The First Week

Monday began with staff meeting. None of us were focused: Lori, our office manager, Catherine our former barn manager, now our program coordinator, and Lilly, our interim barn manager until May when Erin graduates from college and comes to work. We were mentally if not physically squirming in our chairs, our heads bopping up from our notes and laptops whenever we heard a vehicle pull in that might be a horse van.

There were false alarms: The trash pick up, colleagues of The Brooke USA which has an office in our building, stray visitors to the Horse Park who slowly drove around the statue of Secretariat and then left.

Finally, Catherine shot up from her seat when a horse trailer whizzed past the window.  

“The horses are here!” 

Well, one horse, actually. Colonel Harlan, a four-year-old gelding by Visionaire out of Jacaranda Jane, had started six times and was in the money twice earning a total of $24,938. He had spent the last two months in foster care at the Blackburn Correctional facility where the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation runs a life changing program for inmates called  Second Chances.

Colonel Harlan aka "Harlan"

Harlan came to us last fall with a reputation as a rogue. He did, in fact, have impressive outbursts of unacceptable behavior. Lightening quick and agile in the hind end, Harlan could buck—bronco style—like a pro. He lacked social graces and interacted with people and other horses in a heavy handed (or hoofed!), inept way. Catherine said he reminded her of “Sheldon” in the TV show, The Big Bang Theory. I’ve never seen that show, so I can’t say. All I knew was that Harlan was a very smart, scared, and needy horse. He was also young. Just three, and immature physically as well as mentally. By the time December rolled around, he had just settled into the swing of his new life, was mannerly on the ground, moving with confidence under saddle and learning to jump which he was good at and loved. The bucking was the thing of the past.

Time off was exactly what he needed. He stepped off the trailer, taller, more filled out, then stopped, inhaled and listened. Confident and quiet, he knew where he was and he was fine with that.

The next to arrive was Street Art or “Artie” as we had already nicknamed him, a 16.3hh four-year-old gelding by Noble Causeway out of Wakita. I was beyond excited to see him. A big chestnut with good bone and a teddy bear personality, he was built uphill and naturally balanced. He moved so rhythmically and with such suspension that it didn’t surprise me that in the two races he ran he finished 40 lengths behind the winner. Artie was built for comfort not for speed. He also has a very narrow mandibular. I couldn’t even fit my fist between his jaws. Maybe he couldn’t take the massive gulps of air necessary to run at top speeds?  Artie, I saw,  could dance and would be dazzling in the dressage ring. If he could jump, he’d make a lovely hunter prospect too. And, he had Noble Causeway’s slightly roman nose. I am a sucker for horses with roman noses. They always seem to be talented and winsome, sort of like the actor Owen Wilson.

Bordeaux Bandit, Jazz Fest, and Souza came next, delivered by Brook Ledge. Bordeaux, age 10, was a racetrack veteran that came to us in May of 2014, just two weeks after he hung up his silks. He arrived physically stiff and racetrack brainwashed. By December, he was more balanced and flexible, and a lot quieter, but still his mind and body needed a bit more time. The Bordeaux that stepped off the trailer was a different horse: Rolly-polly, fuzzy and best of all, bright eyed. He had come to us last year with a brusque “where d’ya wanna go?” New York cab driver look in his eye. Now his gaze was poised, relaxed and happy, which coupled with his elegant build takes your breath away. What a classic and classy Thoroughbred!

Bordeaux Bandit aka "Bordeaux"

Jazz Fest aka "Jay Z"

Jazz Fest is my Hummer. Stocky. Built. Think varsity wrestler. A meat and potatoes kind of guy. Uncomplicated. Hearty. Satisfying. To me he’s a field or a show hunter.  He’s tall, dark, and handsome too. Those are added benefits.

Souza

Souza screamed E V E N T E R to me when I saw him at the track last year. He’s got the build, the type, and the brain for it. He is going to be a handful though. Why? Because he has a mischievous twinkle in his eye. This horse wants action. A lot of it. And it has to be interesting. I’ll bet he is a bit of daredevil. It will take a savvy rider to stay ahead of Souza.

Michael Evans from Sheltowee Farm brought two of the four horses I was expecting. Dare Me, Shakleford’s half brother, had speed and quality but his owner’s stopped on him because he had a breathing problem. “Darren” is another eventer type. Great hind end. Uphill. Level headed. Beachview Two accompanied Darren. Beachview had been at the MMSC briefly last year, but I wasn’t quite happy with the look of his ankles and subsequent x-rays revealed chips that needed to come out. His amazing owners paid for the surgery and laid him up the rest of the year until he proved to be sound. Now that’s responsible ownership! The Beachview that came back to us had transitioned from boy to man. No longer spindly and narrow but tall and well sprung. But he still has that inquisitive look that had endeared me to him in the first place. He reminds me of an otter, keen and quick. I used to joke when he came last year that we could teach him do tricks, maybe even play poker. This horse is smart and very, very personable.

