Picking Mandi up at the Track - December 2007

Mandi is a 2003 bay mare by Lac Ouimet out of Baby Ray. Her parentage is a mixed bag. In the racing world, her sire was the equivalent of a member of the Kennedy family, and her dam of peasant stock. My heart lies with peasants, so this analogy should be read as a neutral description. There is an interesting write-up on Lac Ouimet on page 4 here .

Mandi is absolutely the spitting image of her sire, right down to the sock on her left hind. Her conformation is almost precisely the same, including the flaws (long cannons and pasterns, straight shoulder, slightly high hip) but she did not inherit her father's ability to win. She broke her maiden in 2006, and that was it for her. That race was at 5/8, and knowing Mandi I wonder if she might have been more successful at a longer distance. Her energy is bottomless. Racing is more than athletic ability, however, and Mandi did not thrive in the track life.

When I purchased her, she was neurotic and dangerous to handle. She hated to be touched, which manifest in kicking and diving to the back of the stall. When I arrived at Fairmount in early December of 2007 to haul her home, I handled her for the first time and immediately began to have regrets about buying her. Her groom, a kind young woman who seemed to be a long-term member of her trainer's operation, handled Mandi very cautiously. I said I'd like to put shipping boots on her for the 5 hour ride home and the young woman looked dubious but said she would hold the mare for me. Getting the boots on was nerve-wracking; I would get one of the velcro straps fastened and then step back as Mandi lunged or kicked. Her groom warned me that she kicked worse with the left hind, the white foot, and this proved true for months to come.

Once the boots were on, we took Mandi from the stall to lead her to the trailer. As she left the stall, she blew-up. All four feet flying, lunging and leaping, she fired kicks each time her hind feet left the ground. I ducked down the side aisle to get out of the way and the groom stayed in front of Mandi to avoid her feet. There was no way she could haul in that state, so we put her back in the stall, where she calmed a bit. The groom offered to remove the wraps, but she was as unexcited to handle the mare as I was, and it had been my idea to put them on. So I removed them, going through the same scary process as before, just in reverse. And then I had to load her.

My trailer is a three-horse slant load with an inviting entry as there is no rear tack, and the mare was used to loading, so this was less eventful than the wrap episode. Even so, Mandi continued to skitter and lunge about. My adrenaline was sky-high. Her groom, again somewhat hesitantly, offered to load, but I declined. Everyone's trailer set-up and tying routines are subtly different, and the mare was now mine. My relief was visceral when she was on the trailer, both of us unharmed on our respective sides of the divider. The ride back to Iowa was uneventful, but the events on the track shedrow were harbingers of the weeks to come.