Well, my filly made her first start on Saturday at Oaklawn Park and even though she didn’t place in the top three, she did get her first race under her belt.  First time start are always the worst.  Will they load in the gate, will they stand, will they run?  She did well on all accounts.  Chance loaded into the gate like a champion, stood still while another horse reared up a few spots down from her and broke as straight as an arrow.  Unfortunately, the filly on the right of her decided to slam into the side of her and take a little wind from her sail.  But our filly kept running and stayed 2 to 3 lengths behind the leaders the whole trip.  Coming down the lane was tough, she wasn’t used to being hit with the whip and ducked in and out the whole way, for every jump sideways she lost 3 strides forward.  We came in 8th place beating one horse but we were only beaten by 8 lenths for the whole thing, so all in all she had a good trip and the trainer told me she came out of the race in good shape and should be ready to run again in about 2 to 3 weeks.  I am very proud of our filly, she showed us that she has what it takes and I look forward to her next race at Oaklawn Park where she will be going a mile.

It has been way too long since I last wrote.  My filly is at Oaklawn Park and is ready to make her first start on Saturday March 1, 2008.  My husband and I sent in our owner’s licenses and picked out jockey silks.  I already a nervous wreck.  It is like watching a child make their first recital or play in an organized sport for th first time.  She has trained well, got her gate card and has stayed healthy.  But you never know how that first race will go and I want her to come back to the barn safe and sound.  I have been working with horses for over 13 years doing the therapy and I am still amazed at the people who forget that these are living, breathing creatures that put themselves on the line everytime they go to post.  This is the most excited and nerve wracked I have been in a very long time…  I will keep you posted

It is 7:00 am and I am on my way to Churchill Downs to work on my race filly.  Her name is Given the Chance and she is a 2 year old.  She had her first serious breeze yesterday and will most likey be tight and a bit sore this morning.  Kind of like really going hard at the gym.  A little bit about my filly.  I own her with my husband, Ramiro Salazar.  We bred her mother and her sire is ChangeintheWeather.  I was there with Ramiro when she took her first breath in this world.  She grew up to be a very gawkey yearling.  We had every intention of selling her as a yearling but fate had other ideas.  As we got ready to send her to a yearling sale in Timonium, MD, it was dicovered that she had a chip in a front ankle and lucencies or (OCD’s) in both stifles.  The sale was rough and rather then give her away we decided to send her to Florida with friends of Ramiro’s.  The idea was to remove the chip and get her broken.  Well money issues kept that from happening and she was turned out.  To make a long story short, when we went to check on her in May 07,  she was turned out alone and was very underweight and not at all cared for.  I found a great lady, Lisa McGreevy of Abby Road Farm, to take her in and get her taken care of.  By June 25,  Lisa talked me into going ahead and getting her broke, by Oct 07 she was ready to start breezing, so she came home to Churchill Downs.  No longer was she the ugly duckling but a beautiful swan.  She is sound and showing that she may have what is takes to be a nice racehorse.  She is intelligent and has a good eye.  Thanks to sale of another yearling this year we will be able to pay for her training.  This why I want to share her story and mine with everyone.  Too show that what you see isn’t what you always get.

As for me it is worth braving the cold to make sure she is the best she can be.  In future posts I will show you how my job as an equine physical therapist helps me do that.

I decided that I would write a blog about my profession and the excitement and stress of being a first time racehorse owner since both of these things go hand and hand.  I ask everyone to please bear with me since this is my first blog.  Let me introduce myself, my name is Denise and I live in the middle of thoroughbred country, Lexington, KY.   I am an equine physical therapist and have been working here in Bluegrass country for about 12 years now.  I have worked on some of the best horses in the world.  I took some time off to raise my 3 year old son and try having a horse farm of our own and I even went back to work in the human world.  But as the fates would have it my calling is the horses and so I am back at my calling.  I also want to share what I know so that horse owners and lovers alike will see that there are a lot of alternatives in treating injured horses and also preventing injuries, and naturally enhancing a horse’s competitive ability.  Any questions or comments will be answered and well received.  Please remember I am not dipensing any medical advise concerning injuries that is well left to the Vet’s.  Hope you enjoy