Dare Me aka "Darren"

Beachview Two aka "Beachview"

On Tuesday “Rondo”, donated to us by Lilly our barn manager, arrived. Rondo has been reschooled and was used for a bit as a lesson horse which really wasn’t to his liking. Multiple riders make him edgy. He is the monogamous type and will excel when he finds his person. Three things of note about Rondo. 1. He is a LOVELY mover. 2. He has two small “horns” protruding on either side of his star on his forehead.  3. He has the worst registered name known to man: PAIN GIVER. 

Pain Giver aka "Rondo"

Wednesday brought cold rains and sleet as well a snow forecast of 10 to 15 inches falling in the wee hours of the night. We postponed the arrival of the remaining horses. We canceled all the “spa” treatments scheduled for the rest of the week. Potential adopters were called and asked to rebook their flights or postpone their trips. The horses stood by the gate most of the day, sopping wet, looking miserable, relieved when we brought them in early, only to become annoyed when they had to spend the next 36 hours up in their stalls.

Roads were treacherous with snow on top of ice on Thursday morning, so the gracious Kentucky Horse Park police and KHP equine staff went up to the barn to water and hay the horses. Intrepid Lilly made it out to the MMSC in the afternoon and pronounced all the horses to be well, but very bored. (Souza had amused himself by flipping water buckets, tormenting his jolly ball, and wriggling out his blanket!)

Friday the snow was still with us, but the roads were slowly passable. Horses were finally turned out and as many stalls as possible were cleaned until the manure spreader could hold no more.

Saturday “Archangel Dave”, our stalwart volunteer of many years came and plowed a route to the spreader, hitched it to the tractor and dumped the manure. Office and barn interns came. The sun shone. The snow began to melt.

By Tuesday when we return, the temperatures will be in the fifties. The snow will be gone, and the paddocks, although water-logged, will host the full complement of horses in the spring class. We will pick up where we left off: beauty and spa treatments, “horsenality” assessments, initial bombproofing, and showing horses to potential adopters. Normal first week kind of stuff.

So what will the second week bring? A broken water pipe in the fields somewhere when the great thaw sets in? (Hope not!) What will we learn about these horses when we start them in the Horse Centered Reschooling Program ℠? (No telling) Will any of them get adopted next week? If so, which one?  (Let me know by posting your comments on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/makersmarksecretariatcenter under the blog post entry.)

Cheery bye,

Susanna

When I turned Rondo out, he showered me with a front, face, and mouthful

 of mud. Clearly I am not destined to be his forever person!

Why is complement highlighted?  

Because it is the Blog Word of the Day: 

 Help us reach our goal of 112,000 total blog visitors this year! Join our Word of the Day contest and you could be entered in a grand prize drawing to win a $500 horse credit at the MMSC or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Secretariat’s jockey Ron Turcotte! Simply read the blog every Sunday and find the highlighted Word of the Day. Then write a sentence using the word and submit it to mmsc04@gmail.com for a chance to be entered to win! Please read the full contest details below before submitting an entry.

• Blogs will be posted on Sundays. A chosen word will be highlighted within each blog post.
• Sentences using the highlighted word must be emailed to mmsc04@gmail.com with the subject line “Word of the Day Contest”.
• Entries may be submitted each week following a blog post from the posted time through Thursday at 5:00 pm.
• Winners will be posted on the MMSC Facebook page each Friday following a blog post.
• Entries must include the highlighted word of the day. The word of the day may be used in other parts of speech other than the one used in the blog, i.e. the highlighted word in the blog may be "malleability" but entrants may use the more common form "malleable" in their sentences.
• Entries must also include the entrant’s full name (first and last) and email address.
• Entrants may submit more than one sentence for consideration.
• Sentences will be judged based on correct use of the word of the day, grammar and sentence structure, and creativity. 
• Sentences will be judged by the MMSC staff, including MMSC Director Susanna Thomas, MMSC Barn and Media Manager Catherine Flowers, and MMSC Office Manager Lori Tobin.
• Winners of each word of the day contest throughout the year will be entered in a grand prize drawing to win their choice of either a $500 horse credit toward an MMSC horse available for adoption or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Ron Turcotte. To use the $500 horse credit, the winner must become an approved adopter with the MMSC and follow all adoption policies and procedures.
• The grand prize drawing will be held at the end of the year after Christmas and prior to New Year’s Eve.
• Disclaimer: This contest does not have a connection with Blogspot or Facebook in any way and is not sponsored, supported, or organized by Blogspot or Facebook. The recipient of the information provided by you is not Blogspot or Facebook but the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center.

