I love horse history...

So knowing I love thoroughbreds, my father in law picked up a ton of old issues of The Blood-Horse for me a few months back...I decided to scan through a few tonight and found this little treasure...

Happy Birthday George!

Today Independent George turns 10! It's sad that he isn't here to celebrate. But when he gets here I'll make sure to shove his little face full of peppermints!

One of the cool things about George is there is information and pictures of him out on the internets.

And here is an article about him here. and another one here.

And here he has a photo gallery of pictures from 2009 here.

And there are pictures of him in people's flickr galleries here.

The funny thing is that while there are a lot of pictures of him training, there are almost just as many of him eating grass. I've heard a few times that training him was a challenge because if he decided he didn't want to train...he wouldn't. You had to wait for him to decide when he wanted to train. I've also heard that he has quite the personality and that he is a character. I am excited to get to know him better and see his personality first hand.

I just want him home! only a few more weeks of waiting!! grrr!

Independent George.

Okay, so here is the story of Independent George! As I mentioned before I had been in contact with the ranch that I got Piney from. I had asked if they had any gray geldings and Dr. B thought that one of his gray geldings would be a good match for me because he had a similar personality as Piney. So I called up Dr. B. and asked him about this horse. He told me his name was ‘Independent George’ and that he had a pretty successful race career. He said that he was a really nice looking horse with a pretty little head and a sweet personality. Easy to work with and be around. He told me to look George up and then get back to him when I decided.

 

So first thing I did was search for the horse and one of the first things I see was this post by Wendy over at From Racehorse to Showhorse. I couldn’t even believe it. One of my favorite equine photographers knew this horse and she had even said she had a horse crush on him! So next I sent her a message on Facebook and asked her about George. She was happy to tell me a little bit about him. That was basically what sealed the deal for me. But of course I went on to do more research on him. Because I am a HUGE nerd when it comes to this sort of thing.

Independent George had 44 starts, with 8 firsts, 9 seconds, and 4 thirds. He earned $395,464 in his career and is a multiple stakes winner. He raced in Gr. 1 stakes races but never finished higher than 4^th. He raced all over the east coast and was training with Graham H. Motion at Herringswell Stables durring the beginning of his career. Herringswell Stables is where the 2013 Dubai Cup Winner ‘Animal Kingdom’ is training out of.  So cool! He was sold at Keenland as a yearling for $60,000, and then for $160,000 as a 2 year old in training. This is the most expensive horse I’ve ever been around LOL! And to think…I’m getting this horse for free!  After I posted on Facebook pictures of George, Wendy tagged a friend of hers that works at Herringswell Stables. Which is so cool because she has been giving me little stories about George’s past. She said that he loves peppermints and that a jumping trainer had eventually wanted to purchase him. She also said that during one of his races he went straight on at the turn, into the woods, and then came out running the wrong way after ditching his rider someplace in the woods. She also said that “If one day he decided not to train you had to wait for him to decide!” So this could be quite the interesting journey!! They just loved him and were worried about what happened to him. his previous owners also worried about him. They are digging out some of his old stuff to send to me! How awesome is that? I just love trainers and owners that care for a horse its whole life, not just when he is racing. They also said that if for whatever reason it doesn’t work out with George that I should let them know, and they will do whatever it takes to help him out. It is just so neat to be connected to his past and that they will help him out if we ever get in a bind.

Here are a few other cool things about George’s are past. I was scanning over his race records at equibase.com and noticed that not one, but two Jockey’s that I’ve heard of have ridden him. Cory Nakatani and hall of fame jockey Mike Smith! Below is a picture of George training with 'Icabad Crane' who came in 3^rd at the 2008 Preakness.



Photo from the Herringswell Stables website

And here is George training with 'Better Talk Now' who is a multiple graded stakes winner including a 1^st in the Breeder’s Cup Turf.



photo by Allison L. Janezic

George was named after a Seinfeld bit. As a big Seinfeld fan this is awesome to me!

 

I am pretty excited about this horse. But to be completely honest here…I wasn’t super excited when I actually saw him for the first time. He looked pretty rough. Which will happen to any horse after a long North Dakota winter on the plains. The horses are given enough hay, but some just don’t fight hard enough to get theirs. Dr. B had to buy alfalfa from Canada and have it shipped down because of the shortage of hay around here. The horses were getting some nice alfalfa. Heck I even wanted to eat some of it, it looked so good! He is separated from the rest of the herd in a pen with Dr. B’s personal horse until I can arrange to have him delivered. They won’t have to fight for hay and I’m sure he will plump right back up by the time I need to go get him.

