Suffolk Downs CANTER New England Showcase 2013

Last Sunday, I traveled up to Suffolk Downs Racetrack with my friend Claire, and we attended the CANTER New England Showcase. Claire bought her horse Boe off the track years ago, and is an OTTB fan, so she was the perfect person to take along. All of the horses who were finishing up their race careers and not candidates for the trek down to Florida were paraded around in the Test Barn at Suffolk for a crowd of OTTB-loving people, most looking to take their next horse home. It was a very exciting day!

Before we even made it to the Test Barn, a trainer came up and offered us a horse for free. Seriously. We politely declined and kept on walking through the maze of barns until we found the crowd. It was so exciting.

Some horses walked in looking like they could take a kid in a leadline class tomorrow. Others looked....like they needed a bit of a time out to learn how to relax ;) Granted, some had raced the previous Wednesday so they were probably feeling quite full of themselves! There were some reeeeeally nice horses up for grabs. I hope a lot of them found homes.

Here are some photos! I did not write down names of horses, unfortunately.

A horse enters the test barn as everyone admires him. People came prepared
with notepads, cameras, and of course the catalog of available horses that CANTER
had made available.

The catalog had info like their names, ages, genders, race history, reason for retirement,
and any other info they could provide. The CANTER volunteers did an excellent
job!! I'm sure that was a lot of work to put together.

DAPPLE GREY.

DROOL.

enough said.

This horse was quiet and so friendly! After he had been shown off, he said hello
to the crowd of potential new owners.

Talk about flashy!!! This horse was eligible to be registered as a pinto, apparently.
You can kind of see his roan ticking all over his belly. He was gorgeous.

This beautiful mare came in all braided up with a gorgeous western show halter on.

Jessica Paquette emceed the Showcase. She did a fantastic job! Some horses who
came in weren't even in the programme; they were just last-minute adds. She still
managed to get as much info as she could from the trainer and relay that to the crowd.
She let everyone know who the horse was, their age, any injuries, why they were being
retired from the track, and what disciplines they had potential for.

Some of these horses already had experience being turned out in a farm setting. Some
knew how to cross tie already. Some even had show experience!! There were so many
that I wanted to take home.

Most of the horses were shown off in-hand, but the quieter ones were actually ridden.
This mare was beautiful and very well-behaved.

There was a line of horses outside waiting to come in for their turn. They looked
beautiful out in the sunshine but I was grateful to be in the building because it was
chilly and windy.

This horse was quite full of himself. He was scared of the PA system that the
emcee was using to make sure everyone could hear her. Each time his trainer
walked him by the speakers, he had a fit, his hind end kicking out toward the crowd.
Hopefully he finds a nice home where he can relax and learn about speakers! lol

A trainer talks about her horse as she shows him(?) off to the crowd.

Each horse was walked up and down the test barn several times, and then trotted
out for the crowd to watch them move.

Oh my goodness, WHAT A FACE :)

This horse wasn't part of the Showcase but he was so cute standing in his stall watching
us walk by as we headed back to the car.

We had such a great time watching the Showcase. I got to see some horsey friends whom I had met on previous excursions to Suffolk, and of course it was awesome to hang out with Jessica, even though she was very busy as the emcee! I also got to meet Susan Salk, whom I've been chatting with off and on after she interviewed me for an article about Lucy for her Off-Track Thoroughbreds blog a couple years ago, but I had never met her in person. She is a huge supporter of OTTB's and I was so happy to meet her in person finally!

When we first got to the track, we stood off to the side trying to find a good spot to stand, and a lady standing next to me said, "Do you have a horse named Lucy?" She recognized me from my blog. Stardom moment, for sure! She was horse shopping so I hooked her up with Jessica, who helped her narrow down her list of horses she was interested in. I hope she found the perfect one! The crowd was excited to be there, and I know some people took horses home that day. Best of luck to anyone who bought a horse off Suffolk this year and if you see a photo of your horse in this blog, send me an email and I'd be happy to send you the photo.

