32 – More Kentucky stuff
We had only been in Kentucky a few days when Nicki got a call from her daughter, they live in Christchurch and the first earthquake had just happened. Dad was not answering the phone! But the power was out, so the phone would not be working, but still… Nicki got in touch with home, was everything ok? “We don’t know we’re still under the table!” The house was quite broken, but people and animals were all OK. It was very hard on Nicki to be on the other side of the world while her family and friends were in the middle of a disaster.
Kerry and Richard arrived; it was so great to see them, to have people there who know you and your pony well.
We got to try on our race-day shirts… they were awesome!
As well as the day to day looking after horses, it was important to leave them alone too. So we had a few visits to some fairly famous local horse facilities.
It turned out that Joe Pagan from Kentucky Equine Research (KER) – in charge of suppling feed to WEG horses – did not just work there he was KER! Really nice guy who invited us out for a visit. So we got a tour and then he put a horse on the treadmill for us and got it all the way up to galloping. It is a bit unreal to have a horse going really fast right beside you, they are such amazing animals, I actually felt quite emotional about it. You would think that if the treadmill broke down, that the horse would go flying off the back like all the treadmill blooper videos you see online, but of course those are people and animals falling off a going treadmill. Or that they would crash into the rail in front as they are galloping and suddenly the ground is no longer moving under them, but apparently if it stops then the horse just stops, doesn’t even bang its nose on the bar in front. Although it is running flat out it does not actually have any forward momentum, muscles working, legs going but body (mass) actually stationary, it took a bit to get my head around that. We also got a tour of a brand-new barn and accommodation facility being built – it was amazing.
Because they are feed research specialists they have a tiny mill that they can make up single bags of feed, special mixes of whatever you want, they had made special stuff for Lace, and I’m sure she would have loved it, but there was too much maize in it and we didn’t want to risk her tying up – no problem, those four bags can go to the cattle, Lace got some of their special tie-up feed!
When the horses had first arrived they were a bit dehydrated from the long truck trip, so we got a vet to come out – Fred – really nice guy from Rood & Riddle. Rod, our farrier, also worked there and so we got a Rood and Riddle tour. They were in charge of all horse treatment at WEG.
Nick went along to some horse sales and met a Kiwi who was stud manager of the local Darley stud, owned by the Sheik. Normally there was a long waiting list to visit but Andy got us in the next day!
Apparently at any one time around the world they have approximately 1000 horses actually in training – not counting those spelling, or the young stock & brood mares, stallions etc. Just a mind-boggling amount of money.
The horses got their race day shoes on, aluminium so lighter than their normal steel shoes. Rod was not only a top farrier – owners would fly him to the UK to shoe their horses! – but he also made scones and did karaoke! He and his wife, Natalie, were really lovely and showed great hospitality not only to us but also the rest of the Kiwi equestrians – Nats was thrilled to meet the likes of Mark Todd and Andrew Nicholson (as were we all).
And then there was The Boot Shop, they had more cowboy boots of more colours, shapes and sizes than you would believe, and Stetsons, belts etc. And also more regular stuff, and Ariat boots and clothes. We visited three times and bought lots.
