That Other Autobot
Stayed up until the wee hours of the morning looking, yet again, to see if I could get any information on the Thoroughbred stallion Autobot, born 1983, won three big stakes races in 1986, had a race at Hawthorne Race Course named after him for a number of years. Also found his pedigree...but that was it. I have, or used to have, one of the Blood Horse Magazines that had a picture of him winning one of those races and that's where I found out about him. Ohhhh...hmmm, I wonder if I still have the Stallion Register...but that wouldn't tell me when he died or other bio information.
I did find out something scary, and yet another WTF thing that racing industry people keep friggin' doing (the other being overfeeding stallions in the month prior to breeding season, which frequently causes laminitis of course! That's what killed Secretariat. Never up a healthy horse's feed until they're actually doing the work!) - give horses penicillin. Easy Goer and at least one other Derby winner died because apparently when you give several days of penicillin to horses, you have to keep them from exercising or ANY other kind of stressors or around the 5th or 6th day they will go into anaphylactic shock and DIE. Apparently some horses have even died just from the stress of being trailered after getting the shot. Easy Goer apparently had allergies so they gave him several days of penicillin and put him in his paddock...boom, anaphylactic shock and massive heart attack! This is good to know because next time I have a horse, and if the vet ever says 'Let's just give him some penicillin' I'll be going "FUCK NO, think of something else!"
I also found out something horrible. 1986 Derby winner Ferdinand was 'disposed of' by his then-owner in Japan, and may have wound up as dog food or steaks. There is now a 'Ferdinand Fee' applied to racing in New York (I think that's the state) that pays for retirement homes, and some sellers have been including a buyback clause in their contracts when they send a stallion to a foreign owner (Silver Charm is one of the lucky few, so far). There's also an organization, Old Friends, that keeps an eye on the stallions overseas that aren't subject to the clause - such as Charismatic, Strike the Gold, Sea Hero, War Emblem, and Alysheba - with the intention of getting the foreign owners to send the horse back to America or to buy them when the owners no longer want them.
Oh...and someone I knew in the 1980's, 'cause I lived at his farm for two weeks, died back in 2006...but not before giving a son of Ferdinand, Bull Inthe Heather, to Old Friends. :)
--Moony *sigh*
I did find out something scary, and yet another WTF thing that racing industry people keep friggin' doing (the other being overfeeding stallions in the month prior to breeding season, which frequently causes laminitis of course! That's what killed Secretariat. Never up a healthy horse's feed until they're actually doing the work!) - give horses penicillin. Easy Goer and at least one other Derby winner died because apparently when you give several days of penicillin to horses, you have to keep them from exercising or ANY other kind of stressors or around the 5th or 6th day they will go into anaphylactic shock and DIE. Apparently some horses have even died just from the stress of being trailered after getting the shot. Easy Goer apparently had allergies so they gave him several days of penicillin and put him in his paddock...boom, anaphylactic shock and massive heart attack! This is good to know because next time I have a horse, and if the vet ever says 'Let's just give him some penicillin' I'll be going "FUCK NO, think of something else!"
I also found out something horrible. 1986 Derby winner Ferdinand was 'disposed of' by his then-owner in Japan, and may have wound up as dog food or steaks. There is now a 'Ferdinand Fee' applied to racing in New York (I think that's the state) that pays for retirement homes, and some sellers have been including a buyback clause in their contracts when they send a stallion to a foreign owner (Silver Charm is one of the lucky few, so far). There's also an organization, Old Friends, that keeps an eye on the stallions overseas that aren't subject to the clause - such as Charismatic, Strike the Gold, Sea Hero, War Emblem, and Alysheba - with the intention of getting the foreign owners to send the horse back to America or to buy them when the owners no longer want them.
Oh...and someone I knew in the 1980's, 'cause I lived at his farm for two weeks, died back in 2006...but not before giving a son of Ferdinand, Bull Inthe Heather, to Old Friends. :)
--Moony *sigh*