become a unicorn someday, too!)

Now, I must add my plea to the Thoroughbred Racing business to please stop racing these horses so young and intentionally breeding for legs that are too thin to carry their own weight! My joy at American Pharoah's victory is greatly tempered by my sadness at the loss of yet another beautiful horse on the same day at the same track in a different race. Behind a curtain out on the track, just three hours before American Pharoah raced and won, Helwan ran his last race. On the back stretch, this beautiful thoroughbred "broke down" as they call it. That means, in this case, his left front cannon bone snapped. A curtain went up and he was euthanized where the crown didn't have to see it. "Broke Down?" Really? These aren't just cars or trucks! They are living,feeling creatures. And the racing industry has caused this by its breeding practices and training and racing these horses WAY too young!

Rare? you ask. NO! Since January, 43 horses have died in training or racing...just in the state of New York!

I don't know what to do about this!

So, with a bit of an ache in my heart, I guess I'll go back to writing my latest book.

Need something great to read for the summer?
Get the Gold Medal winning trilogy: Behind the Mist, Mists of Darkness and The Rising Mist:
On the website: www.themisttrilogy.com or wherever books or ebooks are sold. 

A TRIBUTE TO SKIP

One purpose of this blog is to memorialize the noble and great horses in our lives...not just the famous ones! Here is a beautiful tribute sent in from Colorado:

A very sad yet joyful day today!!! My daughter Nicole Janitell's horse Skip went to the Rainbow Bridge. We are very sad to lose a member of our family but he is in a better place. Thank you God for all the great memories and a GREAT horse. He will live forever in our memories as our Grumpy Old Man with a huge heart!

Thank you Skip for taking care of my Nicki and giving her the love and nurturing and teaching her so many things.We will miss you and will always love you.

Send me a tribute to your special horse at: mjevansbtm@gmail.com

and I will include it on a future blog post. 

MAY 7th IS SEATTLE SLEW DAY!

I am officially declaring May 7th to be Seattle Slew Day! On May 7, 1977, the 16 hand, dark brown colt won the Kentucky Derby. On May 7, 2002, he died.

Seattle Slew was the tenth out of eleven horses to win the Triple Crown.
Every year I hope we will have a new triple crown winner even though it hardly ever happens. This year I am rooting for last Saturday's Kentucky Derby winner, American Pharaoh. In 1977, I was living in Salem, Oregon and pregnant with my first child, Bethany. But you can bet I was rooting for Seattle Slew to win the triple crown.

Seattle Slew was born on February 15, 1974 at White Horse Acres Farm new Lexington, Kentucky. He was rejected from the prestigious Keeneland Yearling Sale based upon his weak pedigree and his appearance. Everyone thought he was ugly. (Does that remind you of Seabiscuit?) He was purchased at another yearling sale by two couples from Washington State, an airline stewardess, Karen Taylor,  her lumberjack husband, Mickey and their friends Jim and Sally Hill. Jim Hill was a veterinarian. His name came from the city of Seattle and the sloughs that loggers in the Pacific Northwest use to transport heavy logs. They float them down canals. Karen changed the spelling to "slew" because she was afraid no one would spell it correctly.

This is a picture of Seattle Slew in the winner's circle at the Flamingo Stakes in Hialeah, FL.
Left to right: Groom, owner Karen Taylor and Jocky Jean Cruguet.

I wanted to include this picture of the cover of Sports Illustrated from June 20, 1977 because I love the headline: "Riding High and Handsome." Not bad for a horse that was considered too ugly to qualify for the Keeneland Auction! 

It is also important to note that Seattle Slew is the only undefeated horse to win the Triple Crown.

So remember: May 7th is SEATTLE SLEW DAY!

In the second book of The Mist Trilogy titled Mists of Darkness, the book opens with the first mist of darkness as it descends on Churchill Downs. No one can see or hear anything...except the horses who hear the evil unicorn Hasbadana trying to talk them into joining his army to conquer the world. As you might guess, only the unhappy horses agree to follow him. 

