The stories are endless, and if you need more proof, take the time to come to Winners Circle Ranch, home of the Hess family, or meet Amy at a show. Have a look around and get to know these horses. There are now many people who will, again, extol to you the virtues of the American Thoroughbred - a wonderful breed with great class and heart.
in the 84 Olympics, Magic Word-Grand Hunter Champion at numerous shows, Gem Twist-Olympic Gold Medal win- ner, Jet Run-Champion Jumper in the 70’s, and Quantum Leap-Champion Jumper and a son of the great Secretariat. The list goes on. But the fact remained that the Thoroughbred seemed to
be on its way out, or at least relegated to an ever decreasing status. You would overhear the same conversation between train-
a future as a show horse. They have seen big crowds, little crowds, heard noise that you will never hear at a horse show, walked through tunnels, seen other animals including chick- ens, goats, and pigs, and the trek to the track every day is like a trail ride on steroids. They have been shod consistently, have had the best vet
ers: “Do you have a hunter for sale?” Response was: “As a matter of fact I do. He is a 7 year old thoroughbred. Nice mover, good jumper.” And then the response, “Oh, a thor- oughbred, did he race?” Followed by, “Yes, but he is very quiet and extremely easy to train.” And the final statemen is usually became the same, “Oh well, we were thinking about a warm blood, or maybe if he at least hadn’t raced we might have considered him…….”
+ "Hot" blood breeds "Cold" draft breeds
or these horses are just making a comeback. We are seeing a new energy in the thoroughbreds, and more in the show ring. 35,000 thoroughbreds are born in the United States ev- ery year, owners don’t run them as long, many are sound and available, AND you don’t have to fly them across the Atlantic. Certainly the pricing is quite reasonable. Or maybe people are just giving these truly extraordinary horses a SEC- OND LOOK…….BUT THEY ARE BACK!!! Now back to the on-going conversations of only wanting a
warmblood, or at least a thoroughbred that hasn’t raced. I was close to being convinced that that is what I needed,
until I began riding at Hess Equine, and because of Amy Hess’s particular affinity for the thoroughbred. Her husband Bob, a Stanford graduate, is a trainer at Santa Anita race track as well as her father-in-law, Robert. Amy gallops horses at the track every morning, has bred racing winners and cur- rently also runs a lay up facility at Winners Circle Ranch in Bradbury where she trains show horses and riders.
81 Possibly it is the economy now that is making a difference, The race track itself does a lot of the work that relates to
care that exists, been groomed daily, put on a hot walker, and hand walked. If that is not enough to make him an old pro, they have been loaded into trailers repeatedly, moved around from place to place AND they can change leads: (it is a com- plete myth that horses at the track only know one lead.) The track essentially does the breaking for us. In the end evaluation, good horses are good horses, and especially these. They are not bad simply because they are thoroughbreds and have raced. Some are very quiet, some are less quiet, but they all seem to learn rather quickly that
= "Warmblood"
speed is not our goal. They are fast learners and smart horses and thrive on attention and affection. An amateur at Amy’s barn is currently working with a res-
cue thoroughbred from Leigh Gray’s Foundation, a Thor- oughbred Rehab Center. She makes daily progress begin- ning with walking poles on the ground, learning to canter in a balanced frame on a circle in both directions, and just generally the horse is a fabulous mover and a great guy. I personally am currently having the time of my life riding a thoroughbred who is a son of Unbridled – a Breeders Cup and Kentucky Derby winner. The stories are endless, and if you need more proof, take
the time to come to Winners Circle Ranch, home of the Hess family, or meet Amy at a show. Have a look around and get to know these horses. There are now many people who will, again, extol to you the virtues of the American Thorough- bred—a wonderful breed with great class and heart. I for one, am so glad that people are taking a “second look.” Why don’t YOU!!!
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