September 15, 2005
Day 7 – FOURTH DAY OF SALE
We have been arriving five minutes late these past two days so that we can do stalls instead of walk horses. It saves your arm for the rest of the day. Sometimes you have to use cunning in order to survive.
Yesterday I did three stalls and walked one horse. Today, I managed to avoid walking all together and just did four stalls. This morning was HELL. Very busy and very muggy. I decided to approach today with the mindset that every hour that went by, was one less hour I had to work and one hour closer to the end of this sale day—the final day. I love horses and I love being with horses, but these are special circumstances...ones where your body is screaming that you can't possibly stand up on your feet for another 12-hour day, let alone handle a yearling which may try to pull your arm out of its socket if something spooks or scares it, or if it decides it wants to run and join other yearlings in the yard.
I did not end up accompanying Robert and the Dixie Union colt to the sales ring. The colt was acting up this morning and they wanted a more experienced groom to go along, so Ryan was chosen. I think the real reason a groom goes, is not just to groom the horse, but to take over the walking of the horse and the showing at the sales ring, in case something happens to the original walker. Say you were lambasted with a pair of hooves, or stomped by a rearing horse. Too bad! Gotta get that yearling to the ring! Groom takes over and leaves you lying there to be helped eventually by someone who doesn’t have to take a yearling to the ring. I never did PROVE OUT this theory, but I still hold it!
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| This is the entrance to the outer sales ring. The handler will stand the horse between the two railing while the groom does a quick "top off" here. |
So, I actually groomed for Judy when she took a horse up, which was MUCH better, because Judy is an excellent teacher and was able to give me plenty of pointers on the way. Judy took the Hip #966 colt out of Touch Gold/Mop Squeezer. For the most part, the colt was very good, except when he got to the outer show ring (an enclosed ring before the main sales area), the colt became nervous and nearly reared up once. Soon he settled and was fine and seemed to handle the rest of the journey pretty well.
I did my “groom” thing, following the showman to the ring, then moving to a middle area where grooms go, waiting for the horse to be transferred to the first crossover chute to a smaller ring. You follow the showman to this smaller, really and absolutely CRAZY area, where you do a quick top off of the horse, if it can possibly stand still, to remove any last remnants of stone dust, give the hooves a quick polish, etc.
People do not take their lives very seriously who stand in this second smaller ring area with the showmen. These colts and fillies are now in a small area with colts and fillies they have not seen before, and many many things can go wrong. While there is a barrier wall for the buyers to stand behind, they do not. They walk through here like they are walking on the beach enjoying the sand between their toes. I could never figure out why folks who are supposed to understand horses, put themselves in harm’s way of a horse, knowing what can happen. The only conclusion I can come to is, they really DON’T understand the horse very well, but think they do.
From the smaller ring, you move to a chute near to the door to the main sales floor. The showman will hand off the horse to a sales floor individual after passing through the door. The groom’s job here is to make sure the horse goes THROUGH the door before leaving the showman…the showman continues on through the door with the horse (remember, these horses may only know you for a week, but they KNOW YOU, and they don’t know what is through that door, so sometimes the groom may have to encourage them from behind to continue through). Once the handoff is made, the showman waits inside for the horse to be auctioned, and the groom leaves by a side gate and waits to meet the showman outside for the walk back with the horse. Judy’s colt sold for $110,000.
I’m not sure you can call it a WALK back. Horses seem to want to RUN back, so you really have to settle them. I guess there was some merit in being one of the last barns to sell and being so far away after all. The walk to and from the sales ring went through VERY QUIET barns—barns that were left empty earlier in the week by groups that had already made their sales. Walking through the shed rows in these quieter surroundings was truly an advantage.
As the day progressed, less shows were needed in the yard back at our barn #38. I held two horses for Tracey to groom and ready for the show ring. None of the horses were allowed to lay down today. This was somewhat disheartening to me. I know they were tired.
When it came my turn to take Hip #1222 (out of Carson City/Dhaka) I was ready. Amanda was my groom and we set off for the sales ring. There is a road you have to cross over after you go through a series of shed rows. This was the only place this colt stopped and looked around, somewhat unsure, but he mostly listened to me talk to him, and although he sometimes trotted a little in hand, he was relatively good to handle. Even as we approached the very active and loud outer sales ring, where you stop to have your groom dress the feet and do a quick brush, he simply walked in with me and we got into the centrifugal force that is made up of all the showmen and colts/fillies, walking in circles until their numbers are called to move further into the bowels of the Keeneland sales rings.