On the way home to Rhode Island, we stopped in at SmartPak's retail store in Natick and fawned over the gorgeous tack, blankets, halters, clothing, and other merchandise before heading upstairs to the bargain area. If you have never been to SmartPak's store, make a pilgrimage. The bargain area is like the forbidden cave in the Aladdin movie. So many treasures!!  I bought Cairo a new ThermoManager dog coat for TEN BUCKS on clearance. There is nothing wrong with it at all!! Retail was almost $40. I couldn't believe it.

I also bought a really nice fleece-lined saddle cover for $19 that had someone else's initials embroidered on it. I haven't decided if I'm going to remove that embroidery with a seam ripper (time consuming, but not complicated), or if I'm going to sew some kind of patch over it. Retail for the saddle cover was $40 so I am happy with that bargain. A lot of the merchandise in the bargain area is stuff that people ordered and had personalized, then returned. SmartPak can't exactly re-sell that item with someone else's name on it so it gets heavily discounted. It's my favourite part of the whole store!!

another OTTB success story: Jess finds love at Suffolk Downs

As most of you know, my friend Jess and I have been on almost a month-long mission to find her an OTTB. We have made the trek to Suffolk Downs three times. She fell in love with one sweet mare and arranged a vet check for her, only to be told the day before the vet was scheduled to go out that the owner didn't want to sell the mare anymore because she had been training really well.

Last weekend when we returned to the track to try for round two of shopping, we met a very sweet gelding called Montana Country. He has *the* classic thoroughbred look. He is incredibly intelligent, has a great build, but most of all he exudes kindness and has a distinct feeling of calmness about him. He is very gentle and polite, which was important to Jess because she has a 5yo son at home, and she'd like for her son and the horse to be able to interact without her having to worry.

Montana Country fit the bill perfectly, so once again she arranged a vet check. The vet came out yesterday and we were there to watch how the exam went. I am always happy to take a vacation day from work to do horsey things! Montana Country was a perfect gentleman for the vet and he stood stock still while they took x-rays of his knees. He trotted up and down the shedrow as pigeons exploded out of the rafters overhead and the other horses went ballistic in their stalls, rearing and spinning around. He didn't put a hoof out of place. What a nice, nice horse.

He had chipped both knees as a 2yo in training so we were mainly concerned about any damage from those chips. Luckily the owner and trainer were good enough horsemen to allow the horse to rest for his entire 2yo year before returning him to training. He came back completely sound and raced his 3yo, 4yo, and 5yo year without any soundness issues or soreness. He was being retired now to prevent any injuries to him since he is 5 now, and not all that competitive against his peers anymore. His knees looked and felt great, and he flexed sound on all four legs. Even the x-rays didn't look too bad at all. He will be perfectly capable to do what Jess wants with him, which is mostly pleasure riding, a few hunter paces here and there, and some very low-level jumping. His only issue was that he was a little bit foot sore, but he had just been shod a few days beforehand and Suffolk Downs is not known as a track that is kind to horses' legs, so that issue will be resolved easily once he is no longer training and racing on a hard track.

Montana Country being flexed by a vet from South Shore Equine to test his
soundness.

Montana Country was then trotted up and down the shedrow. If he had any
joint soreness or unsoundness, it would have been immediately apparent after
flexing (i.e. putting a lot of stress) on the joint. He passed with flying colours!

Montana Country inspects the x-rays on the computer monitor alongside
the vet. How cute!!

We have a few people to thank for making this story a success: Jessica Paquette at Suffolk Downs, who clued me in that Montana Country was looking for home and that he was super fancy and super sweet; South Shore Equine for coming out and doing a pretty fantastic vet check on short notice (seriously, they are awesome); and Montana Country's trainer and owner for holding him for Jess, because they had THREE people show up with trailers this week wanting to take him home right then and there, and they apologized and said they had a vet check scheduled with a potential buyer already. That was really, really decent of them!

Three cheers to Jess and Montana Country! I am so glad they found each other.

After the vet was finished, we spent some time snuggling with Jess's new horse.
Jess was saying "You're my pony!" as I was taking this photo. Awww :)

 Jess has plans to bring her new horse home to CT this weekend!

