3rd in series Chronicles of a Broke Horse Trainer

color but recent events seemed to add a fair amount of credence to the moniker! I wasn’t sure what had transpired on the young man’s attempt at ponying the mare but saw no reason not to take my shot at the task and proceeded to step into the saddle. Art handed me the leather lead shank which was equipped with a nose chain threaded through the mare’s halter as was common practice when ponying on the track. He mumbled a rather muffled “good luck” and sent me on my way. It was about 100 yards from the barn to the track and the young man was waiting for me at about the halfway point of the trek. According to his account of his failed attempt, Buck would be a perfect gentleman until he got all four feet on the racing surface at the track gate. He said that as soon as Buck had cleared the track gate, without any warning, he “broke completely in two” with his nose planted between his front feet and commenced “hoggin’and squallin’ “like the best saddle bronc he had ever seen. I thanked him for the warning and, being the smart horseman that I was, proceeded to develop a plan to hopefully avoid the excitement. My plan was to keep Buck busy with cues from me by asking him to turn left and backtrack down the rail as soon as his two front feet were on the track surface. Then I would ask for a trot until I approached the winner’s circle at which point I would reverse direction and ask for a slow lope up the track. I had, unfortunately, left one important part out of the equation, that being the lanky bay mare that I was ponying. As we approached the track gate, she made it very clear that she had already played this game once and had no intention of coming back for an encore! She reared without warning and began to suck back with full intention of breaking loose from me. I instinctively locked my right elbow into my body and grabbed the leather lead with both hands. The pressure of the chain on her nose quickly convinced her that my direction was her best option. At about the same instant that she responded, I suddenly realized that I had relinquished all control of the proclaimed bronc between my