I did about 10 shows in the outer ring. These are people who come up and ask you to “stand the colt” or walk the colt this way. You basically do what you would do in the yard in about 25 feet of space! Even as we moved from the circling outer ring to standing in the chute area (in preparation to go to the inner ring), this colt stood very well. I did two more small “shows” in the chute for interested buyers. I was finally moved to the smaller ring, with the nutty people who have no regard for their life, and my job was to keep the colt quiet and calm. It wasn’t a hard job even though there were other horses who were not happy campers and who were leaping sideways or stomping on those nutty people who insisted they needed to be THAT CLOSE to a horse.
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| A photo of the inside of the Keeneland Sales Ring. |
Finally my number was called to go into the even smaller chute. Amanda did her final cleaning and then I was being ushered through the door into the auction ring. The handler took the colt from me, and I leaned against the wall and watched the tiered room full of bidders go to work. The bidding is very fast. You are in and out of that sales ring within two to three minutes. I've found a video of the ring which you can see by clicking here. This video is interesting for many reasons. First, some of you may recognize the filly being sold. This is ZENYATTA, and she was sold at the same September sale which I worked. Second, as the camera pans right for the first time, you will see Zenyatta's handler in an orange shirt leaning against the wall, trying to be inconspicuous. That would be the same spot where I stood waiting for my colt to be sold. Finally, there is a very good close up of the chifney bit and shank lead and how these are used and attached to the leather halter. My colt was sold in a matter of three minutes for $60,000. Wow! He was then handed back to me and I left through a different door and met Amanda.
The colt, true to form, was a handful on the “walk” back, (and now you have to remember you are walking a $60,000 colt back!!!!) but eventually he just walked quietly and we got there. I had done it. I had made it to the sales ring and back with a yearling, and I felt pretty darn good about it! Although I understand a number of folks didn’t think this colt would be too kind to me, he proved them all wrong and I proved that I do have a good feeling about good horses.
In the end, that was the only horse I took to the ring. I did another grooming stint, got involved in more readying of the colts and fillies for the ring, but they didn’t need me to take another one up. I wasn’t disappointed. I was happy to have experienced what I experienced that day.
At the end of the day, the Distorted Humor/Hello Barbara Sue colt (there is a photo of me waiting to show this colt in one of the other blog posts on this subject) was the horse that sold for the most from our barn. He brought in $435,000. I was the groom for this horse when he was taken up to the sales ring. The second highest was the Dixie Union/Mandy’s Classic colt that went for $200,000. In my personal opinion, it was going to take another $200,000 to train this colt, because he was nuts.
In the midst of others taking horses to the ring, and acting as grooms, the new owners of Hip #1158 (Touch Gold/Bavarian Girl colt) came to take photos of him. I happened to be the only one out front at the time, as this was in the afternoon, when shows were infrequent at our barn due to it being sales day. The woman owner approached me and asked me if I would take the horse out for photos. Again, I had no one to ask, and no protocol for this, but I figured, what the heck…it’s the last day.
I pulled the colt and proceeded, for the next 20 minutes to try and pose him as the owners requested for their photo shots. Light had to be just so, and no we had to stand at this tree and not that one, and could I make him stand up a bit straighter. The entire time I smiled and said wonderful things. They thanked me profusely and as I went to put the colt back into his stall, the woman followed me and slipped something into my back pocket. It turned out to be a GREAT tip! I asked Judy about this and she said that I earned it and that I should keep it. I was glad that this colt could finally lay down now. He was beat.
My favorite horse, besides this particular colt, whom I felt I could trust and had a brain, was a filly out of Elusive Quality/Lord Remember Me (Hip #1335). I wonder what has happened to her. I think I’ll try to look her up and see what became of her.
When the day was over, we handed in our shirts, thanked everyone, and Judy and I said our goodbyes. Some of the folks would remain for the second week of the sales for this barn, but Judy and I signed on for just one week. I was so thankful for that. While I had made it, my body would need about two weeks to recover from this experience.
On this last sales day, after a relaxing shower, we sat around and talked and fell into bed. It was a luxury to sleep until 7:30 a.m.—okay, maybe it was 8:00 a.m. and have a leisurely breakfast on the deck.
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| Entrance to The Red Mile racetrack. |
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| Gainsborough's Breeding Facility (I hesitate to call it a barn!) |
Judy and I took a trip to see Gainsborough Farm and the stud Quiet American. We also stopped at The Red Mile racetrack. I’ve included some photos here from that experience. We also found a lovely outdoor event, and accompanied by Joanne, we attended an outdoor festival full of tents with crafts and good food.
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| Me standing in the gardens at Gainsborough. |
Would I do it again? Remember in the very first blog post on this subject I told you of two things I would never do no matter the amount of money? Well, now there are three.
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