MMSC Abuzz

The MMSC has been abuzz all week. The horses are coming! You would think that all of us were five years old and awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus. We are giddy with anticipation. We are scurrying around, trying to get everything clean and orderly. We are counting the days. Despite the week of delay, this still isn’t easy. The weather didn’t cooperate much this week. We still have over a foot of snow to contend with and the cold is aggressive. It’s a challenge to push a wheelbarrow full of shavings over an icy snow crusted hillock as it is to wash down shelves with gloves on. How do you line dry laundry when it is below freezing? Or just spend hours at a time in a barn with an arctic wind blowing through the aisle ways?

Even though we tidy up when we close in December, somehow, it never seems clean enough when we get ready to open in February. Dust. Cobwebs. Mustiness. How does this happen so quickly? It’s truly sobering how quickly nature reclaims. Call it entropy. Call it “dust to dust". Every year it is the same. Every year the week before horses come, we are a bustle.

The buckets and feed tubs come out of the garage and are scrubbed again. The walls are swept free of cobwebs, the windows cleaned. The empty feed bin gets filled with salubrious smelling grain. The medicine shelf gets scrutinized anew. All expired medicines are thrown out. New essentials—Bute and Banamine, SMZ tablets, Ace and Dex—get ordered and put in place: LABELS OUT.

Why labels out? It might seem a Susanna draconian measure, but with many different people in the barn, some staff, some interns, some volunteers, things have a hard time finding their rightful homes. I can’t complain if occasional helpers don’t know where things belong, but I can harp about turning labels out, so that finding MIA meds, shampoos, or products of any kind is easier to do. If you have ever worked in a grocery store, you know.

One of the reasons we delayed the arrival of horses by a week was because I was worried about a lack of water. I have found if I don’t drain the waterers come December, they freeze up solid. Not only that, the pipes below ground tend to rupture come the first thaw. So that means that horses can only get water in the barn. But anyone who has dealt with stall  buckets in winter knows that they freeze up solid in record time. I was uneasy about our horses getting dehydrated. After all, when horses change environments, they tend to stress. When they stress, they drink less. If they drink at all; when water tastes “different” or “funny” from what they are used to many may avoid it. I didn’t need to kick off the season with a barnful of colicking horses! And I had no heated water buckets. At $27 to $30 a bucket, we’ve never been able to squeeze them into the budget. That’s where angels step in.  

I have always said that God loves the Secretariat Center. I have had lots of of proof of that over the years — not knowing how things will work out, and worrying, and then something miraculous happens: a check arrives, a volunteer comes, the perfect adopter shows up, the angels step in. 

In this case, the angels’ names are Tom and Enid, a couple in their venerable years who volunteer at the MMSC regularly. Tom likes to work outside and with the horses (although he has even done the lowest of the low chores for us—CLEAN THE KITCHEN REFRIGERATOR!!!!).  Enid is whizz bang in the office. They show up with smiles. They bring boxes of chocolates. They are smart, funny, dedicated, and hardworking. They are interested in the MMSC because they have a grandson who lives out of state who loves horses. They are keen to learn. They read my blog.

Last week, in the barn up east where their daughter and grandson live, a horse colicked. Water buckets in stalls were frozen. My worries about MMSC and dehydrated horses and my request (in parentheses) for donated heated water buckets suddenly made sense to Tom and Enid. When they came to the MMSC this week, they brought a check to cover that cost. Bless them! Ask and you shall receive. It’s humbling.

Yesterday Shane, our landscape and handy man, came and adjusted the floats and plugged up the the paddock waterers. He had trouble finding the water valves to turn them on because of the snow, but he’ll be back tomorrow. The snow is melting and they should be in full view tomorrow.

Lilly, our barn manager, had a crew of interns and volunteers buffing every surface in the barn, cleaning tack, inventorying everything from hay bales to cleaning supplies.  

Our communications interns were hard at work in the office — cleaning every interior surface both because we are officially bringing horses back and because we are having a board meeting on Tuesday. 

Baby books for the incoming horses are prepped and ready to be filled with training notes and pictures. Blank training charts are ready on our clipboards. Potential adopters are scheduled to come before week’s end. 

I can’t wait for the first van to come in tomorrow morning, discharging horses that I picked out some time ago. Horses that spoke to me in some way or another that I felt called to help find a new job and a happy home. And then there are the horses that were here last fall that have been in foster care for two months. I know them already and what their horsenalities are. They are reschooled and ready for their second career  I just need for the right adopters to call. And as I said earlier, LET GO and LET GOD.  Their people will come. 

I can’t wait! More horses to help! More matches to make! It’s humbling. It’s exciting!  

Let the stories begin!

