I'm not sure how many of you know it, but The Horse is owned by Blood-Horse Publications, which publishes The Blood-Horse weekly Thoroughbred news magazine and owns Bloodhorse.com. I started my career at that magazine 29 years ago this October (I took a cut in pay from working as a groom at Kenirey Stud, then a division of Three Chimneys Farm, to start at The Blood-Horse).

This coming weekend is the Kentucky Derby, one of the two things that people know about this state no matter where you travel in the world. (The other is Kentucky Fried Chicken.)  This morning I went to the backside at Churchill Downs to visit old friends and see the spectacular horses at the track.

This morning people on the backside were still mourning the accident during training hours yesterday when a loose colt bolted into a filly and caused her death. The excitement that always permeates the backside prior to the Derby was dulled by the tragic accident. That's not a part of the industry that most outsiders know about. It's like an 1800s town on the backside of a racetrack. You might have different jobs, work in different barns, and even compete against each other and squabble every now and then, but it's still one big family. You depend on each other, and you understand each other. And your mourn for each other's losses.

The colt Square Eddie was declared out of the Derby this morning. He had suffered from a sore shin earlier in his career, and after coming back from the track yesterday some heat was found in that shin. His trainer Doug O'Neill said veterinarian Mark Cheney recommended time off before resuming training, and the owner and trainer took that advice, heartbreaking though it must have been. It's nice to see people doing the right thing by the horse. Kudos to that team.

That leaves a spot open for another horse to move into the Kentucky Derby field. We should find out tomorrow who that will be. WinStar Farms might end up with two or three starters in the Derby. WinStar co-owner Bill Casner is himself a horseman, and a darn good rider from what I've seen. It's good when the sportsmen also understand the animals. Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas, who got his start training Quarter Horses, rides his "pony" to the track every day.

You can follow all the Derby doings at our sister site bloodhorse.com, including videos of the horses and interviews with the connections. And don't miss the article on the "human" side of the Derby. You can't help but root for 75-year-old Tom McCarthy's General Quarters, which he owns and trains.

Let's all pray for a safe trip for the horses and riders in the "Greatest Two Minutes in Sports" this coming Saturday.

Who's your pick?

Being in the heart of horse country, especially the Thoroughbred industry, I attend a lot of fundraisers. My husband, Ben, also leads a couple of bands, so that also puts me behind-the-scenes at a lot of parties. When he mentioned his Western swing band Trouble was going to play at a fundraiser for the Permaently Disabled Jockeys Fund, I thought it was a great idea and immediately bought a ticket.

Then I found out that the theme of the "Riders Up!" fundraiser was jockeys singing karaoke.

Jockeys Earlie Fires (left) and Charlie Woods hammed it up during the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fundraiser.

Let me set the scene: Friday night. Keeneland was racing and it was a beautiful day, so it was more crowded than usual. The fundraiser was was a sell-out and was held at the Keeneland Entertainment Center (locally know as the Party Barn). Turf Catering was handling the food and drink. Lots of major farms as sponsors. And a lineup of the top jockeys in the world from today and the past 30 years. Toss in Lexington-born Broadway star and singer Laura Belle Bundy  as emcee, with a lineup of celebrity judges that included Eddie Montgomery (of the country duo Montgomery/Gentry) and his wife, Tracy, and the stage was set for a great night.

Did I mention it was jockeys singing karaoke? Did I mention they are a competitive, hilarious group?

Trouble got there early for a sound check, and Patti (P.J.) Cooksey was checking out the stage. Since she was there, she and the band got together to reherse her tune "Eye of the Tiger." Cooksey was one of the sport's all-time leading female jockeys, and an all-around nice person. My husband often gets asked (usually by a drunk in the crowd) to let them play one of his guitars. We were together for six months before he'd let me touch one! But Patti charmed him into loaning her his Fender Telecaster as a prop for her performance.

It was fun when it was her turn to sing. Patti strutted up on stage, demanded her guitar, strapped it on, and counted off for the band to begin her number, strumming along with the opening rifts (of course the guitar wasn't plugged into anything, but it LOOKED good!).

The band played along and sang backup for all the tunes, backed Bundy on one of her upcoming releases "Burbon and Boys Give Me the Blues." Check out her official Web site.

Charlie Woods showed his character (or characters) while dressing in drag to sing "Happiest Girl in the Whole USA" to Earlie Fires while John Court gave some vocal back-up. Woods then did his best immitation of Rod Stewart during a group sing of "I'm Too Sexy."

There's more information on an article on TheHorse.com.

Anyhow, thought I'd share some of the fun pictures from the night. Enjoy!

PS The big guy in the blue shirt and white hat (he's a good guy) and playing guitar is Ben. If you like the cute intro to the Ryder Report (complete with clip-clops), that's Ben's work.

The jockey participants for the evening were: Patti Cooksey, Angel Cordero Jr., Jon Court, Pat Day, Kent Desormeaux, Earlie Fires, Alan Garcia, James Graham, Corey Lanerie, Chris McCarron, Dean Mernagh, Edgar Prado, Herbie Rivera Jr., Jamie Theriot, John Velazquez, Charlie Woods, John Oldham and Jessica Oldham Stith.

With all the horses needing homes right now, why on earth would someone want to clone a horse or mule? It seems like we hear that question every week.

Why indeed?

While this might not be a popular answer, it is really quite simple: to preserve the genetics of an individual animal and potentially be able to pass the traits of that animal on to future generations.

