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Re: [RC] WC Freiheit The Real Winner Not Mack (long) - Joe LongI find this to be an incredibly judgemental post and despite the disclaimers, one that trashes the reputations of people with incomplete facts, half-truths, half-baked opinions and innuendos. On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 02:23:51 -0800, Don Huston <donhuston@xxxxxxx> wrote: ... This brings us to the race for glory starting May 13,1995. 4 weeks before winning the OD, Mack gave Fred a warm up by blasting the Biltmore 100miler in 11 hours and Top Ten. On June 10,1995 Fred won the OD 100miler in 16 hours. Then 9 weeks later after a 3000 mile trailer ride and also pre-riding the entire 100 miles of Tevis (minus the river crossing) on Aug 12,1995 Fred won the Tevis 100miler in 14 hours and still had never been pulled. This was an incredible feat that had completely drained the indestructible Fred but nobody was paying attention. And just how do you know that "nobody was paying any attention?" And how do you know that the horse was "completely drained?" You are making assumptions based on things that happened later. Hal is an experienced rider who saw and worked with the horse and he didn't consider him "completely drained." So now there was Fred standing in Auburn, the champion of Tevis and The Old Dominion when Mack made a terrible decision. He sold Fred for a rumored $10,000. So why is that so terrible? Because this new buyer had no bond or compassion for Fred; all he saw was the glory that this seemingly indestructible horse could bring him just like Fred did for Mack. More assumptions and character assasination. Do you think this buyer knew what Fred had really been thru? Yes, I do. Do you think he knew what Mack had been doing to keep Fred sound? Probably. Do you think he would spend $10,000 and then just let the horse stand around? Well the record book gives us another clue. Hal Hall took Fred to a race 4 weeks after Tevis and put the finishing touches on the now exhausted champ that broke him down bad enough to where Fred was out of commission for 3 years. Obviously Hal acted as if the horse was fine because after all Fred had never been pulled so why the hell should he rest? What is so tough about a few 100milers and a trailer ride right? A Ridecamper agrees and posts this quote "First of all, there was no reason to suspect that the horse had been "damaged" at all. Two major 100-mile one-day rides a month apart, even with a long trailer ride in between, are well within a good horse's ability. What arrogance! How the hell do you know? I know because I've been there and done that. Kahlil and I spent two summers travelling across the country doing rides. One season we rode FOUR 100-mile rides in seven weeks, two of them one week apart, plus a 50 and a 75 in between, travelling up to 700 miles one-way to the rides, racing every one -- and the last in that series was the Old Dominion 100 (third place finish). He was not harmed by this schedule. He had one month off after the O.D. then went right back into an intense schedule including several more 100-mile rides that year. That was the year we won the AERC 100 Mile Award and were second place in the AERC National Best Condition Award. This took place about halfway through his 11,525-mile career. What have you done, that enables you to judge people's motives and a horse's condition just from looking at ride results? (Considering the claims you're making about what happened here, I'd be careful about accusing others of arrogance.) ... What is the point? you ask. Well this mismanagement of a champion that resulted in prematurely ending his career has been lurking in the background for 10 years. I would hope that AERC has or will design a rule that will help to moderate this buying and selling of horses at races if the sale might lead to mismanagement or injury to the horse. An AERC rule about when and how people can buy and sell their horses? Incredible. I think your agenda is showing. My position is not about trying to hurt Mack's or Hal's reputation. Oh, really? What happened to this horse was a tragedy. I don't pretend to know all of the circumstances, or just what finally ended his career. So I don't go off making speculative accusations. -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxx http://www.rnbw.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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