Race Day for Aria

Aria has completed her first race. I was a basket case as usual. I get very tense, worried and excited about one of mine racing. But I get very quiet so not to disturb the horse or heck the trainer. I'm better once I'm at the track and can see the horse. I'm okay once they come back and I know they're okay. So much more exciting then showing or should I say, I find it so much more stressful and fun at the sametime then showing.

Before the race on race day. The horses have a vet exam a short time before the race. A track vet looks at the horse, feels their legs, and watches them walk and trot. He also checks the lip tattoo. Aria thought it was very odd to have to trot with someone, since she has not shown halter. Others that I have race think this is an odd halter class.

The horse is then cleaned up and put in the racing bridle. There are first, second and last calls for the race over the loudspeakers. They are walked down to the holding barn. At the holding barn, their lip tattoo is checked and blood is pulled. The horses in Texas are lead onto a couple of pieces of plywood on the ground to look for toe grips. Toe grips on shoes are not allowed in the races in Texas now. There are straight stalls to let the horses stand in or they can be lead around. A wash rack is in there as well if they need sprayed down before the race. Aria was very good. She found all this very exciting and her eyes were about to pop out of her head, but she was good.

The horses are then led to the saddling paddock. They got to their appropriate stall and are saddled. The jockey's valet comes out with the tack. The horse is saddled up with the tiny saddle and an over girth is put on. The over girth is very tight and it takes 2 people to put it on them. The horse is typically walked around a bit to make sure everything is in place. Aria was very good. She did not care for the overgirth, but she had worn it before and was very excited by everything going on, but she was obedient. The horses are then led out in order to where the trainer, owner and jockey are waiting outside the saddling paddock. The jockey is tossed up there often with the horse just barely hesitating, but not stopping. Sometimes horses blow up in this area with all the excitement so it can be an exciting area to stand. And then off they go to the track to be met by the pony horses and to be taken to the gates.

Aria did great for her first race. It was 6.5 furlong maiden special weight filly race. 6.5 furlongs is long for her first out, but that was all that was offered. She has never been under lights and the race was at night. She had only come out of the gates once with another horse and had not worked with a lot of horses. So she had a large learning curve in the first race. I just wanted her to come back safe and sound.

Aria was in the 9th hole. She came out 3rd in the gates, got hit with sand and said, maybe we need to think about this and held back. Then she ran with the 2nd pack of horses and got over the sand thing. She went between two horses who were running and made sure the horse next to her did not pass her at the finish line so she got a 5th out of 10 horses. She beat experienced race bred horses. I believe she was the youngest horse in the race and the only one who hadn't raced. She came back fine and bounced all the way back to the barn. She thinks she won the race. The front runners were ahead and I don't think she knew she was suppose to go to the front, but that's okay. She'll figure it out. Everyone was happy with her race and how she behaved. Racing pays to the 5th place so she made a bit of money for her first out.

Gates, timed works and lip tattoos

In order to be able to race, a horse needs a gate card and 2 timed works. The gate card consists of the horse allowing the gate crew to handle it. The horse needs to go into the gates, stand quietly and break out straight from the gates with another horse next door breaking out as well. So they need lots of schooling to make them comfortable with the gates. The noises and the movement around them. There is a guy who is above their head to the side of them. There is a lot for the future race horse to learn.

Aria has been going in and out of the gates since she started under saddle. So she's not concerned about going through them. She got her gate card at her first try and she got a timed work as well coming out of the gates.

Timed works. The track requires that the future race horse have 2 official timed works before racing. The crew at the gap, where the horses enter the track take the name of the horse, the trainer and how far it will work. All this is written down along with the time the horse works. It is recorded by the track. The track reports it to equibase.com where you can find timed works or workouts of horses on the official tracks on a daily basis. These stats can be emailed to you if you set up a virtual stable.

Race horses also have to have a lip tattoo to id them for the races. This is usually done as the horse gets close to getting timed works. In the Arabian, we have to send our papers back to the Registry in order to convert them over to racing papers. The markings and hair swirls have to be drawn in for the new papers. Colors must match so some of the lighter, not so blacks could be changed to bay. After the tattoo, the papers are turned into the track to be kept. They keep a file of the trainer's horses papers. These move from track to track as the horse races. A sheet of paper is attached to the back of the Arabian papers to have any races won recorded on it.

In company

Aria has been going to the track and working in company. Take a look at her photos in company.






Aria has been going to the track and working in company.

I was hoping she would have run in December, but it didn't work out that way. Hurricane Ike slowed things down and she got a cold in December which really put her behind for timed works. Horses need 2 offical timed works before they can run. They also need a gate card before they can run.

