The beauty of horse racing and the animal behind it.

As an observer of the sport and the industry of horse racing, several things stand out to me.

The money very rarely changes hands and the players involved are usually passionate or condemned to looking after the horses for life.  It truly is a unique business and it is an intentional way of life for persons involved with the horses.

First, you have to love animals or have been around them for several years caring for them or just helping a relative who owns animals.  If you just ask the successful people in the business about their story and how they managed to gain their success, they may not be so quick to tell you the full details and perhaps leave you with the shiny parts of their story.  In order to get that nugget of a horse, you have to give it a few tries first when breeding and hope that you produce a winner of a horse by good bloodlines or sometimes just sheer luck.

Having good farms that will help care for your horse is essential because let's face it, not everyone in the industry owns or will own a farm.  So what makes a good farm and what are some of the successes surrounding these farms that look after your horses?  In horse racing, every handicapper goes back to the racing form to see how the horse that they decide to gamble on has run in the past.  I will only assume that horse owners do the same when it comes to their horses and where they are staying when they are not training for races at the track.  So the question still remains, what makes a good farm?

What are these farms doing that will keep your horses sound and healthy and keeps you coming back year after year?  The farms will become the nurturers to the horses when they are not training on track so what makes them special?  Do your research or have someone you trust to do the research for you until you are satisfied with your choice.

You can own a horse or you can house a horse, both will keep your finances on cardiac watch. 

Cheap horses are not supposed to keep with the sport of Kings.  You are almost supposed to be lucky to have them for a short while and then pass them on to the next lower-level person within the industry who is willing to take a chance with them.  There was a time when I thought that the most successful horses ate much more than the other horses in the barn but obviously I was quite wrong and they all eat a lot unless they are sick.

The horses aren't guaranteed to run really fast but they are definitely guaranteed to eat lots and lots every day once they are healthy and alive.  So in the horse racing world, we praise our equine stars and legends and that helps keep their bloodlines separated from the ones on the lower end which increases business for the owners of the stars.  Many others will dream of emulating this system with a lower-end horse but the common denominator remains the same and that is the feeding of the animal without a sound result to show from its past performance and you could find yourself with a very expensive pet.

Horse racing still is and will remain a beautiful sport driven by its equine stars.  The industry which has formed around these animals will have to improve because many other industries have improved, expanded, and seen some success.  So hats off to those who vigorously are trying to get others involved and who are constantly finding ways to bring the younger generation into the sport and the men and women who work daily to keep all these horses sound and healthy and get them to the track.