Cheery bye,
Susanna

Why is salubrious highlighted?  

Because it is the Blog Word of the Day: 

 Help us reach our goal of 112,000 total blog visitors this year! Join our Word of the Day contest and you could be entered in a grand prize drawing to win a $500 horse credit at the MMSC or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Secretariat’s jockey Ron Turcotte! Simply read the blog every Sunday and find the highlighted Word of the Day. Then write a sentence using the word and submit it to mmsc04@gmail.com for a chance to be entered to win! Please read the full contest details below before submitting an entry.

• Blogs will be posted on Sundays. A chosen word will be highlighted within each blog post.
• Sentences using the highlighted word must be emailed to mmsc04@gmail.com with the subject line “Word of the Day Contest”.
• Entries may be submitted each week following a blog post from the posted time through Thursday at 5:00 pm.
• Winners will be posted on the MMSC Facebook page each Friday following a blog post.
• Entries must include the highlighted word of the day. The word of the day may be used in other parts of speech other than the one used in the blog, i.e. the highlighted word in the blog may be "malleability" but entrants may use the more common form "malleable" in their sentences.
• Entries must also include the entrant’s full name (first and last) and email address.
• Entrants may submit more than one sentence for consideration.
• Sentences will be judged based on correct use of the word of the day, grammar and sentence structure, and creativity. 
• Sentences will be judged by the MMSC staff, including MMSC Director Susanna Thomas, MMSC Barn and Media Manager Catherine Flowers, and MMSC Office Manager Lori Tobin.
• Winners of each word of the day contest throughout the year will be entered in a grand prize drawing to win their choice of either a $500 horse credit toward an MMSC horse available for adoption or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Ron Turcotte. To use the $500 horse credit, the winner must become an approved adopter with the MMSC and follow all adoption policies and procedures.
• The grand prize drawing will be held at the end of the year after Christmas and prior to New Year’s Eve.
• Disclaimer: This contest does not have a connection with Blogspot or Facebook in any way and is not sponsored, supported, or organized by Blogspot or Facebook. The recipient of the information provided by you is not Blogspot or Facebook but the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center.

Blasted Winter Blasts!

The horses were supposed to come back to the MMSC tomorrow. But they are not. Blasted winter blasts! We had had such a benevolent January for the most part. We were due that, I thought, after last year’s Polar Vortex.

But no. Siberian air blasts brought record snows in Kentucky (and elsewhere!) and mind boggling low temperatures. I’ve been been fretting daily about the “clandestine pipe” in the ceiling above my office which burst at the first thaw. After it was fixed last year, we swaddled it in insulation and so far, it seems toasty. But still, I have been worried. And it ain’t over.

That’s why we decided to delay the arrival of the horses by a week. The upcoming weekly forecast looks dicey. A tad more temperate (20 degrees above zero as opposed to 20 below) but still well below freezing. I have learned in my seven winters at the MMSC that the paddock waterers don’t work in those temps. Worse, if you have them operative, the pipes below ground freeze and burst when the earth warms. Thus, I have learned the expensive way that it is best to drain the pipes when the last horse leaves in December and wait for spring. I did think about bringing the horses on anyway, and just turning them out for an hour or so to stretch their legs. But frozen water is still an issue. Buckets get solid in no time. And we have only three heated buckets (Would anyone like to donate ten or more to the MMSC???) So I worry about colic.

I especially worry about colic that first week the horses come to the MMSC. Changing environments is a stressor for them. Add to that a change of feed, and the aforementioned lack of water, and the equation adds up to TROUBLE at worst and WORRY at best.

And that’s not the only thing I worry about. I worry about our paddocks, too. Unless you have the expanse of the open range, any responsible horse farm owner needs to be thinking about safeguarding one’s paddocks. Why? Because healthy paddocks are your golden geese. Correctly managed, they save you money on hay, feed, and supplements.  If you do as we do at the MMSC and bring the horses into the barn only when they are worked, then you save money on bedding, labor, and diesel fuel (you have to dump the manure somewhere, right?).  In my mind, you save on vet bills too. Horses, even Thoroughbreds, are healthier outdoors, physically and mentally. Probably emotionally, too, if they are turned out in company. After all horses are social creatures.   

They are also nomadic. Which is part of the problem. I don’t want my golden geese to get pummeled to death. You put a foot or more of snow, then slush, then rain, and 11 thousand pounds of high speed and erratic traffic (that would be ten 1,100 pound horses cavorting) and your golden geese won’t look like much other than dirty, demolished, divoted detritus (remember by blog post in 2013, The first why?) And that lush green grass won’t be coming back any time soon.  

