Did anyone closeup on the outriders horses shoulder shots and notice that the rein is almost bit through! Now that would have been a dangerous wreck if it had broke. As I said before I have seen some terrible consequences when horses grab the reins of other horses.
11 Likes
I wasn’t being abrupt and I don’t need you playing nursery school teacher’s aide out on the playground. For your information, while you were butting in and chastising me I was trying to go back and delete my post because I hadn’t meant it as a response particularly to any one other post. I’ve already posted here about my phone sometimes screwing up.
Get over yourself and stop jumping in so quickly to scold other people who are trying to work with sometimes unpredictable technology.
No one here really knows what was going on in that colt’s mind but technical gadgets are even more out of our realm of “expertise.”
You’ve just spoiled my very nice Sunday with your harsh judgement and rush to attack.
@McGurk, if I’m not mistaken, you are referring to the image posted above at the Sunday morning presser? Please stop to think things through.
- As others have mentioned, the Derby is not normal. it’s cray, cray town, for everyone, but especially for the horses.
- The horse is a young stud, who has been fed and trained up to the very tippy-top point of energy and ability. It’s only natural that he would be a handful under even normal barn circumstances. AND he would not even be welcome at many, many barns.
- All of a sudden, he isn’t just a $30k claimer anymore.
- It’s a press conference and we don’t know about who the press is. They may not be, and probably are not horse people. They have a bunch of cameras and equipment that the horse may not have seen before. They may drop things or make quick moves or just do stupid stuff.
In those circumstances, “taking it a little step up” is nothing more than responsible horsemanship. An ounce of prevention, if you will.
And on a side note to those who said just let him run it off after the race? Imagine the damage he could do if he got loose and tried to mount a filly with a caslick?
18 Likes
That was not a “rush to attack” … just a gentle observation. No need to scold me for something I did not do. I hope you have a good Sunday.
10 Likes
It was mine, working at a large stable in Kentucky and a handful of smaller ones in Virginia.
Regardless, there was no reason at all for the outrider to grab the horse by the reins without a lead, which seemed to be the precipitating factor for everything that came after.
Look at this rank horse after his last win 
1 Like
This……we can all say what should have happened, but we were not there. Knowing how dangerous this situation can quickly become, I think he did what he had to do…
7 Likes
Fair enough. Yes, I read that as I moved down the thread.
1 Like
If the outrider was having trouble threading the pony strap (and it appears he lost his pony strap at some point before the camera focused on him); grabbing the rein was the only way he could control the horse and get his back up shank on the horse.
I’m guessing, because we don’t know what had happened before the camera started.
But we had a pretty amped up horse and an outrider without a strap, so I think we can draw conclusions.
Try to imagine that you’re minding your business, doing your somewhat dangerous job, and one day a year, 100,000 people show up in person and millions watch on TV to criticize the way you do your dangerous job.
24 Likes
I have no doubt the guy is probably brilliant at catching runaway horses. I’m sorry he chose to handle this situation the way he did, cameras or no. He probably is too.
#shrug
That was last September. He was not as mature and as per the comments at the link, the trainer said he had changed in his last two races and now had the “fire”.
Plus, he was facing the cacophony and electricity of Derby Day and the uproar of the crowd after such a long shot come-from-behind amazing win. Acting up a bit can be expected - and may serve as a warning to Preakness contenders. If Rich Strike had that much sass and gas left in the tank after 1 1/4 miles, 1 1/8 may be no problem - especially if the early fractions are suicidally sizzling and setting things up for late flyers like Rich Strike.
He was not impressed with the traditional escort that the winner gets… while everyone else just gallops back.
6 Likes
Not only that, but they know how to do better in the heat of the moment in a very short frame of time and only based on the rectangular view of their TV screen.
Great post.
20 Likes
One of the many things that’s different is that on Derby Day, there are a tons more people around, most of whom are not horse people.
There absolutely, positively is a valid safety reason for ponying the horse back. For both the horses (drunk people hanging over the inside rail) and the people (non-horse people crowding the horses.)
PS - This thread is a great example of different people having different experiences, and believing what they experienced is the way. No one’s experience is universal; you can’t assume that all horses are treated the way those in your experience were. As I have been schooled today about my assumptions about lip chains. 
I broke babies and galloped at two farms who broke babies the way you described, and hacked them in a large field and started them like hunters under saddle. They went to the training track after 30 days hacking in the field and were fit enough to start galloping short distances. I worked for two others and know of many more, where horses were broken in the round pen and taken straight to the training track to start jogging, usually in the company of a pony. No hacking in field, no hacking between the paddocks, just get the bucks out, put on some brakes and steering and to the track you go.
4 Likes
The breeding barn I worked at had the youngsters started in a round pen - then they went out on the “track” (basically just a huge mowed oval and connecting paths) in a vast, wide open field - which often resulted in some “exciting” adventures for those kids! The manager always said that no 'kids" of his were going to arrive on the backside without “manners and some basic education”… 
3 Likes
Someone has posted their grandstand view of the Derby, including some of the post-race shenanigans. The noise level from the crowd is deafening, even on a Youtube video. The crush of human bodies, clicking cameras, roaring voices-- its a lot of loud noise, lots. After Rich Strike calmed down, he is shown trotting along happily enough with the pony and outrider, down the track towards the winner’s circle events. I think the outrider did a commendable job to manage the biting Rich Strike, his own pony and etc, all in heavy horse and human traffic on the track.
25 Likes
Exactly, so imo, I’m going to assume the guy with the most to lose if something happens is going to do his very best that he knows how to, knowing that specific horse better than anyone/of us, to keep it safe
Thanks for sharing that - it seems that once he had a chance to get sorted out, settled down a bit and refocussed after a brief kerfuffle, Rich Strike was content to go with the pony after all - and head to the winner’s circle for his roses.
5 Likes
I mean, it looked ugly, but we have all had those moments when what needed to be done did not fit the cover for Time Life.
Such is life.
they all lived to tell about it.
But golly, yes, Rich Strike had plenty of spunk after a fast race.
Speed and endurance.
15 Likes
QFP.
9 Likes
@McGurk fair point and based on my experience I certainly assumed the expensive, hopefully headed for graded stakes babies mostly got similar starts as mine did. I’m also sure that’s not the case for others but my whole point was that these horses are not unbroken, unrideable rogues when not running at full speed.
I get that it’s the Derby. And that outrider was gonna come in fast after the end and CONTROL that horse while the rest of the field continued doing what they normally do all without outriders “helping” them stay safe.
No one will change my mind it was badly done, and it all unfolded in an ugly way on a very public stage. I get to have that opinion, I’ve earned it. If someone else thinks RC was about to unleash carnage, rampaging the field and fans, and smashing on him like that was the best way to handle the situation, you probably aren’t my type of horse people and we’ll agree to disagree.
2 Likes