That doesn’t seem so bad. So why are so many people who are opposed to cloning standing on the soapbox of unwanted horses? To me, one doesn’t have anything to do with the other. If you disagree about the morality or scientific act of cloning—creating a genetically identical individual—that’s a different matter. Cloning adds only a very few horses to the population each year. If you disagree with individuals paying for cloning of their animals because you think they should be spending their money on something else, like saving unwanted horses, you might want to rethink your stance. That one could come back to bite you!

What happens if a majority of people (whether they own horses or not) decide that you shouldn’t own a specific breed of horse (much like the owners of pit bull dogs are facing in many areas)? Or maybe you shouldn’t be allowed to own horses at all; or at the very least you should be required to have them licensed.

Or maybe if you own horses you should be mandated by law to spend your money on specific types of care. Thus, you wouldn’t get to choose which vaccines to use or which dewormer you want. All of that would be set out for you to follow based on someone else’s decisions.

toward—at the very minimum—a fund for low-cost or free euthanasia? Maybe those dollars could even go toward solving the unwanted horse problem in that person’s state or region?

My guess is if you were a horse right now your ears would be back, your nose would be wrinkled, and you would have a sour expression on your face. We don’t like being told what to do with our own money, so where do people get off criticizing those who want to preserve a specific horse’s genes for the future, and can afford to do so? And don’t forget the greater good of the researchers who can now preserve the genetics of endangered species and through cloning have learned more about other. more commonly used reproductive techniques.

Should we be responsible for our horses? Yes. Should we dictate how other horse owners should spend their money? No.

What do you think about cloning? 

Rain is great. We need it in the spring. It makes the grass grow and brings groundwater levels up. It also makes mud. Lots of mud. I hate mud.

The British have a great word: Slog. It sounds like what you do when you are trying to get around to feed and care for the horses in tall rubber boots with mud up to your ankles. That kind of sucking, slimy, holds-your-feet-in-place type of mud. Who needs a gym?

The horses get filthy. The dogs track most of the outside to the inside. (I think I could grow a garden in the dirt that's left when the mud dries by the back door.) The area around the run-in sheds gets chopped up and stinky. The ground around the waterers and feeders is a bog. And let's just not talk about the gate areas.

I've tried all kinds of things to fix the problem. Gutters on the sheds. Tiling the ground in front of the sheds. Gravel. Doesn't seem to matter.

A friend who has horses and also is a contractor said the solution is to dig everything out and start from scratch. Expensive, but maybe that's better than stewing and fuming every time it rains. Then I can smile at the rain and look for the rainbow ... while I'm wiping up the floors and scraping the dried mud off the horses!

Old-time horsemen used mud for many good things. One old fellow worked with Thoroughbred racehorses back before the days of X rays, ultrasound, and nerve blocks. When the trainer was having problems finding out what was making a horse "off," the old-timer simply slathered mud all over the horse's legs. Then he led the horse out in the field to graze. He said the place(s) that dried first were the hottest, therefore should be the first sites to be examined for injury.

Others used to believe in walking bad-footed horses in mud holes every day, and daring anyone to wipe or wash off the mud. They said the mud made the feet less brittle. Did it work? Who knows. It would be interesting to find out if any of today's hoof experts believe in that. I know several who would like to throw away lots of the "dressings" and "packs" that are used on feet today because they keep the feet too wet. Maybe like on the lame horse, the mud actually dried out the hooves and left them in a more natural state.

If you are looking for mud management tips, try the article Mud Management.

Consumer Tip

I'm not much of a clothes horse, but I discovered a new type of Wrangler jean called Q-Baby. They've got just enough stretch in them to make them really comfortable to work in, they are well-tailored so they look good, and they've got elastic around the waistband to prevent that gap in the back. Wrangler doesn't advertise with us, so this isn't a tip to you that will put mony in my pocket. Just wanted to share. Go try on a pair and let me know what you think. I talked my older daughter into a pair and she loves them.

Okay, I'll admit it: I have a "rotation" schedule that I have used to deworm my horses. And that "schedule" probably hasn't changed much since ... well, since a long time.

But, after sitting for 1 1/2 days at a parasitology conference (boy, do I know how to have fun!) at the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Center, I came away with a new awareness of the problems I could have caused on my farm. I also came away with hope that if we as horse owners change our ways, we might be able to keep our "friendly" dewormers we have now and have them still work against the parasites.

It's not that the dewormers on the market are not good products, it's that we as horse owners have abused them. Kind of in the same way we have abused ourselves with antibiotics. We've created resistant "bugs" that are becoming harder and harder to kill.

Parasitologists at the meeting said, "Anthelmintic resistance is considered a major threat to the current and future control of nematode (roundworm) parasites of ruminants and horses, and a serious concern in parasites of humans."

Here are some other gems:

"Resistance is forever!"

"By the time you see it (resistance) coming, it's too late."

One researcher said 25% of a worm population must be resistant before you start seeing decline in the fecal egg counts (the poop tests you send off to see how many eggs are being shed by the parasites in a horse)  or a shorter return of high fecal egg counts. In other words, you deworm, the drug knocks down the adult parasites that are laying eggs at that moment, but the next generation of worms springs into action and egg counts return to pre-deworming levels (or higher) faster than they should.

We as horse owners have to make a total mindshift; it's not the worms in the horse, it's the worms in the environment that weI have to worry about.

More to come on this in an article from the conference! And sign up to watch the Webinar on Deworming on April 16 at 8 p.m. EDT.