So to save the paddocks, I would have to keep horses up most of the time until the weather breaks. That means loads of heavy lifting the manure of fretful horses that are in a new place and separated from their friends.  And what about training? Until we get a covered arena at the MMSC it’s hard to do much of anything in that regard.  When the temps are gelid, the arena is rock hard frozen. When the temps rise, the footing gets as unpredictable as quicksand. 

So for all these reasons, I reluctantly decided to push back the horses’ arrival a week.  It is disappointing because I was really looking forward to seeing them: Old friends that have been in foster care over the winter like Jazz Fest, my handsome hulking athlete, Harlan, my immature baby last fall that was just starting to grow up come December, Bordeaux Bandit, my war veteran that started in a claimer in May 2014 and was very “race-tracky” throughout the fall but now is roly-poly fat and has smiling eyes; Shooter, the little meteorite that always makes me smile that has been with the wonderful Melissa DeCarlo Recknor who worked for the MMSC for three years. 

I am looking forward to seeing the new faces as well. Souza, that I met at the racetrack in September screams ‘’E V E N T E R”.  Big, sweet, roman nosed Street Art or “Artie” that floats like a butterfly when he trots. Beachview Two that was with us briefly last year, but needed ankle chips removed to stay sound is returning all healed from his surgery. I love Beachview’s winsome hors-ona. He is bright as an otter and very interactive. And he has grown and filled out too! Slight and slender last year, he bloomed over the fall and winter.

Also in the spring class is Rondo, a horse that has the worst registered name EVER, Pain Giver, but is anything but that, and has started reschooling already and is jumping courses! The lovely Irish bred Loukas is coming from California. There are the three fillies:  Angel, Shannon, and Simple Truth.  Angel will go many miles under saddle. Shannon needs a little girl in pig tails. Simple Truth is gray and gorgeous and belongs in the show ring. 

And I have others, too, waiting in the wings, that I am excited about.  Oh well, in the scheme of eternity, what’s another week? Here’s to hoping the snow melts and that the pipes hold fast!

Cheery bye,

Susanna

Why is detritus highlighted?  

Because it is the Blog Word of the Day: 

 Help us reach our goal of 112,000 total blog visitors this year! Join our Word of the Day contest and you could be entered in a grand prize drawing to win a $500 horse credit at the MMSC or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Secretariat’s jockey Ron Turcotte! Simply read the blog every Sunday and find the highlighted Word of the Day. Then write a sentence using the word and submit it to mmsc04@gmail.com for a chance to be entered to win! Please read the full contest details below before submitting an entry.

• Blogs will be posted on Sundays. A chosen word will be highlighted within each blog post.
• Sentences using the highlighted word must be emailed to mmsc04@gmail.com with the subject line “Word of the Day Contest”.
• Entries may be submitted each week following a blog post from the posted time through Thursday at 5:00 pm.
• Winners will be posted on the MMSC Facebook page each Friday following a blog post.
• Entries must include the highlighted word of the day. The word of the day may be used in other parts of speech other than the one used in the blog, i.e. the highlighted word in the blog may be "malleability" but entrants may use the more common form "malleable" in their sentences.
• Entries must also include the entrant’s full name (first and last) and email address.
• Entrants may submit more than one sentence for consideration.
• Sentences will be judged based on correct use of the word of the day, grammar and sentence structure, and creativity. 
• Sentences will be judged by the MMSC staff, including MMSC Director Susanna Thomas, MMSC Barn and Media Manager Catherine Flowers, and MMSC Office Manager Lori Tobin.
• Winners of each word of the day contest throughout the year will be entered in a grand prize drawing to win their choice of either a $500 horse credit toward an MMSC horse available for adoption or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Ron Turcotte. To use the $500 horse credit, the winner must become an approved adopter with the MMSC and follow all adoption policies and procedures.
• The grand prize drawing will be held at the end of the year after Christmas and prior to New Year’s Eve.
• Disclaimer: This contest does not have a connection with Blogspot or Facebook in any way and is not sponsored, supported, or organized by Blogspot or Facebook. The recipient of the information provided by you is not Blogspot or Facebook but the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center.

Spring interns, Shakespeare, and the Road to the Horse

Saturday, February 14 was Valentine’s Day. It also was the beginning of our spring internship. There are four interns this semester: Nicole from Asbury University, Taylor from the University of Kentucky, Maggie from the University of Louisville, and Sharon from Eastern Kentucky University. Nicole and Taylor are doing the Training and Barn Management internship, Maggie and Sharon the Communications and Business one. They will be with us for eight to ten hours a week for the next twelve weeks. During that time they are going to work hard, but, I assure them, they will have fun, and they will learn too. That’s my pledge to them as it is to every intern who comes to the MMSC. As I do with every horse that comes into my program, I make a commitment to every intern—I want to know what they want to be when they grow up and how the MMSC can help them take worthy steps in that direction.  

