LOVE CONQUERS HATE:
CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER HORSE RACING HATER
by Tom Gumbrecht
by Tom Gumbrecht
Originally
published in Horse Directory,
February 2014
Most people who know me, either personally
or through my written words might be surprised to hear me referred to as a
“hater.” But it’s true. I was a horse-racing hater.
How that came to be was that like most
hate, mine developed through a combination of outrage, passion and
ignorance. I might still be in that
state if not for a young racetrack groom who I became acquainted with through a
series of seemingly random events.
My disenchantment with horse racing began
after I purchased my first Off-Track Thoroughbred mare, Lola, from the New
Holland auction. I excitedly returned to our Long Island horse farm with great
expectations which were crushed the next day when the drugs that masked the
symptoms of her injury wore off.
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| Lola in her racing days |
It took almost two years, a lot of work on
my part and a lot of patience on Lola’s part, but she did ultimately become
sound. During that time, Lola revealed herself to be the sweetest, most honest,
thoughtful and grateful horse to ever grace our barn aisle. I love all of our
horses, but the bond that developed between Lola and I was special. Although in
almost constant discomfort in the early days, she would nicker furiously
whenever I stepped into her view, be it hours or seconds from the last time she
saw me. She had issues. She was damaged.
She was not a perfect horse, but she had the perfect attitude with which to get
well, and to motivate me to get her well. She showed me that a good attitude
was much more important than good fortune.
The love that developed morphed into
protectiveness when I finally found out her racing identity and documentation
of her brief but promising career. My heart sank when I watched the video of
Lola’s final race after posting numerous wins and places in just a dozen or so
starts. She was pulled up, and limped off the track. My heart sank even further
when I realized that it was but two weeks later that she found heself at the
New Holland auction and later that evening, at my barn.
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| The author with Lola in a new life.. for both! |
My shock and sadness turned to outrage. How
could anyone with a heart beating in their chest discard this willing athlete
without so much as an effort to help her? My anger began to seethe and the
embers were fanned into flames the next spring when the Fox Hill mare, Eight
Belles, was euthanized on the track at Churchill Downs after finishing second
to Big Brown in the 2008 Kentucky Derby. I became a hater that day. I didn’t know how
to process my grief and so allowed it to become anger that sought out the
bizarre and misguided comfort that comes from hate.
You see, hate allows us to think we are
doing something about an issue when we are actually doing nothing. It is social
activism for wimps. But hate is not a normal state for me. It was a
manifestation of my untreated grief, anger, and outrage stemming from my love
of an animal. And to love it had to return. I needed an opportunity to rid myself
of this destructive emotion, and life provided one.
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| Teddy takes a nap with Casey at Monmouth Park |
At a point it came to pass that a former
stakes winner was saved from a feedlot by an alert racetrack worker, and he
landed in the safety of a local horse rescue and sanctuary whose work I had
been supporting. Soon after, word spread that a NY racing syndicate who had at
one time owned the horse stepped up and made a contribution to his ongoing care
at the sanctuary. That horse’s life softened that day, and so did my heart...
at least a little bit. I was impressed by the gesture and contacted one of the
partners who was fluent in social media, and told him so. An online friendship
developed which led to me being linked to many of his racetrack connections,
one of whom was a young track groom named Casey Brister.
Casey was, and is, a unique personality. A comforting beacon of positivity, enthusiasm
and wit in any venue, let alone the racing world that I had heretofore viewed
with suspicion. Not even twenty years old, she possessed what we older folks
most endearingly refer to as an “old soul” referring to poise and wisdom beyond
her years. Casey’s life is about horses. In racing season, it means skillfully
and thoughtfully seeing to the needs of the horses in her charge, and filling
their world with the love of a horse-crazed girl that every horse deserves.
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| Casey Brister with Teddy at Monmouth Park Photo by Corinne Cavallo @fotocavllo |
I began reading Casey’s ‘day in the life on
the backstretch’ blog posts, and so was introduced into her world, the world of
horse racing. It turned out that it was a world, perhaps busier, but with the
same reverence, compassion and love for these majestic animals as we experience
at our own home barn. She was generous
in the sharing of her experiences and so I became educated. Education is the
enemy of hate, and this unassuming ambassador for goodness in the racing world,
not one-third my age, unknowingly became my teacher. I began to see things
through different eyes, the eyes of knowledge rather than the eyes of
ignorance.
But racing is seasonal, and when the tack
trunks are packed up at the end of the season, Casey unpacks her art supplies
and embarks on her other career. A self-
taught artist, she has the innate ability to recreate not only the image of her
equine subjects on paper, but captures their soul as well, and gives it back
one skillful pencil- or brush stroke at a time. Many are skilled at the
mechanics of drawing, and their techniques are appreciated and respected. Once
in a while there exists something special, some secret ingredient that asks you
to gaze deeply into the liquid eyes of the image and to almost feel their
horsey breath on your cheek as you do. That ingredient is love.
This Christmas season, I had the honor of
having Casey recreate Lola’s soul for me on paper. I treasure it, not only for
its aesthetic beauty, not only for what it is, but for what it represents: the
triumph of love over hate.
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| Casey finds the soul of Lola and puts it on paper.. |
Truth be told, I still have some issues
with racing, but they are not much different from my concerns with the
competitive disciplines that I was part of in the horse world: treatment and
care during the competitive years, and pensions for ongoing care when their
competitive careers are over. I can live much easier with my concerns knowing
that there are people like Casey Brister at racetracks all over America.
Visit Casey Brister on facebook: Living In Realism - Artwork by Casey
Visit Corinne Cavallo on facebook: FotoCavallo