When we took George out of his pen to look at him better I realized that he was a very nice horse. He is a big horse though. We sticked him at 16.2hh. I think Piney was 16, but more than likely he was smaller than that! George has nice thick, strong legs, although he was a bit stocked up on his back legs. But more than likely it was because he had planted himself in front of that bale and hadn’t moved since. After a little walking around he started to look better. He wasn’t even the slightest bit lame. Dr. B had done a pretty through checkout before I got there to make sure there wasn’t anything that would surprise me when we got there. Hubby wanted to see if he would let us look at his feet and I think George was the easiest horse I’ve seen to let someone pick his feet. After the first one he offered his other 3 easily. I usually have the horse that you have to fight with to get one foot, and then they snatch it away before you are done. OH and one more great thing…He has GREAT feet! The girl working there said that she didn’t think he had his feet done in the year he had been there, and they still looked like they didn’t need a trim. He had had his teeth recently done and had coggins pulled. Again…this is a free horse I am getting.

I am pretty excited about George. He needs a bath, and a good long grooming session. He was a little grumpy when I was grooming him. He was itchy and it made sense. But he is a sweet horse. He is lazy like Piney. (So far…we might have a different horse on our hands when it comes time to saddle up!) But I just really like him. Lets see if I am singing the same tune in a few months ;-)

And now for a TON of pictures!!!

 

 

Me and my boy.

Hey let's get the girl who hates grooming an almost competely white horse!



This is my "Oh George!" look.

scratch. scratch. scratch.



He loved having his forehead scratched.



Ahhh that's the spot!

look at me walking so nice.



"Iz a cuteeee"



LOVE that little pink spot on his nose. It's perfect for kissing.



Hi! I'm a great big monster!



Desperate need of a good grooming session!!

 

Introducing...

My new pony...

Independent George!!!!


(I promise to have a full post on him soon!!)

Quick update.

I am at my inlaws house in Bismarck, North Dakota which is about halfway to our destination.
I talked with Dr. B again tonight and he said that he just really thinks I will like the horse he has picked out for me. He said the horse has a pretty little head and just a really great personality.
We are waking up bright and early tomorrow an hitting the road to go and meet my potential new pony.

If I wasn't so fricken tired already, I don know if I would be able to sleep. I am very excited!!

getting closer.

I had left a message to Dr. B a few days ago, about coming out to visit his ranch and see the horse he had suggested for me. He called me back today and said that even though he won't be out there, the girl that works for him can be out there to help us. He also said that he would pull the horse from the herd and put it in a seperate corral so that I can just go right up to him and not have to wade through a herd of 55 other horses to get to the horse. I am getting excited.



So if everything goes the way I hope it does....It will be...

The Summer of George!!!

excitement is building.

I have made some more phone calls. And there are tentative plans to head out west on Friday night. So that means... I can meet potential new pony on Saturday! They are still holding him for me.
I am beyond excited! I have been scouring the Internet and it is so cool to see potential new pony training with some pretty big named horses. I even watched his old race videos this afternoon. He is absolutely beautiful! I just wish I could fast forward to the day when he is living in my pasture.
Even though I am extremely excited...I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared. Piney was just so easy. I will never forget my second ride on him, when I was in tears because all he would do was stand still. No matter how much I asked him to walk he wouldn't. He had brakes. In fact his favorite part of Dressage was the halt at X. What if this new pony doesn't have brakes? When I first got Piney I had an arena. Our arena is not up yet.
I am a good rider. I need to keep telling myself that. I just seem to forget most of the time. I think my new vest and helmet will work as a bit of a security blanket. But I am still nervous. Obviously not the best feeling to have when getting on a new thoroughbred. I am being silly. I just need to tell myself that I am a good rider. Because I am. My riding instructor put me on a young thoroughbred at my old barn. He was known as being a bit of a handful, but she said that I rode him beautifully and that I have really, nice, soft, quiet hands which he really responded to.

It's just nerves and excitement I am sure!

This is the pony wining his race by a few lengths.

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!