First Time at Retama

Aria is doing really well in training. She went to the real track this week to take a look, see around. She came in on Friday afternoon and was just scared. She’s never been shown so I’m sure she wondered where she was and what was going on? Had she been sold? Worry, worry. But by the next morning, she was her usual confident self. She was horrified to wait on breakfast, but they wanted her to go to the track on an empty stomach. She walked on the walker a while and then was tacked up for the track. A new rider was tossed up on her with instructions about her greenness. She walked through all the commotion that goes on the backside without anyone leading her with him on her. We raced up to the track in the truck to see her come out of the shed rows to walk onto the track. The rider said, he liked her which probably meant, I’m really glad she’s not an idiot and I’m still on top of her.


On to the track she went, with ears up and eyes sparkling. She was busy gawking. It was after the break on the track which is when the green horses go to work or gallop. She went the wrong direction on the track at a jog. Aria was being good, but really, really wanted to stare at everything so she did a real slow high trot which is hard to post. There was a lot of suspension in this trot. But there was no spooking. Soon she found a tb friend to go with and they jogged down the track the correct direction. He ran off and left her at one point and then they rejoined together. She just galloped a mile, came back happy and not tired.

At the Swimming Hole

Ha, she has made a liar out of me. Aria likes swimming, hates bathing. Who would have guessed??? Just check out the photos, they speak louder then words.



Look at her turn in the water to do another lap.

She's getting tired and her butt is floating upward

Very tired and coming out of her swimming hole.

My Big Girl

Aria is a big girl now. She has her new shoes on and can dig in better when she goes around the curves. She looks like she is enjoying them. She’s pulling on the bit and asking to go faster. I really enjoy just watching her gallop. It’s nice to see a horse enjoy its work. Lots of people are critical of racing and the training. I show up regularly to see my horses whether in show training or race training. They seem to really like galloping. I’ve never had a horse drag me to a halter class or any performance class at a show, but I have had them drag me to the track when they know it’s their time to run. I’m amazed at the difference between the two from the horse’s perspective.


Aria went swimming this week. To everyone’s surprise she just walked in like it was no big deal. She swam like a duck and had no problems. Amazing. Just amazing. I just knew some fits would be tossed over that pool of water. I’m hoping to get some photos of her swimming. She galloped on Friday and took Saturday off. She’s getting plenty of turn out and seems to be satisfied with life.


The racetrack at Sam Houston took a big hit from the hurricane. The track lost some railing, the grooms’ rooms are moldy, the grandstands had the roof popped off and plopped back down on it. The track was going to open up in Nov. Now, they are discussing whether or not it will open this season at all. I truly hope it does, but it does not sound like it will. It is so nice to be able to race there. It’s one of the best tracks in the country for the horses and the people like it too. If it does not open, I guess we will be hauling to San Antonio to run which is a pain because it is a three and a half hour drive and diesel is not cheap. It is just time and money that could be spent elsewhere.

The First Week at School

Aria like most school kids said, I’m having a good time here at home, don’t wanna go to school. She informed me she really didn’t want to get in the trailer. She did drama girl as we went toward the trailer. Shai2 was screaming take me, take me or probably bring her to me. It was hard to tell. He loves to go in the trailer. Aria was very reluctant to lead and I was thinking about locating a whip to encourage her. But as she lined up the back of the trailer, she suddenly got this funny look on her face. She looked at me and just walked right in the trailer. Woweee, Joe’s training has worked, not that she has ever been horrible to load. Joe spends time teaching them to load in the trailer and to be quiet in the trailer.

Off to school, she went. We arrived and she knew where she was even though Ike had rearranged the fences. She was happy to be back in her stall. Aria remembered all her training. No lapses of memories. I think she was happy to be doing interesting things again. She’s getting her first set of shoes this week.


I went over on Sat. to watch her gallop. The man who has done all her under saddle work was not there so a new man was going to gallop her. She felt good and was sassy, but not naughty. This was the first time, she had been ridden by someone new. They went out to the track and around they went. I’ve included a few photos of her at the beginning of her work. She was huffing and puffing by the end of her gallop. But she worked through tired and did it. She will be learning how to swim soon.

Back to School

Aria’s fall vacation or hurrication is over. She goes back to the training track tomorrow. My fat mares will be so happy to have her gone. No more having the 3 yr old ruling over the dinner buckets. I think Aria will be happy to go back to work. She’ll get more grain to eat that will definitely appeal to her.

Aria will be learning new things. I suspect she will soon be learning to swim. This will be a complete shock to her that anyone would expect her to get her body completely wet! Aria does not really appreciate bathing so she I suspect she won’t be a duck taking to water. Her bridle path is growing out. Racehorse folks prefer a short bridle path . . . an ear length so her nice show one is growing out. She has a small Mohawk on her neck. I just want to cut it off, but I’m resisting. I don’t do long bridle paths, but it is longer then the racing one. Shoes, Aria will be getting her first set of shoes when she gets back. I bet she’ll like them. Mia loves shoes. She learned that shoes mean, she could grip the track and run faster. Once out of race training, I discovered that when newly shod, Mia rips around the pasture like a maniac trying out those new shoes, ducking around trees and other horses.

