The Keeneland September Sales - Part II

This is the second segment of the Kentucky trip.

The Hard Work Begins

September 12, 2005

Day 4 – Monday – FIRST DAY OF SALE

Well, after a horrible 5 hours of “I-don’t-think-I’ll-get-up-so-I-have-to-wake-up-every-hour” sleep, I got up at 3:30 a.m. (before the alarm went off).  I actually had a nice dream about Gifford (our draft horse), in my last hour of sleep.  I managed to be ready by 4:30 and we left for Keeneland.  We arrived at 4:50 and found a good parking spot where we had scouted out the previous day.  We left our khaki’s in the car and headed for Barn 38.  I’m glad we found it yesterday during the daylight hours, because we never would have found it in the dark of the dawn.

When we arrived, we put our bags in a room at the end of the barn.  There are small rooms for equipment, feed, lunch, computer tracking, etc.  Judy introduced me to Karl (with a K) and he told us our first job would be cleaning stalls and walking the colts and fillies.  At 5:00 a.m. I walked my first filly – Hip #1331—who saw fit to rear occasionally.

All the horses are walked in front of the barn on a stonedust track built around a tree island, where there are a few benches under a tent.  (Later, they bring a large cooler of bottled water to this spot for both customers and staff—us.)

I walked two fillies while Judy mucked their stalls, then she walked while I mucked.  To muck these stalls, you take a huge, square piece of burlap and put it in front of the stall (the stalls are bedded with straw), then use a pitch fork to pull out the wet straw and manure.  You place an entire bale of straw back in the stall and spread it out, put hay under the feed bucket and water goes in last, and then the filly or colt can come back inside.

You then drag the burlap full of manure and wet soaked straw, to a designated manure dumping area (which will be cleaned out later by large trucks) and empty it.  This takes two people as it is awkward, heavy and unwieldly.  By this time we were joined by many walkers from many other barns, and by the time I took my first colt out, it was a little “hairy.”  I managed okay. You have to realize these are yearlings (one year olds) who have been penned in a small stall for long periods of time.  When they get out into the yard with other yearlings, they want to play.  It's natural.  What we were asked to do, WALK THEM, goes against their nature.

You have to constantly be aware of these horses.  None are really worked or handled a lot.  They are supposed to be haltered and led a bit in training about a month before, but many sales groups just get the yearlings out of their fields the week before the sale, and so they have been handled very little.  Some are worse than others.  You get to know their Hip #’s and know how they will act.  Hip #1071 was very bad and they would only let a male showman take him out.  By 6:30, all the walking and mucking is complete, and it is time to “put a top” on the horses.  You are a two-man crew at this point. 

Judy was pulled away to polish brass chifneys, so I worked with Robert to groom.  While Robert held, I curried, brushed, picked feet, oiled hooves and made sure the horse was clean (most had baths after the walking in the a.m., but I wasn’t involved in that task, and I’m somewhat thankful, because no one left that task dry in any way, shape, or form).

Interior of the sales barn area, where horses are
stood to be "topped off."

After “whites” (white socks or leg markings) were done by someone, we put on leather show halters, hung chifneys on every stall and also showman numbers (each horse has their own number that a showman takes and wears on their belt as they show the horse) to match the sign numbers on the stalls.

Since we have 25 horses, this took us to 7:30 a.m. (we have a few more horses than were listed in the catalogue).  We were told to go get dressed and I got my blue oxford shirt from Beth, who works for the farm and who sent us the letters of confirmation.  I also received a B Sales hat.  I changed in the car as it seemed futile to try to use a bathroom (there were too many people with the same idea).

I was back at Barn #38 by 7:40 and Robert gave all the new showmen (which included me) an orientation to “the way B Sales shows horses.”  However, Joe , one of the owners, told Judy to take out a horse and actually let me practice.  Judy gave me some pointers about setting up a horse for show, and I was sort of ready.

Here’s how it works:  a buyer approaches the Barn representatives (who sit out front on stools – kind of like they are at an exposition) and the prospective buyer fills out a card with the numbers of the horses they would like to see (numbers are in the sales catalogue).  The reps then call the grooms and ask them to ready the horses.  The grooms go and put on the chifneys and a lead, then  the selected horse is brought down to the main entrance to be “topped off” (straw out of tail, mane brushed with wet brush, hooves checked, whites checked, quick toweling, etc.).  The rep then tells the showman taking the horse from the groom where to take the horse in the “yard” to show it.  I learned quickly the “top” “bottom” “far-side” “near-side” of the yard, so I knew where to take a horse when instructed.  They would describe buyers by their clothing like “man in black shirt,” “woman in red hat,” unless the buyers were well known….like Toby Keith.  And yes, our barn showed a horse to Toby Keith and I didn’t even know it.

Sometimes you had to leave one person and immediately take the same horse to show to another person in another spot in the yard.  You could never “go home” (put a horse up) until you checked with the rep that sent you out to make sure no one else needed to see the horse.

That's me holding Distorted Humor/Hello Barbara Sue
colt, waiting to show in the "yard."