Nicole, Taylor, Maggie, and Sharon are the MMSC spring 2015 interns

Their pledge is to support Team MMSC. Quit not when your work is done, but when EVERYONE’S WORK IS DONE. Never be idle. Never be negative, or catty, or undermining.  I have no time for those things, and therefore zero tolerance. They all learned that during their initial interviews. 

Now they are at orientation. They hear it again. Along with a lot of other things: The MMSC ethos (Quality, Excellence, Transparency, Honesty), the construct of the Horse Center Reschooling Program℠, a methodology I developed and brought to the MMSC, Susanna’s principles of Horsemanship, the MMSC “elevator speech,” MMSC rules, MMSC schedule, the MMSC ‘Word of the Day.’

“All roads lead to Rome,” I tell them. The girls look at me blankly. “Have any of you ever heard that expression before?” They give me slightly raised eyebrows and sheepish shrugs.

The Romans built over 250,000 miles of roads
 throughout their empire

So they get a brief history lesson about the Roman empire and Rome’s building of roads throughout its dominions so it could travel expeditiously and bring products and wealth back to the seat of power.

“So what I mean by that expression is that while each of you has different interests and reasons for doing an internship here and all of you will be working in different ways on different projects, you will all be working to serve the interests of the MMSC.”

They are given a contract to read and to sign, and a sheet with three goals that they would like to achieve for themselves whilst they are at the MMSC. They are asked to fill out a schedule with the hours that they promise to be at the Center.

“How many hours would you like?” they ask.  

“As many hours as you can give, and then some.” 

They all respond enthusiastically about how much they intend to be there.

“That’s good. Because I fully intend to get a pound of flesh from each of you!”

I look at each one and realize they have no idea what I mean.

“Has anyone every heard that expression before, ‘to extract a pound of flesh?”

No.

“Has any one every heard of the play, The Merchant of Venice?”

No.

“Hmmm. Do any of you know who William Shakespeare is?!”

At last their faces light up.

“A pound of flesh is a reference to a situation in The Merchant of Venice…but I am not going to tell why or what.” Instead I assign two of them the homework of coming back the next week with a synopsis of the play and an explanation of the pound of flesh.

I then send them out with Catherine, our Program Coordinator, to tour the International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park. 

“I want you to go to the museum so that you have an understanding of the inextricable link between horses and mankind. It’s great that you are coming to the MMSC to intern, but I want you always to think about the bigger picture. We are so much more than just a small Center. We are part of an industry, a tradition, a history. Come back in an hour and a half and each of you tell me three things that you learned there today. My hope is that this trip to the musuem will engender lots of scintillating conversation amongst you… Any one know what engender means? Hmmm, I see, that’s the MMSC word of the day!”

I laugh at myself and tell them that I am “draconian", a word that none of my interns from any season has ever known. So I digress briefly to tell them about Draco, the unforgiving Athenian lawmaker of the 7th century.

“I am draconian about a lot of things: Cleanliness in the barn, idle hands, no-show behaviors. Beware!”

So begins another internship class. It will be fun getting to know these four young ladies and to see if and how they rise to the occasion. 

The next day, I woke up and after feeding my own horses, breaking ice on their water trough, throwing them extra hay, readjusting their blankets, I decided to come in, make a fire (using the former Christmas tree as kindling!), and to challenge myself to rise to the occasion of reading The Merchant of Venice. I last read it in high school. I decided as I had asked the girls to look into it, that I had better do so too. After all, you gotta walk the talk, right?

Shylock wants his pound
 of flesh.

So I settle in by the blazing fire with a big cup of coffee and the complete works of William Shakespeare. It takes a few minutes to get into the rhythm of  the 400 year old English, but I’m there in no time. Antonio, a noble merchant from Venice borrows money from a Jewish money lender, Shylock, to help his best friend Bassanio win over the girl of his dreams, Portia. Shylock has an age-old vendetta against Antonio and insists if Antonio defaults on the loan that it be repaid with a “pound of flesh.”

The construct of the play is typically Shakespearean: Lovers who have a hard time getting together, “fools” who are the wisest members of the cast, and cross dressing women characters who are way smarter than the men. Pretty formulaic.  

What’s not formulaic are the ideas that explode from the pages: 

The sinuouy nature of the law. Religious intolerance. Inflexibility. Vengeance. Mercy.

As the French say, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” 

And so it is with human nature. 

I come away from the play thinking how litigious people were then and continue to be now, how clever lawyers could and do “spin” arguments.  I think about society today, all the forms of insurance we have to protect ourselves against liability claims, especially those of us who work with large, unpredictable animals, like horses.  