Well we all survived Ike. We lost a big tree at the farm in the gelding pasture. It must have scared my geldings. It’s taken them a week to go out in the pasture to graze. Poor guys, but other then that everyone was fine. I left the horses out in the storm. Aria ran around with the fat mares. They were shocked at her return, but quit following her around after a while. Nobody enjoyed the stinging rain or the ripping wind. None of the horses, but the stallions in stalls looked like they wanted breakfast. They ended up with a late lunch/early dinner. All the horses were fine.

Now, the training facility was closer to the eye of Ike and lost roofs, some buildings and run in sheds. The fences suffered from the wind and flying debris. But Aria’s barn held up without any damage. The facility has water and electricity but at the front of the property so the hot walkers will not working and long hoses will be used to get water to the stalls. There won’t be as much turn out for a while. The track didn’t suffer from the storm and so horses are already galloping on it. I hope to watch her gallop this weekend and get photos.

Natural Disasters and Training

Aria has been doing great in training. She walks through gates and is galloping nicely. The rider can stand up on her most of her gallops, which is fantastic. She is going 1.5 miles in her gallops. Everyone is very pleased with her and her behavior. She’s ready for shoes. I had planned on watching her gallop this week at Sam Houston Race Track, but, ol’ Hurricane Ike came to visit us. The training track Aria lives at is known to flood in heavy rains, much less in a hurricane. It can be serious flooding with horses having to swim out .We toughed it out and no one left when Gustof was due to hit us, but Ike looked much serious. I decided to pick her up and bring her home. Her trainer was packing and heading to San Antonio to ride out the storm there. I’m far enough from Houston that I thought we would be safe.

Aria came home and my fat mares were not happy. They were hoping I had sold her or something. She came back full of confidence,the 5 fatties following her around and acted tough, this did not impress her. By the next day, she had re-established herself as the alpha Hoover in this herd. She has a few hoof prints on her thigh; the head mare has a hoof print on her chest. I can guess who discussed herd ranking. But all is calm now.

The storm hit and no one enjoyed it. The horses thought they had found themselves in a watery hell with stinging rain and horrid wind. I left the pasture horses out because it seems to be 50/50 on what is the safest place for horses in a hurricane. Out loose they can run and avoid flying debris, hopefully escape flooding. Stall horses are protected from flying debris, but cannot escape rising water or collapsing buildings. I tagged all the horses with nametags that included phone numbers and email addresses. I peeked out at them in the morning. They all looked miserable, but okay. I did not feed them breakfast. It wasn’t safe out there. I doubt a bucket would have stayed on the ground with the wind. They had a very late breakfast/early dinner once the storm was gone. All seemed grateful to be alive and to have food show up. Several trees fell out in the pasture, but no damage to the buildings. The boys seem to be the only ones who are freaked out. They don’t want to go out in their pasture? The mares are acting normal. I may have to move them around.

Aria will return to training after this break once her trainer comes back to the area. I think it was good for her to have a break. She’s enjoyed the constant eating of hay, grass and getting to run around. Next week will be back to school for her and back to work for me.

Saturday’s lesson

I came back the next day because the track had dried out enough for Aria to be ridden out. They went through the same routine in the round pen only the rider had a surprise for her, he had his stick. So when she said, no thanks I don’t think I’ll canter she got a whop. Ooooo was that a surprised filly, she decided she would listen to him and went flying around the round pen. He just sat there like it was the easiest thing in the world while she wigged out. They did both directions and then rode her out of the round pen down the pathway to the track.

Aria is very brave and not very spooky. She has never been ridden out. For that matter, she’s only been ridden about 6 times at this point. But she steers and stops and with some encouragement moves forward snappily. So down the path, past all the paddocks, broodmares and babies. She got to the track and was confronted with the training gates at the track. He asked her nicely to go through them. She considered his request and with a bit of encouraging she went right through them and on to the track. She strode out confidently and he walked her a half mile around the training track. Then he asked her to trot or jog. Willingly, she jogged another half mile. He sat and posted the trot. To my amazement she never spooked or eyed anything in particular and went back through the gates to leave the track.

Her brain was very tired when she got back to the barn. She is going out now on a regular basis and is cantering on the track. The rider is able to stand up in the stirrups while she canters. All this learned in a week’s time, amazing. Everyone is very pleased with her and her good behavior. She’s been a star pupil so far.