Great horsey weekend

On Friday it was drizzling, chilly, and feeling very much like fall in New England. There were periods of heavy rain so the horses stayed in. When I got to the barn after work, I put Lucy out in one of the big paddocks so she could stretch her legs, since there was a lull in the rain. I figured she'd be fine out there for half an hour while I did stalls, and then I planned on bringing her in and riding.

I went out to get her half an hour later and she was covered in thick, wet mud from nose to tail. UGH.

I brushed her off as well as I could and rode anyway. I decided to ride bareback, and we went and hacked around the front field on a very loose rein w/t/c. She was so dreamy and easy to ride. I was really quite impressed!

Saturday was sunny and beautiful. I had to photograph a wedding in the afternoon, but I was able to sneak in a quick hack in the morning. I always carry my cell phone with me and it rang as we were walking down the trails. I answered it as Lucy carried on walking on the buckle. There I was, yakking away, when I noticed two good-sized young bucks in the woods about 30 feet away from us. Lucy looked over at them and I prepared to get tossed. I quickly said to my friend on the phone, "ok gotta go!" and hung up, and braced myself. She looked at them, let out a huge sigh, and turned her attention to the trail. Then the bucks took off through the forest parallel to the trail, and ran across the trail behind the horses. She didn't even flinch!

On Sunday, Lauren and I went on a really long, fun hack together. She rode Lucy and I rode my barn owner's little Arab mare, Bella. I have ridden Bella in the ring a few times and she has always been well-behaved, but no one knew how she'd do on the trail. She turned out to be a total pro. She was happy to lead, or she was happy to follow! She wasn't impressed by a big puddle we encountered but she just danced around it. We had a trot and a canter alongside Lucy, and both girls behaved beautifully. We walked through a big neighbourhood, met some kids, saw some kids on bikes and skateboards, and had dogs running at us and barking, and neither horse had an issue. We went back to the barn and had some fun galloping around one of the fields:

Lauren and Lucy

I LOVE this photo.

Me and little Bella. She is a ton of fun!

One of Lauren's stirrups came off the western saddle! We had to have a 20
minute stirrup hunt. I found it, though! Isn't she a nice rider? Perfect eq
despite her stirrup disappearing out from under her.

Then we went for a hack in the front field with two other friends
and their horses.

In the afternoon, I headed back to Suffolk Downs with my friend whom we went horse shopping for last weekend. She had decided to vet out Prairie Melody, the beautiful bay mare with the great personality and quiet disposition. She set the PPE up for Sunday afternoon and then on Saturday morning, the trainer called her and said the owner had changed his mind and didn't want to sell her, because she had been training well all week. I was like, seriously?! They're going to run her until she bows a tendon or something, and then her chances of finding a great home will be much slimmer. She's already 6! My friend was really upset because she had fallen in love with this mare, but she bravely decided to go to the track and have another look to see what else was available.

We had gotten a tip from a friend who works at the track that there was a lovely gelding available. His name is Montana Country. He's also 6. He was a bit smaller than Prairie Melody, but my friend is very petite so she had originally wanted a smaller horse anyway. He was super sweet. He came out of his stall without a chain over his nose and he trotted like a hunter, pointing his toes and poking his nose out as he stretched through his back. REALLY a nice horse. The problem is that he had chips in his knees as a 2yo, and the owner didn't have them removed on the vets advice. Instead, they gave the horse 6 months of rest and he has raced sound ever since. I personally feel that if the horse has raced just fine for 4 years, his knees are probably not an issue, but I still advised my friend to get x-rays in case there's any arthritis starting up in there. I hope he vets sound, though!

We saw a few other REALLY nice horses. One was a 7yo mare who was broke to ride as a hunter, and then when she was 6, the owner decided to race her. She has raced just a handful of times and isn't showing any talent, so the owner wants to sell her, but she is totally sound, no issues, and she is a true black to boot. She would be super easy to retrain since she already has a solid foundation under saddle. I would bet that she'll stay sound for a long time, since her body wasn't put under racing stress until she was 6 and fully developed. The owner is asking $3500 for her but according to the trainer, she's very negotiable. If you're in this area and looking for a horse, let me know and I will give you the trainer's info.

