Horses and Jose

Posted by Avram Freedberg

What a day! In fact, an amazing two days.

After a fun breakfast with Patsy on Sunday, we went to Ocala. Before we left and in Dade City on the way to Ocala, we saw Havanese puppies… Jose, Amado, Pablo, Paco and a host of other Hispanic names because of their Cuban heritage. Patsy had a clever suggestion for a new name for a possible new puppy… Jiminy. After all, you can’t think of Jiminy without thinking of Cricket.

When we arrived in Ocala, we proceeded to Pat Hoppel’s farm which housed Ahvee’s Destiny and the new Midaseyes (his sire) colt. Of course, Pat houses almost 80 horses and trains most of them daily. Pat is married to Tori Rice whose dad, Don, was killed in a horse mishap less than a year ago.

Pat’s farm includes much of Don’s Antigo Farm, named after the Wisconsin town from which the Rice clan emanated.

On Monday, we visited Clyde Rice’s Indian Prairie Ranch. Clyde is still in the hospital but is improving. As for the ranch, have you ever seen brick stables? I hadn’t. His stables can withstand a severe hurricane. They’re beautiful. Hilton would be jealous.

Then we went to Clyde’s son’s farm, called Woodside Ranch. It’s got the most horses and a steer roping arena (I guess he has time on his hands, though you wouldn’t believe it to see the amount of work going on).

These facilities are enormous and are a testament to the Rice families’ work ethic, entrepreneurial spirit and horse training talent. Pat told us of a horse (Karakorum Elektra) who was so fractious, he had to train her twice each day (at a fiscal loss I might add!). Brian (actually Samantha) showed us a stable of horses who were progeny of some of the best sires in Thoroughbred racing history, sent to him by the Legends Limited Partnership because they are so happy with his training compared with many others. There are 5/8 mile racetracks on each facility. Acres upon acres of fenced pastures to “turn out” horses and keep various groups of horses separated. There are horse walking machines, exercise riders, grooms and many others seeing to the health and care of hundred of horses.

I had not imagined the magnitude of these operations... the beauty of the land and the animals. It was nothing short of amazing. And, of course, we got to see our four legged progeny. Ahvee’s Destiny looked great and we loved her with caresses and carrots. For awhile, she liked the carrots best but when full-up, she still enjoyed the caresses and kisses we showered upon her.

Then we got to see the new colt, just 8 months old. He was described in the sales catalog as chestnut but he looked more reddish roan. We’ll see how his color goes as he gets older. He was very young looking… just a baby, very cute. He still had his “hip number” from the sale stuck on his haunches. They need to leave it there for identification purposes until they get his official papers.

At Clyde’s ranch, we saw our yearlings for the first time. They’re tentatively named Holy Blitzer and Katy’s Office Girl. Both are gray. The Officer filly (Katy) seemed smaller than the Holy Bull filly. Holy Blitzer looked filled out… really impressive. I hope she doesn’t retain any heat in her knee from last year’s accident. They both galloped around the track with Conseated Lady, who’s back in training after recovering from her “meat cleaver fracture.” She remembered the carrots she ate Saratoga and enjoyed a few after her work.

They all looked good but I thought the Holy Bull filly looked special. Of course, it’s the horse who can run the fastest and the longest that are really special. We’ll see what the future brings.

Then we went to the pasture that contained Arielle’s Song and her gray friend, stakes winner, Mohegan Sky. Arielle Song’s color had blond highlights from sun bleaching. We got to see her get new horseshoes, eat lots of carrots and roll around on the ground, presumably scratching some itch or just trying to get rid of horse flies. Luckily, I captured some of this on tape. Hopefully, we’ll get some photos and video footage on the website soon. If so, I’ll send you links.

Back in Tampa, we went to see the Havanese pups again. Rhoda thought long and hard, finally deciding it was time to have a warm, furry animal running around the house again. So, with lots of love in our hearts and the fondest memories of our beloved Cricket, Jose will be coming home with us in the morning. He’s jet black and very playful. Maybe his photo will still be on this site: www.elmorrohavanese.com

Click the Puppies tab on the left side of the page. I’ll have some other photos in a short while. We’re nervous because of the new responsibility but we’re excited too!

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