Past, Present and Our Futures

I'm still blown away by the Sebright/C Bright and me connection. As a friend on facebook said it's very Jungian Synchronicity.


But it's time to get back to basics on this blog. It's about a couple horses, their histories and our futures. The past few days I had a little of all that with them.


Friday I drove to Chicago and Arlington Park for the Arlington Million. I went to the track early to catch the workouts and to see my friends that were there on the backside. First of all, Arlington is absolutely gorgeous. It is picture perfect and pristine. I highly recommend you visit if you haven't been there already. I watched some of the workouts at the track and saw the international horses working on the main track. There was a lot of french being spoken which really added to the international flavor for the day. After a little while I headed over to the backside to see my friends from Graham Motion's barn with their horses that shipped in and to visit with the Liane Davis Racing Stables.

Just guess who was the first horse I saw when I walked over to Liane's barn... Canoodler! I thought he had been sold but evidently he was not. Liane still trying to sell him so if anyone has a good lead on someone looking for a cute, sweet, nice moving 5 yr old Broken Vow gelding, I've got one for them. The owner has no apparent plans to race him and he will probably be heading over to Liane's farm while they continue to try to sell him. He's in good hands! Isn't he cute:

The rest of the day was spent shooting photos at the races which was great fun.

This shot is my favorite.

I was very excited for Ramon Dominguez and Gio Ponti. Ramon is a great guy AND he used to ride Hola C Bright when he was raced at Delaware Park. I just love knowing that kind of history about my horse.

Which brings me to Hola and his new home. He's lost a little bit of weight shipping over here so we are working on putting weight back on him which he is starting to do. Huge relief for me! He's still a little wary of things and unfortunately, there is a lot of maintenance going on around the barn which has all the horses a little spookier than usual. Things such as paint equipment and powerwashing hoses at the end of the aisle which is usually clear. So he's taking in a lot and he's doing a great job settling down and adjusting even when the other horses get a little on edge. Kudos to him!

I rode Toby this week in my lesson. Besides the fact that he broke a set of cross ties because he inexplicably decided that sponges will eat him when used to sponge him off, he's been great. I had a visitor from the Alex Brown Racing Website,which I help moderate, come in to see us. Our visitor, JudyPA, was in the area on vacation so she came out, met the boys and watched my lesson with Betsy. Toby was good but we both needed a refresher and to get his hind end engaged. He's such a long bodied horse that he needs me to help him get his front and hind ends coordinated. Needless to say, it was a lot of work and Betsy was great in teaching me how to do it. Most of it had to do with me learning to drive with his hind end and think of his front end as a hood ornament. I thought he made a good Mack Truck bulldog by the end of the lesson. Toby's future as a dressage horse is really coming along. I'm so proud of him!

Next week my lesson will be with Hola. I am alternating horses each week for now.

I'm a lucky person to have my horses, to have the opportunity to see pieces of their history in action and to have them as we help each other grow into our futures.

The Twilight Zone

I have just returned from having lunch with Dr. John Sebright and his wife Bonnie. That's right - Sebright (C.Bright). Seems he's my horse's namesake and he has a home here in Traverse City, Michigan. Not only does he have a home in my town but he GREW UP IN MY HOME! What are the odds of that?! I see a horse in Baltimore, he turns out to be a Michigan bred, and I happen to own the childhood home of his namesake?! Weird. I can hear the voice of Rod Serling and the music for the Twilight Zone playing now.

The name "Hola C Bright" came about because it's how Mr. Gilmore frequently greeted his neighbor. Dr. Sebright even stayed the night for foaling duty waiting for Hola to be born. Hola was born the following night but the Gilmore's decided to name him Hola C Bright for their friend and neighbor.

The Gilmore's and the Sebright's had lost track of their horse and were happy to have gotten my card. I learned that at one point in Hola's racing career, the Gilmore's thought about claiming him back but he was too expensive for them. So they are now very happy to learn of Hola's retirement and that he is back in his home state. The Sebright's want to cheer Hola on at Horse Shows By The Bay next year too! That'll be a terrific goal for us and we have plenty of time to get there.

I heard stories about my home over lunch and we are going to plan a get together so I can show them their renovated home. I'll have to invite my neighbors so they can learn more about the people in their homes too. Sounds like a fun party.

In the meantime, I learned more about my new guy and the Gilmore's gave me a very nice win photo. Great stuff!

First Day of School

Today was Hola C Bright's first day of school. He's learning a lot and he loves to be working again.


He first learned about "the horse in the mirror" which Jag referred to as "The Scentless Bastard" but Hola seems to think "the guy might be ok but he startled me." That's a good start!

Hola is the lowest on the gelding totem pole out in the pasture but he's slowly making friends. The other horses don't hurt him or go after him, they just simply let him know he's not welcome near them when he tries to sniff their behinds.

Hola also seems good with cross ties. We put him on a longe line and worked him to see 1) if he knew how, 2) see how he moves, 3) see how fit he is and 4) just to get to know him. Wow is all I can say! He's a gorgeous mover!! Just gorgeous! Betsy was thrilled with what we saw. She said he's actually a better mover than Jag for dressage. He also seemed to be a sensible guy. No bucking, farting or yahoos while he worked. He just did his job with a startle or two from his reflection in the mirrors. Here's a video of some of his work on the longe line.



Of course I shot photos of him while he worked too. He's just such a pretty guy. He has a very dished face which is actually dented on his left side. So we refer to his right side as his "Thoroughbred side" and his left profile as his "Arab side". See if you can notice it in the photos I shot today: Hola C Bright Photos

Hola's story seems to be getting bigger and bigger all the time too. I had sent a letter to Hola's breeders a week or so ago so on Monday night I received a phone call from a gentleman who reported to me 1) he lives next door to where Hola was bred and his breeders showed him my letter, 2) he has a home in my hometown and 3) he has important information about my horse for me which he refused to tell me over the phone. All he said was that the hairs on his arms raised when he read my note about getting Hola...

We have a planned lunch on Thursday at a restaurant down the street from my home. I'll keep you posted.