Another nice horse that we saw was a black gelding with really cute markings. He is also sound, and they're asking $2k for him and he has a lovely balanced build, and moves like a hunter. Really really cute.

PART 1: the track

Today was so epic it deserves two entries. I know, I know. It's amazing.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: pony shopping at Suffolk Downs.

Today's trip to Boston proved to be enlightening, to say the least. We saw about 15 horses. Some were bonkers. Some were cute. Some were totally lame. Some had their "equipment" still (i.e. they hadn't been gelded). Some were available right then and there and if we had brought a trailer, we could have gone home with a full load. Some still had to race, despite the trainers all saying "yeah, he doesn't want to race anymore." Why make the horse run if he clearly doesn't want to? I have no idea. Most looked to be in really great shape, with glittering coats and cheeky expressions.

One really stood out, a 6yo bay mare with a big frame and a very quiet disposition who politely lipped peppermints out of our hands and fell asleep when we rubbed her ears. The trainer seemed really nice and forthcoming at first, and said the mare was tired of racing and he was really just looking for a good home for her. He brought her out of her stall and she stood quietly without even a chain over her nose while I ran my hands down all of her legs. Her ankles looked a bit big, which concerned me, but she trotted out sound and she was just such a sweetheart that she really "spoke" to us. My friend whom we were shopping for liked her the most and she's going to have her vetted, though when she called the trainer to tell him she was going to schedule a vetting, he told her not to waste her money, which is a red flag as far as I'm concerned. My friend is still pursuing her and is going to have her vetted (rightfully so!).

Here are a few shots from our expedition!

The mare whom we all liked the most. Isn't she beautiful?

Confo shot of the mare above.

These birds were hanging out sharing this horse's lunch. So sweet!

This is their manure management system! Crazy!

We all really really liked this gelding, but he had sore shins and was a little bit
fresh, too; he had only recently lost his "equipment", shall we say.

He really liked Lauren, though!

We all really liked this gelding, too. He had a great build and a big personality
but he would probably be too much horse for my friend, so we admired him
and moved on.

My friend visiting the "top mare" one last time before we left. She's going to
have her vetted hopefully sometime this week! Let's hope she passes!

my favourite kind of shopping

That is, shopping with someone else's money.

This Saturday, my friend Jess and I have a date with some horses retiring out of Suffolk Downs in Boston. She wants to buy an OTTB and asked me for my advice a while back. Here is what I wrote back to her:


-don't buy the first one you try (unlike I did...it worked out in the end but I had a very frustrating year or so before she actually started to be "fun" to ride)
-take someone experienced with you to videotape your ride
-ask to see all of the vet records. specifically I'd be interested in if the horse had been scoped for ulcers. most TB's off the track have them and they are very expensive to treat.
-ask what the horse eats and if it requires any maintenance or supplements.
-if you decide to get the horse, don't skimp on the vet check. it is TOTALLY worth the $$ to get the x-rays. most OTTB's will have some early arthritic changes so don't panic if you see that, but catching anything advanced before you own it could save you lots of cash and heartbreak down the road.
-some TB's have funky back conformation that makes fitting a saddle to them really difficult. some won't fit in anything except $$$$ custom saddles, so pay special attention to how the horse is built.
-try to get a horse that has at least been "let down", i.e. had some time out in turnout to learn how to be a horse and chill out a bit. basic retraining is really nice, too, and by that I mean confident w/t/c in both directions.
-ask if the horse has been trail ridden and if it likes getting out of the ring, or is it too spooky/hot?
-check out the feet and see if they look like they're well-formed and at least somewhat balanced. Lucy has three good feet and one bad one that makes me want to scream.


I have never been with someone to look at a horse that is still at the track, so I wasn't speaking from personal experience, but I was offering advice that aligned with best practices I've read and heard about.

Anyway, I also offered to go with her and she gladly accepted, so we are trekking out to the track bright and early on Saturday to go shopping! I am very excited. I will serve as a second set of eyes, photographer, and videographer. I also have a friend who works at the track who is doing some homework for us behind the scenes to see which of the horses we like are as nice as they sound on CANTER's website.

Have any of you bought a horse directly off the track? Do you have any advice?