Winter Weather Warning
The day started with a winter weather warning for the area around Long Road Home Ranch. Even the horses, normally frisky in the cold, stood huddled together in their fields. Every one of them was coated in a thick high tog rated blanket, but from their sullen looks, it was clear it was still too cold for them.
Many of the horses had looked askance at the stable staff when they were turned out of their nice warm stalls into the cold, but this might be the last opportunity the stable had to safely move soiled bedding to the muck heap with the front end loader.
The forecast called for snow turning to freezing rain, and later sleet on top of the freezing rain. It would turn the yard into an ice rink. For the jockeys and stable staff, that would be a fun novelty. Ever since they'd heard the forecast, they'd been talking about leaving half of the arena unsalted so they could play winter sports. Another staff member had joked they could put some studs in Wasabi Sensation's shoes, put his racing harness on, and give ski joring a try.
One of the staff had even suggested a spot of grooming bucket curling. Sharon had to admit, that sounded like fun. She'd given them permission to leave the uncovered half of the arena unsalted so they could play their winter games, but she had no intention of joining them. It was too cold. Alfio, the jockey from Colombia, had very vigorously agreed with that sentiment. He'd never experienced such cold in his life. Like the owner, Alfio was bundled up in four sweaters, and a coat, as he and the rest of the jockeys trudged upstairs to the lounge and office over the small barn.
One of the western performance riders, a lad named Dicky, was watching videos on the big screen TV. Dicky didn't look up as the jockeys trudged up the stairs, and kept taking notes on his clipboard.
"I don't recognize that horse, that's not one of ours, is it?" Sharon said.
Dicky looked up, startled. "No, that's a colt out of a mare I was looking at for a new reining prospect. I love your Blendy-colt, but he's way too hot for reining. If we're going to win, we need a more laid-back horse."
Dicky leaned forward and hit pause on the remote, then picked up a magazine. "I was looking at this mare," he said, pointing at one of the full-page full-color glossy ads, "So I figured I'd do some research and see what her babies are like."
"Oh, I'll leave you to it, then."
"Is that a yes, then? You're gonna consider buying or breeding a new reining prospect?"
"Yep. But on one condition."
"What's that?"
"We're going to try something new with the next one. I want to see if those new boots that are designed to take shoes will work with slider plates. I hate that Blendy-colt has to be turned out on his own all the time, and that he can't be turned out outside at all when the weather's bad."
Dicky gave her an odd look. "For chrissakes-"
Alfio gave Dicky a stern look.
"Sorry," Dicky said respectfully, then turned his attention back to Sharon. "Boss, it's a horse, not a baby."
"Yes, and I think a horse should be a horse. Horses are herd animals, so they should be in herds if they can be. He's the only stallion here that doesn't have a pasture mate."
"I don't see what option you have, boss. Are you really gonna pull his shoes off every time he comes home just so you can turn him out with a buddy? You'll mess his hooves up."
Arnold rapped the teaspoon on the side of his cup of coffee, flinging the last drops of coffee off the spoon and into the cup. "If you can fix a hoof like Barbaro's with resin... couldn't you fix a shoe to a hoof with it, too? That way, you could just put his shoes on for shows and leave him barefoot the rest of the time. He'd probably slide more too, because he's not so used to walking on his sliding plates."
Dicky shook his head. "Nah, you'd lose all that smoothness and straightness in the slide, and he'd struggle with his direction changes. You're better keeping him shod all the time."
Sharon shrugged as she went into her office. "You find me a stallion and a mare you think would make a good reining baby, and I'll figure out the rest of it."
She opened up the filing cabinet, and pulled out a stack of folders, then headed back into the lounge and threw them down on the table. "Anyway, let's get this racing business sorted. The horses are leaving tomorrow, and we're leaving for Australia on Monday, and I want to make sure everyone's got their travel and work documents in order. This is our last chance to get anything sorted."
Sharon pulled out her checklist. "Passports: human."
Everyone put their passports on the table in front of them.
"Work visas?"
Everyone put their visas on the table.
"Racing license: Australian."
Everyone put their racing licenses up on the table. Sharon noticed some of her jockeys had a big stack of racing licenses to sort through. Arnold's stack of racing licenses was huge. She recognized some of the headers on them as he sorted through them: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Great Britain, Ireland, France...
Finally, Arnold put his Australian racing license on the table, with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry, too many to search."
Alfio held up his stack of racing licenses. "Alphabetically sorted. Much easier to find them that way."
"Alright, everyone grab a horse folder."
The jockeys all grabbed a folder. Sharon picked up a pen to check the documents off her list as they found them.
"Alright, name check first: Aasifa Bint Johar?" Check. "Antar Al-Ahmar?" Check. "Backfire? Pride of Nayef? Rum Runner? Shes All That? Solar Eclipse? Wafiyah?" Check, check, check, check, check. "Excellent, that's everyone."
"Registration certificates?" Check.
"Vet check #1?"
The vet checks for flying the racehorses to Australia had started weeks ago, with scheduled Equine Influenza vaccinations, and coggins titres. With eight horses to vaccinate and check, the vet checks had taken all day.
"Excellent. Vet check #2?" Check.
"Fantastic, that'll do it." Sharon went back into her office and grabbed a water-tight filing tote to put the files in. "Let's get these files in here and get them in the horse box for the ride to the airport tomorrow."
