Horses

David N. over at the facebook page for this site has now asked twice, "Why Roanman?"

So ... because David has proven himself to be chronically pleasant, patient and kind, although a little long winded at times, and also because we couldn't come up with anything else to write about tonight, we have decided to indulge him.

From lexic.us, Roan - Usually said of a horse, having a bay, chestnut, brown or black color with a thick mixture of white or grey hairs sprinkled in.

I started to "roan out" at about 16, and was a full blown roan by about 35.

The following is a good example of what I call a "bay roan".

Many, maybe most, horse people might call this color red roan, as whoever named him sure did.

This is Red Roan Raider, he was a sire of very nice ranch horses and the occasional good rope horse.

I rode one a little and really liked him.

Click on the photo to go to Deckert Quarter Horses, the ranch where he stood at stud.

 Next is 1995 futurity Champion, and prolific sire of cutting horses, Peptoboonsmal.

Now this is what I call a red roan.

Again, click the photo to visit his site.

I have a yearling stud colt I'll be riding next winter by one of his better sons.

This is Peptoboonsmal's dam, Royal Blue Boon, one of the greatest producing mares in the history of the breed with 14 or 17 babies that earned somewhere north of $2,600,000 in the cutting pen, and a great example of a blue roan.

Click on the photo below to go to her tribute page at Larry Hall Cutting Horses, where she spent most of her life.

And just in case your not yet sick of me going on and on about horses ..... again, here's a 20 second video of Royal Blue Boon showing at the 1984 super Stakes.

And if that ain't enough for ya, here's a photo of her two cloned daughters, also blue roans, which links up to press release from Viagen (The Cloning Company) ... seriously ... about Royal Blue Boon being the first ever cloned mare.

When will you learn David ..... when will you learn.

From News9.com via The Quarter Horse News (they run real fast for a quarter mile or so).

As always click the photo to link to the entire story.

$66 Million Tax Dollars Spent Housing Wild Horses

Amy Lester, Oklahoma Impact Team 

PAWHUSKA, Oklahoma -- Wild horses are roaming on private ranches across the state and Oklahomans are footing the bill.

"The question is, where do we spend the best dollar, the wisest for the American people?" asked U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, (R) Oklahoma. "We're just throwing money away."

Senator Coburn is against the way the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, manages the program. Right now, there are roughly 27,000 horses on long term pastures. They'll live there the rest of their lives. Oklahomans' tax dollars support them, at an average of $475 per horse, per year. That money goes directly to ranchers, including 13, this year in Oklahoma.

"There's not many things you can do in agriculture to change up your cash flow so this was a good program for that," said Ladd Drummond, a rancher in northeastern Oklahoma.

Drummond has 2,200 horses on his land. The government pays him $1.30 per horse, per day. That's $1.04 million a year. Drummond said less than 10 percent is profit, or close to $100,000. He has to dedicate seven acres to each horse. He gives them supplemental feedings in the winter and puts out salt and mineral in the summer.

The Secretariat post provoked in a small way the too soon to be deemed eternal (even though it will be) argument concerning which "Big Red" was the best, Man O' War or Secretariat.

In 1999 the Associated Press assembled "a six member panel of experts" to vote on the matter.

That panel elected Man O' War "Horse of the Century" and in so doing, settled nothing.

So, I'm sitting here minding my own business yesterday when the phone rings, and Paul T. says,  "So, Man O' War or Secretariat?"

"Mary Ann. I say, "Although occasionally, Ginger."

"C'mon." He grinds.

"Ok Ok, Man O' War on the strength of his stride." I offer ..... while ducking.

"No, No, No." he says and as expected, launches into the eight reasons why I'm wrong.

"Enough, I say, gimme the greatest horse race of all time.

Seabiscuit over War Admiral?

Or ..............

Affirmed over Alydar at the Belmont Stakes?

And while we're on the subject of impossible to resolve arguments.

Which was the greatest rivalry,

Affirmed/Alydar, Ali/Frazier, Magic/Bird, or Ginger/Mary Ann?

Argue amonst yourselves, keep me out of this.

We eulogized Smart Little Lena a month or so ago here.

As stated in that eulogy, he was among the greatest equine athletes of all time.

Below are the baby pictures of his five cloned offspring.

Four of these colts will be sold as four year olds at this year's NCHA futurity sale.

I personally like #4, Dave ..... seriously, Dave.

I don't know ............ he looks like a good guy.

They are being sold because differences of opinion regarding the ethics of the cloning and subsequent use of the cloned colts broke out within the syndicate that owned him, and landed everybody in court.

The above jpeg links to to a pay site article at Nature Biotechnology entitled Nuclear Transfer Saddles Up, that I just know for sure you are are going to want to read over and over again.

Maybe not.

