I worked for the Brian Brown Racing Stable,
in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
I cleaned stalls, brushed and harnessed horses, and even got to drive them on the track!
Here are some pictures (thanks to Kevin) for you to enjoy!
Let's head into the barn ...
The first thing we do when we get to the barn is clean stalls.
Here is Jenny emptying her wheelbarrow onto the truck.
Next, we start to harness the horses.
Janeen and I usually finish harnessing all of the horses while Brian, Jenny, and Dennis start to jog.
In order to harness a horse, first you catch him in his stall and clip him into the cross-ties.
Then you brush him up and finally put the harness on the horse.
This horse is a 3 year old stallion named Hogan Hylight.
The harness has three main parts:
1) The belly band which goes around the horse right behind its front legs
2) The crupper, a loop that goes from the top of the belly band to under its tail.
This keeps the harness from slipping forward.
3) The breast collar, which attaches to the belly band at the bottom
and goes up between the front legs and around the neck.
This keeps the narness from slipping backwards.
Game Jason doesn't look too happy to be harnessed today
After they're harnessed, they need a bridle before they can go out to the track.
I'm adjusting the bridle on the horse I'm about to jog. She's a 7 year old mare named Perfect Model, or just Model for short.
Model's all ready to go out onto the track. I'm just cleaning off my glasses. When you jog horses, it's important to wear glasses of some sort, because the horses kick up a lot of dust and rocks from the track.
"Easy there girl." I'm gathering my lines and going back to sit on the seat of the jog cart. Janeen is getting ready to release Model from the crossties.
La la la, this is me heading out to the track with Model. Most of the horses jog every day but Sunday. They are also given a day off after they race or train. Jogging entails taking the horse around the track for 3 or 4 miles (depending on the horse) at a slower speed.
Model's a little silly from time to time. Here she's switching from one gait, the trot, to another, the pace ... and swishing her tail in the process.
Here we come, down the backstretch.
And rounding the turn for home.
She's pulling pretty hard in this picture, notice how stretched out her legs are. (Compare this picture to the one above, see how her front and back legs are crossed?)
This is Janeen, heading out to the track with Jenna's Firststrike (Jenna).
Here we have Janeen and Jenna, with Brian right behind them.
And there they go.
This is a horse named Gun Player, or Lightning for short (we don't know how he got the nickname either, he came with it). He's all harnessed up and waiting to be jogged.
After each horse comes off the track, they are unharnessed and given a bath.
This is Howie Hylight looking pretty happy to get his bath.
Here Janeen is giving Our Little Miss her bath.
This is Graceful Action, or Grace. She was trained (instead of jogged), which means she goes a shorter distance, but at a race-speed. The blanket helps to keep her from getting stiff and sore.
Both Brian and his wife Jennifer work at the barn full time. They have one guy hired on full time; Janeen and I work there over our summer break. Right now we have 17 horses to take care of. It's definitely a lot of work, but it's worth it ... I absolutely love it.
And of course, I can't work at a barn full of horses without getting attached to them.
My very favorite, however, was a 3 year old filly named Nice N Sassy.
He name fits her well, because you never knew whether she was going to behave
or try to kick and bite you, but I loved her anyhow!!
Smile!
Yup, there she goes. And you never knew what exactly would set her off.
You can ask anyone at the barn, no one ever wanted to even deal with her except me. I think I got along with her the best out of all of us. I learned over Christmas 2001 that My Sassy girl has been "sent down the line," meaning that she's been sold and isn't coming back.
(This seems to be an alarming trend among my favorte horses--check out my Ode to Dog Food and Glue.)
If you want to learn more about the standardbred world, the breed, and its gaits (the trot and the pace), check out the Unites States Trotting Association (USTA) website.
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