I used to. Groomed and trained for almost 12 years. My base was the Meadowlands Racetrack in NJ. I also had quarterhorses for several years and been riding since I was 10 years old. Towards the end of my Standarbred days, friend and I bred a mare to then, fastest Standbred, CamBest, and sold the colt at Harrisburg. He was bought by someone from England and got exported to be a stud there.
Definitely TOUGH. Especially those mornings in January when there's a -20 degree windchill blowing across the meadows and marshes onto the track and your hands freeze before you even get the horse onto the track for a 4 mile jog in that wind. You can feel your ears let alone your eyeballs. Then being wet for 6 hours because you still need to give baths and wash buckets and you never really get dry AND you're freezing at the same time because there's no heat in those barns at the track. Getting to bed at 2am because you were in the last race and it's 98 degrees with no wind or breeze to speak of and it takes 2 hours to walk and cool out your horse and put him away and you haven't eaten yet but you need to get up at 5am to start all over again. In the same breath, BOY it was fun. I had a blast. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, one long party. The racetrack life is a soap opera, social fest and gala all rolled into one. I miss it. Wouldn't go back, just miss the drama, the fun and the horses. I still do some work for one of the associations that manages the big stake races. I typeset their media guide and they use my CMS (hosted) for their website. I'm also friends with the track announcer and get some of the gossip. Cheers, Erika -------------------------------------------------- ##| -----Original Message----- ##| From: Mary Jo Sminkey ##| ##| You have Standardbreds? Been years since I rode, my first ##| job was hotwalking at a race track. ;-) Talk about a tough ##| job...makes me admire those that work there a lifetime. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:216381 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