These here gears here  links to an article about a cloned daughter of Docs Serendipity, another great champion cutting horse.  It offers some conversation about genetics vs. environment that's not very tough reading.

I liked it.

This little gear here  will take you to a very easy to read article which explains why these babies' white markings are all different.

I went looking around for a coherent discussion regarding the ethics of all of this ..... never found it.

Aside from the fact that all of this stuff just causes me to marvel, I really don't even know what I think about it.

The Secretariat movie comes out today.

Efforts to promote the movie included broadcasting the Sports Century feature about Secretariat on one of the ESPNs last night.

I sat there every bit as mesmerized as I did on the Saturday afternoons those races were held.

Most people of a certain age can tell you exactly where they were when they heard about the JFK assassination.

I certainly can.

But I can also not only tell you where I was for all three of Secretariat's Triple Crown victories, I can tell you what I was eating.

Because ...................

There are only two kinds of people on this earth.

Them that need a horse, and them that don't.

I comfortably fall into that first category.

Throughout most of my life, when I had a dollar to give, I'd give it for a horse.

Which is how it is that I am in possession of the following wealth of mostly useless information I am about to share with you now.

Despite the fact that it only sort of reveals the kindness, intelligence and size of Secretariat's eye, the following cover of The Blood-Horse Magazine, is my favorite profile photo of Secretariat.

I like this photo because the flat surface he's standing on allows you to see just exactly how the horse was made.

Having been a faux cowboy my entire life, I like my Thoroughbreds to look like my Quarter Horses.

And this one does.

He's a little downhill, the top of his hip is maybe a half inch taller than his withers (behind the neck).

While you wish he went the other way, it ain't tragic.

You might also catch yourself wishing that the slope of his shoulder was just a bit less steep in order to extend his stride, but now you're getting greedy.

Look at the depth at his throatlatch and think about all that room for a windpipe.

Look up from the front hoof and up, past what you're likely to think of as the ankle.  That's the canon bone, the shorter and stronger that bone is, the better it is for soundness.

His are ridiculous in their shortness.

Look up from the hoof and past the ankle on his hind leg.

Those are hocks, and again, the shorter the better, and despite the fact that they didn't stand him up straight behind for this shot, you can see them running just a hair up under him and into the ground (providing leverage) just the way you want them.

Keep looking up the hind leg at that football he had for a gaskin.

Look at the power in his hip and stifle (butt).

It is no wonder he could just blow your doors off accelerating.

But, while helpful, none of that stuff explains the greatness of Secretariat.

It was his heart ..... literally.

Secretariat like many equine champions, was known in life as a horse with "heart".

Upon his death, he was autopsied at the University of Kentucky by Dr. Thomas Swerczek,

In Dr. Swerczek's own words within a correspondence to New World's Encyclopedia:

"Certainly, after performing autopsies on several thousand thoroughbred horses, including mares and stallions, no other horse came close to Secretariat’s heart size.

The second largest heart I found was the heart of Sham, who actually broke the Kentucky derby record, but still lost to Secretariat. Sham’s heart weighed 19 pounds.

The third largest heart I found was stallion Key to the Mint, which was 16 pounds. The majority of all others were smaller, in the range of 10 to 12 pounds. Bold Ruler, the sire of Secretariat had an average size heart.

The heart size seemingly is inherited from the female side of the pedigree. When I performed the autopsy on Secretariat, which was necessary because of insurance and we needed to determine the cause of the laminitis, the cause of destruction, I did a cosmetic autopsy. The reason being I did not want to dismantle such a remarkable specimen and the farm personnel and handlers were present to immediately collect all organs in large plastic bags which were immediately returned to the farm to be buried with the body.

Normally, with other horses we can keep all organs and the body for further study, or to preserve large specimens, like the heart, but I was not allowed to do this with Secretariat. For this reason, all specimens were immediately collected and returned to the farm, and I did not get a chance to weigh the heart.

However, by comparing it to numerous other hearts I got actual weights on, I am certain the weight was between 21 to 22 pounds. So I considered the heart weight officially as 21 pounds. The heart was in perfect shape, not diseased in any way, but just considerably larger than any other horses I autopsied."

Boiled peanuts.

Smart Little Lena suffered a stroke and was euthanized Monday August 30, 2010 at his home in Aubrey Texas.

He was 31 years old.

Arguably both the greatest show horse, and the greatest sire in the history of the National Cutting Horse Association, the tiny sorrel earned $743,275 in only eight shows.  

His offspring have earned in excess of 34 million dollars in the cutting pen alone.

He has also sired champion Reining and Working Cow Horses.

I really am not crazy about the video available for Smart Little Lena at this sitting, so in order to answer the question,

"Just what the hell is a cutting horse anyway?"

Here's promotional video of Metallic Cat doing his thing.

Smart Little Lena sired both of Metallic Cat's grandams (grandmothers)

 Whoa buddy.