My first few showings were probably not the best.  There is a very definitive way a Thoroughbred yearling must be stood-in-hand, and until you get the knack of the chifney  bit as a control, this can be hard to do.  It’s really a dance.  You approach, give your number, stand the horse (the two feet on the side toward the buyer must be placed inside or outside of the two feet on the far side of buyer, so buyer can see the insides of all legs).  Then you wait for the buyer to ask you to walk the colt or filly and you head up your lane, make a wide right turn and head straight back to the buyer, where you stand the horse again.  Sometimes a buyer will ask you to walk more than once.  Some buyers will come and touch the horses, but most do not.  When you stand a horse you have to time the halt with a spin, where you transfer your body from walking toward the buyer to facing the horse (your back to the buyer) and at the same time you have to change hands with your shank lead (a shank lead has a chain at the end of it, which is not found on a normal horse lead) and walk backwards a few steps.  It sounds difficult, but after about 10 showings, you get this down, and soon the horses know what to do too, so things get easier.

I lost count of the number of horses I showed between 8:15 and 11:00 a.m., as we were very busy with at least three “all shows” (every colt and filly in the Barn must be brought out) during the period.  It really can be dangerous and you have to stay very alert and aware of all the horses and handlers in the yard at any given time.  Some handlers are very good and others haven’t a clue, so your life can be in your hands if you don’t know what to watch for in a colt or filly’s demeanor.  You have to know who is and isn’t good at calming a stallion or bringing a horse back from rearing, or steadying a leaping horse.

A very exhausted filly at the end of the day!  You can
see the Chifney bit hanging from door.

At about 11:00 a.m. Karl told me to show Hip #966 to someone.  (The very first horse I showed was Hip #1176).  As the grooms topped the colt, Karl said:  “You’re showing this to an owner of the farm, so make this a good show.”  I wished he hadn’t said anything, quite frankly, because that just made me freak out, but I did the best I knew how to do from what I had learned that morning.  This particular colt was not a good stander, and he wouldn’t square correctly, but I walked him well away and then he acted up a bit on the walk back, so the owner asked me to walk the colt again.  I just took it in stride and walked the colt again, this time correcting him ahead of my turn so he would walk a straight line back.  When I set him up the second time, his feet were perfectly squared, and I stepped him back on the left side to allow the owner to see all the insides of the legs.  He stood and did not move.  The owner told me “that’s perfect.”  So I guess I did okay!

Later, unbeknownst to me, Joe saw me show a colt to a couple who were buyers.  After I was done he came and told me I did a great job with that particular colt.

As the day progressed, I got better and the horses got more tired and easier to work with.  Sometimes we needed grooms to follow with spray bottles of water to keep them moving as they were getting sluggish in the heat.  I felt sorry for these poor young colts and fillies.

Sometimes there were just TOO many horses in the yard and they all acted up.  You just had to be vigilant and correct.  I would actually talk to my colt or filly a lot when I took them “home.”

There were at least two biters.  I wasn’t afraid to chifney them or show them because I came to an “understanding” with them--I talked to them.  One colt (out of Dixie Union) gave some people a lot of trouble, but he and I got along really well and so I showed the Dixie Union colt a lot.  Once a horse trusts you (and believe me, they figure out who they can trust) you are good to go.

I never wanted any of the horses from the “back side” in the beginning (there were four housed there) as they truly were bad news and acted up when there were a lot of horses in the yard being shown.  And I wouldn’t take Hip #1071 either (the one they could only use a male showman with).  He was extremely studly and just plain, all-around awful.  He would need a lot of understanding and time in someone’s care, and I don’t know if a lot of these animals end up in that type of situation (understanding and care I mean).

We, as workers, are served a huge breakfast and lunch.  We ate breakfast in between our initial groom of the horses and getting changed.  I wasn’t really hungry at breakfast (I had a nervous stomach) and only ate a few breakfast potatoes.  With the heat of the day, I was kind of glad because I know my stomach and it would have been upset.  At lunch they served roast beef.  Oh my God!  There was no way I could eat that much for lunch, so I had a slice of bread and butter, green beans, and a cool drink (I hydrated with water most of the morning).

It was very hot today (near 93 degrees) and more of the same is expected tomorrow.  Eating in hot weather is not my favorite thing to do.  There were breaks, here and there, but not many.  You are on your feet all day, literally.  At the end of the day, someone does all of the horses feet with venice turpentine (to harden them), someone gives meds, someone collects all chifneys to be cleaned and put away, someone changes halters (from the show halters to nylon/woven halters), someone feeds, etc.  Everyone has a job. 

I did chifneys and halters, changed my shirt and handed it back in for cleaning, then Judy and I headed out.  I had survived the first day.  I met some horses I really got to like.  Most were easy to work with and seemed pretty quick to learn the routine, while others were stressed, under duress and acted out.  Eventually we will have to take horses to the sales ring, so that will be a new experience.

So far we all get along and everyone seems nice to work with. 

I took my shower when we got back to Joanne’s, did a load of laundry and ate a dinner of Ramen noodles and fruit.  I was not at all hungry.  It’s 9:00 p.m. and I am just beat, so I’ll probably fall asleep after finishing this journal for the night, or maybe read a bit and fall asleep reading, which shouldn’t take long.  I’m really NOT looking forward to the early wake up hours of the morning! L

Installment 3 tomorrow.

Aarrooooooooo!