Horse Update

Posted by Avram Freedberg

When I heard the voicemail on my cell phone, I was excitedly anxious. Linda seemed happy and said she was having a nice Thanksgiving in Florida with her parents. She said she had been to her cousin Pat’s farm, which has some of the horses and, of course, seen the ones at her parents’ farm. She liked the way they looked and wanted to tell me about them.

The gray babies are almost two years old. Holy Blitzer who had a shattered knee was running well. However, her knee was retaining a little warmth. So, Linda will check on her again at Christmas time. If the condition persists, she’ll probably prepare her for one of the Spring sales. The other gray, Katy’s Office Girl, an Officer filly, looks big, strong and ready to run. Of course, she takes her time with two year olds, so we’ll see when she actually is ready to run.

Conseated Lady should go under tack (back into training) next week. Hopefully her rest will have her ready to go. Linda may X-Ray the fractured area to be sure.

Arielle’s Song was having fun running around and will be ready to go back under tack at the end of December. She may ultra-sound her again to be sure before she goes back into training (that’s what I vote for).

So, then, I ask about Ahvee’s Destiny, who’s scheduled for a race December 13th at Tampa Bay Downs. Turns out that Ahvee has a swollen hoof and a nicked pastern. She is treating her and may have her ultrasounded on Monday to make sure there is no more serious damage. She has responded well to treatment but we want to be sure she is sound before stressing her at the races.

Boo-hoo! To me, this did not sound good. We don’t know if this happened during training or in her stall. We have our Jet Blue reservations and were really looking forward to seeing her run (and winning, of course!). However, her good health is paramount, so we’ll see how this situation develops.

Clyde Rice is home and slowly recovering. However, his medications are making him nauseous and he is not holding down his food. This is problematic, since he needs his strength to recover but doesn’t want to eat. Linda said she saw fear in his eyes for the first time in her life. Those of us with elderly, frail parents can certainly relate. Clyde was anything but frail before his accident. His diabetes and macular degeneration had not slowed him down too much.

I’ve been pretty lucky. My parents are still with me and they’re both about 87 years old. Now my dad has become very debilitated physically. It’s hard to see your tower of strength weaken. It’s hard for them and hard for you. I guess we’ll have to concentrate on counting our blessings.

GO AHVEE! Get well fast.

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