21 Replies to “First Time Out”

  5. Yes, a stunningly beautiful horse, but with all that weight on such thin legs, could we be looking at another Ruffian?

  6. To answer my own question, evidently not, since she’s made it to retirement without being destroyed. But I do question the ethics of breeding instability into animals in pursuit of performance, profit or beauty. It just seems frivolous and unnecessary and therefore all the sadder when it ends badly.

  8. Personally i think she is one of God’s most wonderous creations. She is absolutely beautiful. And seems to have such a sense of her own presence. Those skinny legs propelled her around a racetrack as fast as almost any horse in history. Say what you will about the ethics of horse racing and breeding, you can’t deny her beauty.

  9. Rick Rae:
    I don’t deny her beauty, but let’s try a thought experiment. You want to breed horses and produce a horse that can run, in your words, “around a racetrack as fast as almost any horse in history”. God says to you, “OK, you have my blessing, with one condition: if you produce a horse so unstable that it suffers a breakdown, the horse will survive and you will be put down in its place.” Do you still want to proceed?

  12. It’s the Zenyatta dance. She’s rather famous for doing it prior to races. As far as her soundness, she ran 20 career races, including 19 consecutive wins, losing the 20th by a nose after coming from impossibly behind the pack. She raced three seasons, and that was the first time she was turned loose in a paddock in probably 4 1/2 years.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenyatta

  14. Yes, for all the justified criticisms of horse racing, this is a story of a mare that is well bred, well managed, and well loved.
    She and her connections deserve to be congratulated.

  15. Geez…I am ignoring the previous criticisms. What a magnificent animal. I have never owned a horse nor have I been a horse-racing fan, but I appreciate beautiful animals.
    Hence my penchant for golden retrievers. My primary golden has developed a strong friendship with a quarter-horse that frequently is ridden on the trails in the forest near my house.
    The two animals have developed such a strong bond that, when we encounter them, his owner dismounts and allows my dog to play with her horse, with the two of them romping around with sheer joy.
    Some things in life are priceless…for me…this is one of them.

  16. to answer Woodporter. in about 87 years of Triple Crown.
    Thus far, only eight fillies have won the Triple Tiara:
    Dark Mirage (1968)
    Shuvee (1969)
    Chris Evert (1974)
    Ruffian (1975)
    Davona Dale (1979)
    Mom’s Command (1985)
    Open Mind (1989)
    Sky Beauty (1993)
    testosteron can be a wonderful thing.

  17. RSP. Sorry but to my untrained eye she seems pretty well balanced. All horses look unbalanced with skinny legs for their large bodies, but she seems to exude sheer joy when she runs. Should we not race horses or humans for that matter? It’s a quandary that i certainly don’t have the answer to. But if it tweeks the conscience of PETA it cant be all bad.

  18. It’s great to see those kicks as she’s been let loose in the paddock, about half way through the video. She can feel the freedom too !
    beautiful horse, fantastic record, and she’s earned her retirement well.

  21. I just watched the video again…if anything it was more pleasant than the first time.
    One thing that struck me was the way her handlers reacted towards her, as well of course, as did the spectators.
    But with her handlers…the manner in which they behaved toward her was clearly not as a result of a pay cheque…it was not because it was their job…what they were doing…that, folks….is love.
    The same sort of love that I demonstrate to my own dogs…
    In an increasingly unpleasant world, it is comforting to see…

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