You can get the Mist Trilogy wherever books are sold. Get autographed copies on the website: www.themisttrilogy.com

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro - Olympic Gold Medallists Kur London 2012

THE GREAT VALEGRO COMES ACROSS THE OCEAN

The 2015 FEI World Cup for Dressage will begin in Las Vegas starting April 16 and the star-studded cast is arriving for the red-carpet treatment. Already adjusting to the dry air is the brightest star of all...VALEGRO! This magnificent horse was a double world champion in 2014 and has already been immortalized as a Breyer horse (that's my goal!) He was the Grand Prix Special and the Grand Prix Freestyle Champion at the World Cup last year. In fact, I don't think he has been beaten since he won the gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics. He wore gold for both the team dressage and the individual dressage with a score of 90.089%!

This Dutch Warmblood gelding was born in 2002 and stands at 16.2 hands, smaller than most of the big-name dressage horses, even shorter than my Jazz. He is ridden in competition by the British rider, Charlotte Dujardin. He was in the stable of Carl Hester when Dujardin joined his stable as a groom. She was given the opportunity to bring Valegro (called Blueberry in the barn) along to get him ready for Hester to show. What a lucky girl! Of course she deserves it. She is a fabulous rider.

So, pay attention to the results of the World Cup in Las Vegas this weekend. I'm putting my money on Valegro but I wish our U.S. riders the very best as well.

You can keep up to date by checking this link: http://www.worldcuplasvegas.com/

MY BLIND HORSE-HE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE AGAIN WHEN HE BECOMES A UNICORN!

Kit in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO

Kit at Fox Run Regional park in El Paso County, Colorado

My precious thoroughbred, Kit, is now 24 years old. I found him in a pasture in northern Colorado as a barely trained six year old. I began training him in dressage and on trails. I competed with him through 2nd level in dressage and he was the RMDS champion twice before I retired him from competition and just used him as my main trail horse. He is the cover boy of all three of my "Riding Colorado" trail guide books. I love this horse with all my heart.

On Halloween, 2014, I was on a trail ride with my friends and Kit ran into the horse in front of me. "Weird," I thought. Then,  on another ride last fall, he ran into a tree. "Weird," I thought. Then on the trail ride at Fox Run pictured above, I was standing beside him and he ran right over me! I knew something was very wrong. I started swinging my hand toward his left eye and he didn't flinch or even blink. I called my vet, Dr. Marc McCall and told him I thought Kit had lost his vision in his left eye. Dr. McCall said it was probably just a cataract and he could remove it, making his as good as new.

When Dr. McCall checked him, he discovered that it wasn't a cataract, that it was optic nerve damage and that there was nothing we could do. Kit would be blind in that eye for the rest of his life. I was heartbroken for him.

So, I started re-training Kit to get used to half a world. At first, he appeared to be super sensitive to sound and they would spook him, but now he seems to be adjusting and coping much better. I ride him knowing I have to be his left eye. I have been riding him with a slight flexion to the left in order to center his right eye more. When I approach him from the left (the "near side" where we equestrians do most of our work) I make sure I talk to him so as not to startle him.

Kit, like all of us, needs to be allowed to accomplish all that he can. None of us is perfect so we just do our best with what we have.

I found this youtube video of a completely blind dressage horse being competed at 2nd level dressage. The horse is in Oregon, my old home state.
Click here to watch it:
https://youtu.be/NS0TqVafEeI

Horses are healers for people but people can also be healers for horses!

I'VE BEEN OUT OF TOWN

Dear Readers,
Sorry that I have not put up a blog post. I have been out of town. I took my horse, several friends and lots of books down to Tucson for several days of riding and to sign books at the Tucson Festival of Books. We had a great time and I loved signing books for kids and adults. Here are some pictures of our fun trip.


Signing North Mystic at the book festival:

 Signing The Mist Trilogy at the book festival:

Riding in Catalina State Park:

 Riding along the Arizona Trail:
The High Jinks was the old mine of Buffalo Bill Cody.

I'll put up a new post in a few days!!!

Meanwhile, Read The Mist Trilogy. Available in print or ebook. Autographed copies make great gifts and are available on the website:

www.themisttrilogy.com