I think about antisemitism, about Shylock’s life long pent up rage about the discrimination he has endured, how unfair religious intolerance is, how deep the wounds it creates and how desctructive those become. Shylock’s anger twists him and becomes his downfall. I then take a leap and think about the perils of taking one’s rage out on horses, about what can happen if one doesn’t seek underlying motives for a horse’s behaviors. To be a good horse trainer, you have to practice compassion. 

It is not hard for me to extrapolate from the world around me lessons that can be learned to make me a better horsewoman. Horses are my Rome. Every day, no matter where life takes me, I am always looking for the road to the Horse.

I hope that the spring interns look for some of those roads while they are at the MMSC.

Cheery bye,

Susanna

Why is engender highlighted?  

Because it is the Blog Word of the Day: 

 Help us reach our goal of 112,000 total blog visitors this year! Join our Word of the Day contest and you could be entered in a grand prize drawing to win a $500 horse credit at the MMSC or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Secretariat’s jockey Ron Turcotte! Simply read the blog every Sunday and find the highlighted Word of the Day. Then write a sentence using the word and submit it to mmsc04@gmail.com for a chance to be entered to win! Please read the full contest details below before submitting an entry.

• Blogs will be posted on Sundays. A chosen word will be highlighted within each blog post.
• Sentences using the highlighted word must be emailed to mmsc04@gmail.com with the subject line “Word of the Day Contest”.
• Entries may be submitted each week following a blog post from the posted time through Thursday at 5:00 pm.
• Winners will be posted on the MMSC Facebook page each Friday following a blog post.
• Entries must include the highlighted word of the day. The word of the day may be used in other parts of speech other than the one used in the blog, i.e. the highlighted word in the blog may be "malleability" but entrants may use the more common form "malleable" in their sentences.
• Entries must also include the entrant’s full name (first and last) and email address.
• Entrants may submit more than one sentence for consideration.
• Sentences will be judged based on correct use of the word of the day, grammar and sentence structure, and creativity. 
• Sentences will be judged by the MMSC staff, including MMSC Director Susanna Thomas, MMSC Barn and Media Manager Catherine Flowers, and MMSC Office Manager Lori Tobin.
• Winners of each word of the day contest throughout the year will be entered in a grand prize drawing to win their choice of either a $500 horse credit toward an MMSC horse available for adoption or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Ron Turcotte. To use the $500 horse credit, the winner must become an approved adopter with the MMSC and follow all adoption policies and procedures.
• The grand prize drawing will be held at the end of the year after Christmas and prior to New Year’s Eve.
• Disclaimer: This contest does not have a connection with Blogspot or Facebook in any way and is not sponsored, supported, or organized by Blogspot or Facebook. The recipient of the information provided by you is not Blogspot or Facebook but the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center.

Of Christmas Trees, Service, Horses, and Purpose

I put my Christmas tree up on December 23rd. I took it down about four weeks later. By then the needles dropped torrentially every time I inadvertently brushed the drooping branches in passing. 

I wrestle with my conscience every year when I buy a live cut tree. It seems so sad, standing resplendently in the corner of my living room slowly dying, a symbol of the fleeting nature of the Christmas season and of the transience of life in general. Yet, I can’t seem to make myself buy an artificial one. I love the smell of  spruce. I delight when the sap oozes from its knobby twig ends. It reminds me of my beloved state of Maine. I savor its presence while it is with me, and when the time comes to take it down, I cut off its branches and break them into kindling for the fireplace. In doing so, I continue to honor it until the last of the tree is burnt and the crocuses have sprung up.

The tree represents a cycle of life and a way of living authentically that are important to me. Yes, life is seasonal. Things come and go. All the more reason to recognize the present with its many gifts. “Take  your cookies when they are passed,” a beloved mentor of mine used to tell me. “And savor them,” I would add. And “be grateful.” 

And so I am for my tree, every Christmas. Grateful for its beauty. Grateful for its reminder that being of service to the bitter end (i.e. as kindling in the fireplace!) is the greatest gift of all.

I feel the same way about horses. Grateful. That’s why I do what I do at the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center. Horses have given me so much throughout my lifetime: 

Joy. Purpose. Love. Solace. Understanding. Insight. Forgiveness. Patience. Direction. Focus. 

And, so much more!

Talk about being of service! Not just to me! But to humankind in general! We crossed continents, conquered nations, created civilizations with horses. They pulled our carriages, hauled our goods, fought our wars. We drank their milk. We ate (and some still do eat) their flesh. We used their hair to insulate our walls; their hooves to make our glue. To this day, they play our games. They provide us with livelihoods. Like the Christmas tree, they are beautiful and, like the tree, they are silent. I want to recognize their service to me and to others across the globe past and present, by helping one race horse  at the MMSC at a time to find its purpose and its person when it no longer has a use on the track. I strive to be each horse’s voice, its champion, its defender. I am very particular about who adopts my horses.  Adopters fill out a multi-faceted application and submit it for approval by members of the MMSC board. Once they are approved, they must come to the MMSC to try the horse and prove to me that the fit is a good one.

