Ready for the red carpet?

So I know I've told a lot of different people already but at this point I can't remember who has heard and who hasn't so I figured it'd be easier to just share with the five people who read this world that Reily is going to be a film star... again!  Only this time it's going to be on national TV rather than an OTTB promotional DVD.  For those of you in horses you've probably at least heard of HRTV, also known as Horse Racing Television, and maybe even heard of the show Unbridled.  And if you're not familiar with any of the above I'll explain.  Unbridled is a show featured on HRTV that is self described as:

"An all-access pass for equine enthusiasts to sit in on intimate conversations with high-profile industry insiders, and go behind-the-scenes to learn from the worlds most accomplished and fascinating horse people. The award-winning series is contracted to broadcast its 10th season on HRTV in 2012."

Well Unbridled is featuring an in-series segment called "Thoro'Talent" which is going to showcase OTTBs and show all the things they can excel at after retiring from racing.  That includes everything from trail riding and western competition to show jumping and three day eventing.  Us eventers, we have a soft spot in our hearts for OTTBs.  They're big, bold, beautiful athletes who give their riders their whole heart and would, quite literally, jump off a cliff (read 6-8' drop banks such as those found at the Rolex grand slam events) for you if you asked them to.  Shout out to paulickreport.com and eventingnation.com where I first saw the call for submissions!  So just a couple days before the deadline I sent in a quick email about Reily, what we've done so far and what we hope to accomplish one day.  Amazingly, just two days later I received this email:

"Dear Celeste,

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to share Reily's story with us. We are looking forward to formatting your piece for distribution on Unbridled. We will be sending you a release form and questionnaire in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please feel free to keep in touch, update us on any details, and keep loving your thoroughbred!

 

If you have any additional video or pictures, please email. 

 

We are in the process of setting up a THORO'TALENT website to connect the ThoroTalent Community. In the meantime, please join us on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/ThoroTalent

 

May we have your permission to add you to our email list to send show updates and THORO'TALENT news? 

 

Our twitter is www.twitter.com/ThoroTalent

 

Please connect with us and help us show the world how wonderful it is to own a thoroughbred.

 

With sincere thanks,

 

Susan Kayne

Executive Producer, Unbridled TV

1.877.WINS.BIG | 518.537.7223"

 

 

So that's super exciting for both of us!  I told Reily, but luckily he's not letting it go to his head ;)  Now all we can do is pray for the weather to stay decent.  We rode every day from Jan 28- Feb 1, then he had two days off due to bad weather and me having to work late.  We got to ride again Sunday, Monday, and tonight though!  On Sunday it was cold and windy but we decided to take the boys over to Green Hill anyways.  Boo was splendid and did some great jump work at the end of his ride.  Reily was a little ball of fury and just had tons of energy to blow off so let's just say my calves have been on fire for the last 3 days.  He settled some towards the end (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVfXeldsESw&context=C35061a8ADOEgsToPDskLo1KjclQijzNr2YfvGSkId) and we even jumped (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLlBqp87ddQ&feature=related) some cross rails!  What a good baby :)

If only we could all be lightweights

Reily didn't used to be Reily, he used to be "Angel" short for his Jockey Club registered name "Sometimes An Angel".  But now Reily is Reily, or soon to be known as "Slow Your Roll" on the show scene because I just think that's a more badass better show name for a gelding then Angel... maybe he didn't like the track because the other horses made fun of him for being a boy and being called Angel.  That's my theory anyways.  Either way, he is now going to be Reily aka Slow Your Roll the badass three day eventer!

The sexy, sexy rig.

Have you ever made a 10 hour round trip drive in one day.  After you did that, did you really feel like doing it all over again five days later... yeah, neither did I.  And with a truck and trailer no less.  Luckily I had my Dad's heavy duty (but gas guzzling) truck, my absolutely amazing trainer's 2 horse trailer, and the greatest boyfriend in the entire world to sleep in the truck keep me company.  So I got everything ready on Friday night, we left the house at 6am, we stopped for gas about 15,000 times and eventually made it to Laurel Park Racetrack in Maryland just after 11am.  The big surprise was that when we got out of the truck we were greeted by a film crew.  No legitimately.  They were actually filming to make the "advice" book written by Kim Clark, the founder of Thoroughbred Placement and Rescue (TPR, which is the group I got Reily from), into a DVD and since they were at the track that day and we were picking Reily up that day they asked if they could film us.  My answer,  "Anything to help out Thoroughbreds, so sure!".  And so that's Reily and I's film debut, I'll have to remember to buy a copy when it's done!

I told you they were filming! How embarrassing, I started
wrapping backwards! I guess I had stage fright :(

Anyways, we went ahead and bubble wrapped the chestnut monster who had already been given a half dose of Ace (a mild sedative) to help keep him from stressing too much on the 5 hour ride home.  He may be big, but that Ace hit him like a drunken sailor, what a lightweight!  In a cute way though.  So off we strode to load up, after only a mild hesitation he walked right on, we closed up and scooted on down the road, because we had another 5 hours before home and at that point we were racing to beat the daylight.  In the end we didn't succeed (thanks to the slowest KFC EVER, and the insanely frequent gas stops), because it was dusk when we pulled into the farm.

Now if there's anything that I wasn't mentally prepared for when we got him home it would be his balance.  They'd warned me that he wasn't going to be very sure footed coming straight off the track.  You see, race tracks in America are the most perfectly groomed places you'll ever see.  By that I mean that everything, literally, EVERYTHING is grated to be as flat as flat can get.  So OTTB's tend to be clumsy the first time they experience hills or any kind of rolling terrain.  Well I thought I was prepared for clumsy... I was wrong.  By the time we got home the Ace had completely worn off and he was very excited about this new developement.  In his excitement he managed to trip himself, not once, but twice, because at home there's almost nothing but hills.  Before he could fall on his face anymore, we put him in his stall and locked the run-in that surrounded the stall so that when we let my other horses loose they could see but not reach him.  Unfortunately it wasn't the other horses who really wanted to get to him, it was Reily who really wanted to get to the other horses!  His legs are so long it looked like he could almost climb right over the stall door and walk out.  So rather then wait and see if that happened we did something I never would have imagined I would do the first night... we locked my poor Shetland, Napoleon, in the run-in area right outside his stall so that he had company.  Luckily, Napoleon's a trooper and he was happy enough to stay with him all night since he had as much hay and water as he wanted and the other boys couldn't run him off of it.  So that's how they were this morning when I got to the barn to check on them.  Scotty (QH) and Boo (TB) outside the run-in staring in, Napoleon still munching away on hay inside the run-in, and Reily standing with his chest pressed against the stall door desperatly trying to reach Napoleon to convince him they should be best friends.