So I want to move to CO. Scratch that, I am GOING to move to CO and just don’t know when or how. My only marketable skill is galloping horses. I have never worked retail, food, or anything else. Gallop girl is my job description, it’s what I do. I also ski and event. With this in mind, I notice an ‘Arapahoe Park’ on the CO map but can’t find much information about it other than they have a few recorded works on EB. Therefore, I assume it’s a training center that used to be an active track. Are there any Coloradans out there who can give me the scoop. I’m thinking I’ll live near Parker maybe. Or perhaps Boulder. Any and all suggestions welcomed.
They’re just starting the summer meet this weekend.
http://www.mihiracing.com/arapahoe_park.shtml
Quite a few trainers from Turf Paradise go there for the summer. Either there, Yavapai or New Mexico.
http://www.mihiracing.com/arapahoe_park.shtml
google earth on Arapahoe Park Aurora Co.
There seem to be 27 barns and a 36 day race meet starting this saturday. ( 12 weeks racing three days)
Really short season, lots of QH races. Very little TB activity in CO, but there’s more in NM. I seriously doubt there’s enough race horse activity in CO to support you as a gallop girl year round.
Arapahoe Park is perhaps a half hour away from Parker, which is CO’s horsiest area. Boulder is nice but quite expensive.
Very helpful so far guys. Does anyone have personal experience? I probably wouldn’t live there year around, as I am a FL girl in winter through and through. I live in NY now and have gone to FL for many winters and considering CO isn’t much farther away from FL than NY is, I don’t imagine there would be much difference.
I belive the racing is geared toward Q-horses in Colorado. I wouldn’t plan on moving to CO with the hopes of making a living on T-breds.
Have you considered CA? There are quite a few breeders here who train their own horses–I’m not far from Harris Ranch, and they have a very nice facility. There are also several larger breeding farms in the Fresno area. No racing in central CA except fairs and such, but soCA has racing, and I think there’s at least one track still open in noCA.
We spent a summer in CO at Arapahoe Park!
I LOFFED IT!
This is what I can tell you (I gallop too).
It was probably the nicest, easiest, most trainer-friendly track we’ve ever been.
The stalls never fill and they don’t make you live on top of one another. Most trainers get how ever many stalls they ask for and are never deprived stalls. Nearly no rules on the backside. You can ride all day and all night if you want. Lots of folks bring babies to break and ride them during the afternoons.
Track is located WAY away from town. You can see town clearly but you have to go way around to get there. Most folks live on the backside in an RV Park. Rent was $400/mo…this was 3 yrs. ago.
I galloped/ponied and am an owner----hubby takes good care of me in the lean times. Don’t know if I could have made a living on the galloping though. Ponying was good though and the pony mob was very, very nice. Good group of guys and gals who got along very well and worked together.
There is a five or six week HJ circuit in Parker which was maybe 10 miles away and lasted for a good part of the summer.
Many of the horses come out of Phoenix and are ready to go when the season starts. Alot of those trainers do minimal galloping during the meet and most of those horses are galloped by Phoenix riders. The other faction that goes is the QH/local TB’s and there is alot of breaking going on. The gallopers that did the best were the rough stock riders that could ride about anything…they don’t get broke at a training center and then go to the track like they do back east------they get broke at the track:D. A good bit of Arabians go there too. they have a giant jogging machine too and alot of trainers use it @$6 a pop was cheaper than $10 for a gallop.
There is still snow in the mountains in June but the weather is very nice.
If you have any other questions PM me. I sure wish I could talk hubby into going back but with the price of fuel and his own porch to sit on in the summer I doubt that will happen.
Ohhh, gallupgirl you’ve got me nearly salivating already. While it is not a reputation that I LOVE, I’m definitely the cowgirl up kind of rider and get alot of the difficult horses in addition to breaking about 200 horses in FL every year. A friendly pony mob? Really? I didn’t know those existed! Up here it’s pony girl eat pony girl so to speak…wait…that came out wrong…but you know what I mean. Hehehe. You’ll probably get a PM from me as time comes closer to when I plan on going. Is AP absolutely DESERTED is winter?
Yes, absolutely deserted in the winter-----if you do the hunter/jumper thing though it is a very good area.
You may check with some folks up there…there have been ‘rumors’ for years that it’s going to close, but those are probably just that, rumors!
And yes, it was a wonderful pony mob. Not like the two mob factions here, complete with Uncle Guido drama :winkgrin:
[QUOTE=gallupgirl;3234828]
We spent a summer in CO at Arapahoe Park!
I LOFFED IT!
This is what I can tell you (I gallop too).
It was probably the nicest, easiest, most trainer-friendly track we’ve ever been.
The stalls never fill and they don’t make you live on top of one another. Most trainers get how ever many stalls they ask for and are never deprived stalls. Nearly no rules on the backside. You can ride all day and all night if you want. Lots of folks bring babies to break and ride them during the afternoons.
Track is located WAY away from town. You can see town clearly but you have to go way around to get there. Most folks live on the backside in an RV Park. Rent was $400/mo…this was 3 yrs. ago.
I galloped/ponied and am an owner----hubby takes good care of me in the lean times. Don’t know if I could have made a living on the galloping though. Ponying was good though and the pony mob was very, very nice. Good group of guys and gals who got along very well and worked together.
There is a five or six week HJ circuit in Parker which was maybe 10 miles away and lasted for a good part of the summer.