It may seem crazy to be so exigent—why,when so many horses need homes am I this selective?  

It all boils down to my sense of purpose. As I told you when I first started writing this blog, purpose is important to me. Purpose gives life meaning--that is if you commit to serving something greater than yourself. 

When I was ten, my family moved to France, which had socialized medicine that covered the costs of my brother’s medical care. He had severe classical hemophilia. I had to navigate the public transportation system of Paris on my own to get to and from school every day. I sat in classes when I didn’t understand a word. I felt scared, vulnerable, and helpless.

My brother’s condition incited those feelings too. Throughout my childhood, I watched him endure devastating internal joint and soft tissue bleeds. I wanted so much to help him, to prevent the bleeding episodes. But I could do nothing. 

But, horses were always there for me to help me through: In books, in films, on street corners. We lived right next to the barracks of the famous Garde Republicaine - the French mounted guard, and I could hear the clip-clops of the horses’ shoes reverberating on the the pavement right over the wall behind my family’s apartment! 

The example of a horse’s service, generosity, stoicism always inspired me. It still does. And humbles me too. 

That childhood fear, sense of vulnerability and helplessness, paved the way to my purpose. As the Portuguese saying goes, “God writes straight on crooked lines.” I have traveled along a bunch of crooked lines. And that is a very good thing. I know what it is like for a horse to live in a world where is doesn’t speak the language. I know how horses feel when they try their best to please yet their efforts are not recognized or are misinterpreted. I can relate viscerally to the terrorizing threat of losing someone important in your “herd”.

That is why every person who gets a MMSC horse must prove first his or her ability to keep and properly care for it. When they come to the MMSC I watch the horse’s reactions to see what it has to say about the match. I am committed to trying to understand the language and the issues of every horse that comes through the program. 

I move about 35 to 40 horses a year through the MMSC. That many not seem like many in relation to a yearly foal crop in the twenty thousands. I remind myself, however, that a cistern is filled one drop at a time. A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. If I commit myself every day to living in authenticity and in the service to something bigger than myself, then each pure drop, and each true step will make a difference. One horse, one person, one smile at a time. 

Those of you who live on purpose know from your own experiences how rewarding every small service can be. For those of you who may still be searching for your purpose, listen to your small inner voice. That’s your “Garmin,” your inner GPS. It may or may not lead you to material riches, but it will, I assure you, always lead you to a path replete with unexpected and truly marvelous treasures. 

Cheery bye,

Susanna

Why is exigent highlighted?  

Because it is the Blog Word of the Day: 

 Help us reach our goal of 112,000 total blog visitors this year! Join our Word of the Day contest and you could be entered in a grand prize drawing to win a $500 horse credit at the MMSC or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Secretariat’s jockey Ron Turcotte! Simply read the blog every Sunday and find the highlighted Word of the Day. Then write a sentence using the word and submit it to mmsc04@gmail.com for a chance to be entered to win! Please read the full contest details below before submitting an entry.

• Blogs will be posted on Sundays. A chosen word will be highlighted within each blog post.
• Sentences using the highlighted word must be emailed to mmsc04@gmail.com with the subject line “Word of the Day Contest”.
• Entries may be submitted each week following a blog post from the posted time through Thursday at 5:00 pm.
• Winners will be posted on the MMSC Facebook page each Friday following a blog post.
• Entries must include the highlighted word of the day. The word of the day may be used in other parts of speech other than the one used in the blog, i.e. the highlighted word in the blog may be "malleability" but entrants may use the more common form "malleable" in their sentences.
• Entries must also include the entrant’s full name (first and last) and email address.
• Entrants may submit more than one sentence for consideration.
• Sentences will be judged based on correct use of the word of the day, grammar and sentence structure, and creativity. 
• Sentences will be judged by the MMSC staff, including MMSC Director Susanna Thomas, MMSC Barn and Media Manager Catherine Flowers, and MMSC Office Manager Lori Tobin.
• Winners of each word of the day contest throughout the year will be entered in a grand prize drawing to win their choice of either a $500 horse credit toward an MMSC horse available for adoption or a Breyer model of Secretariat signed by Ron Turcotte. To use the $500 horse credit, the winner must become an approved adopter with the MMSC and follow all adoption policies and procedures.
• The grand prize drawing will be held at the end of the year after Christmas and prior to New Year’s Eve.
• Disclaimer: This contest does not have a connection with Blogspot or Facebook in any way and is not sponsored, supported, or organized by Blogspot or Facebook. The recipient of the information provided by you is not Blogspot or Facebook but the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center.