September 30th, Lights On Broadway Update

Lights On Broadway is adapting well to his new leisurely pasture life. He is currently turned out with a few other rescues and retired OTTBs and Blue, Dallas' famous retired racetrack pony. Lights rules the roost. He's not mean but he does let everyone know who the important rich guy is.

Getting here wasn't easy. At first Lights protested being left out. He was upset by the loss of his fan in the heat of the day and would only stay out for an hour or so before he would come to the fence by the house and wait on someone to put him back in his stall.

We gradually increased his out time in a paddock next to the horses he would eventually be turned out with. After a period of a couple of weeks I led Lights out with the other horses to sniff noses, squeal , etc. It wasn't pretty. Lights acted like he had never been allowed to be social. He didn't make friends very fast except for Blue.

Blue liked Lights despite the squeals and rubbed his old grey nose all over Lights ignoring his aggressive behavior. They have been best buds since. I guess Blue recognised Lights as being another 'old guy' and knew they had something in common. Another thought crossed my mind. Horses are so smart. I wonder if Blue remembers Lights from the track. He almost acted like he found a long lost friend. Even though these guys weren't in the same barn there is something to it. I am convinced they recognise each other or at least know there is a common bond between these two incredibly intelligent horses.

On occasion when I have time we bring Lights in to play. He really enjoys getting to interact with people. I have taught him a few tricks that he likes. One is giving hugs and the other is what we call praying, where a horse will lower his head to the ground while you knell down beside them. He loves the attention and the praise when he does something right. He has been exceptionally easy to teach. We have ridden him a few times and even started his bridle-less training which will be very easy. He wants to do right all the time and never argues or disagrees.

I can't wait until he puts on a little more weight. We are looking forward to using him as a pony at the track this next spring. Hopefully he will be a great ambassador for the OTTB's showing their incredible retrainability.

Any Sarah Palin Fans Out There???

We recently named one of our Louisiana Bred yearling fillies PALIN POWER. This filly is by Alyzig, a son a Danzig, and out of a mare named Eskimo's Gold, by Eskimo. She stands 15.2 hands, is a beautiful bay, very correct and as bold as can be, (just like her namesake).

We are looking for a few of our republican friends to share this filly with. I think it will be fun. Please give drop me an email at dallaskeen@hotmail.com if you are interested in participating in a partnership with PALIN POWER.

Lights On Broadway Update

Once again I want to thank everyone involved in bringing Lights On Broadway home to Texas. There were so many kind people who joined in this nationwide effort of horsemen and non-horsemen alike to donate their time and money to getting him home.


Lights is doing great. He is continuing to gain weight and muscle tone at a fast pace and we expect him to recover 100%. He is learning everything we have time to teach him and is already giving hugs and other little tricks. I felt confident enough to start his bridle-less training on the third ride. He will be no trouble at all to train. I bet we will be ponying on him by the first of the year or at least by the opening of the thoroughbred meet at Lone Star next spring.

We took Lights to the Equine Expo last weekend where he represented Off Track Thoroughbreds, also known as OTTB's, as we tried to show people to retrainability of horses who have racetrack backgrounds. Contrary to popular belief racehorses are highly intelligent and are easily retrained for new careers after they are retired from the track. Next year we hope to show how Lights has completely recovered from his almost horrific ending to a big beautiful confident racetrack pony.

For now he is still resting at the farm most days and ridden a couple of days a week or whenever I can get home to see him. He is beginning to be social with the other horses and spending a little more time out before asking to come back into the barn. ( He still thinks he needs a fan in the heat of the day ). I will keep you guys updated and posting pictures as Lights progresses.

Good Things Happen To Good People

Everyone who knows Angelo Trosclair likes him. Angelo owns the national horse transportation company Thoroughbred Transport and is always willing to help us with transportation for our rescue horses. He is known for having fair prices and making special trips for anyone in need.

On Wednesday, September 17 we held our Backside Benevolence Benefit, also known as the Chaplains Banquet, at Louisiana Downs. This event is held the Wednesday before the Super Derby and is looked forward to by trainers, owners, and many others every year. The event is the primary fund raiser for the Backside Benevolence Fund and Chaplian Jimmy Sistrunk each year. A silent auction, a live bidding auction and sale of the tickets all go to the fund. They also recognise a trainer, assistant trainer, and a person of the year.

As a fun twist to the banquet they have a reverse drawing for a cash prize of $3000 where anyone interested in participating may purchases tickets for the reverse drawing for $100 each. As the night goes on names are called and removed from the list until only one name remains. This year the winner of the cash drawing was Angelo Trosclair.

Angelo also was the high bidder for the golf cart which brought a donation bid of $2900. So in fact Angelo made out smelling like a rose. He left with a golf cart and $100. Good things happen to good people.

A huge Thank You to Angelo and Thoroughbred Transport for all of the help with the rescue horses. Now I don't feel so bad asking for the help.