Many of the horses come out of Phoenix and are ready to go when the season starts. Alot of those trainers do minimal galloping during the meet and most of those horses are galloped by Phoenix riders. The other faction that goes is the QH/local TB’s and there is alot of breaking going on. The gallopers that did the best were the rough stock riders that could ride about anything…they don’t get broke at a training center and then go to the track like they do back east------they get broke at the track:D. A good bit of Arabians go there too. they have a giant jogging machine too and alot of trainers use it @$6 a pop was cheaper than $10 for a gallop.
There is still snow in the mountains in June but the weather is very nice.
If you have any other questions PM me. I sure wish I could talk hubby into going back but with the price of fuel and his own porch to sit on in the summer I doubt that will happen.[/QUOTE]
Sounds like a neat place. It would be awesome to be there for a season.
Lmao. I’m pretty sure Uncle Guido visits good old Finger Lakes regularly. It is rediculous up here. Get this: So one occasionally pony mobster who is well liked by the other not-so-well-liked pony mobsters wears purple…saddle pad, reins, polos, the whole get up. So one of the other occasional pony mobsters got her trainers license with her husband this year and their barn colors are purple and black so therefore, her pony get up is also purple and black. The other original purple pony mobster literally, I sh!t you now, tried to throw down the the new purple pony mobster over the change to the purple pony get up. Did you get all of that? Hahaha it is 110% completely and totally nuts here! But what can you do? LadyC…let’s make a pilgrimage!
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Okay you gave me a really good laugh so I have to return the favor.
Here I think it is a requirement to be in the pony mob to 1.) Weigh 300# and 2.) Have a high school mentality.
So a few years back one of the factions got in a fight (knock down, pull hair, scream bloody murder, fistfight) with the other faction. An ex-bull rider and a vet pulled them apart (and said they would NEVER get involved in a girl fight again) and the stewards were too scared to administer a punishment (seeing the requirements above for being in the mob) they were within their rights. So now meditating and thinking about all you know just make a mental picture of that…LMAO :lol::lol::lol:
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I thought the 300lbs and high school mentality (mostly because they never graduated high school) was just a backwoods of NY thing. Apparently not. What about procreating when it’s completley unnecessary with the other mobster candidates that are least likely to make good parents? Is that universal as well? Ooooh ooooh so today I’m galloping in company with one of mobsters significant other/babydaddy’s. This is my job, we happen to work for the same trainer, and I’m simply there to make money and get on with my life. MobsterBabyMomma comes hobbying by on one of the 3 or 4 horses she gallops in a day (compared to my 25, no wonder she tips the scales) and says as she passes me to her MobsterBabyDaddy “Oh so (Trainer) has THAT slut working for him now?” Seriously kids, we’re not in 9th grade anymore. Grow UP! Colorado here I come if the mobsters are friendly!
Arapahoe Park is remote no more. A completely huge shopping center has sprung up one freeway exit south of the exit for Arapahoe Park. This track is strictly a summer track, and many of the QH trainers are small family operations. There are relatively few spectators/fans as hardly anyone knows the track is there. It completely closes in winter, for good reason. olympicdreams04, I believe there may also be a fair amount of work here in Colo breaking/riding young H-Js, as there are several WB breeders South of Denver, and the ski resorts need lots of winter employees. I may have some contacts.
Plumcreek, are you referring to Southlands shopping center? We left at the end of 2001,
kept hearing how bad the economy was and every trip back there was more shopping, more
open space full of McMansions, etc.
My Basque was bought from a track vet at Arapahoe Park–he was owned by folks in
Utah and got claimed every now and then by another owner from Utah. His fifth year of racing, he lost interest, the vet bought him. I think he wanted him for himself but Basque
isn’t built for western stuff. He spent some time in the mountains with the vet’s outfitting
business, but his big stride, not to mention build, had the other horses trotting to keep up
with him. My other OTTB was a Colorado bred who raced once as three year old, came in
last and didn’t care.
We used to go several times each season on the weekends and there used to be some
good crowds. Seems like their season kept getting shorter and shorter and less racing
per week. Did notice on last trip a few months ago, that the Colorado Stud Farm near
the Colorado Horse Park seems to be no longer.
To the OP, you will love it there. We’re considering moving back and have DH commute
to work in Dallas (he works for SWA). The real estate market is stable here and the prices
in Denver are approaching affordable for us. We shall see…
BasqueMom, There is a brand new mega center called Foxfield at the County Line Rd between Arapahoe Co and Douglas Co off of the I-470 East Beltway Freeway.
I just used some Centaur T-post covers and black wire on a job.
Oh man I want to go so badly! And it’s not like things get any LESS complicated year by year so if I’m going to do it, it’s going to be soon. My life is routinely the antiroutine and if I end this year saying “F-you Finger Lakes” I’ll drive there hastily. I love my FL trainers, riders, and horses though. So we shall see.
PlumCreek–good choice! Our front pasture here is done that way in white. When we lived in Elizabeth, we had the coated wire on wood posts. Wanted the rail but couldn’t swing in
dollarwise after biting off a big mortgage payment. Place had some stretches of wood fence in good shape which we left, and the rest was done in twisted wire and t-posts which wasn’t very visible in the pine trees. Six years there, three horses (two OTTB’s) and no injuries. Six years here and so far so good–less land for the guys here. Grrrr…
