Just wanted to update you on Nopie, he's doing well at his new home at GEVA in the wine country of northern California. He's got a stall in the barn that has its own small paddock in front of it which overlooks the larger paddocks where all the other horses spend their day... he's eating everything put in front of him and is getting spoiled by the staff at GEVA (they say he's playful and loves attention). When he's not eating, he's resting, either laying down in his paddock or looking outside peacefully at the other horses. Hopefully he really likes it there because he's stall-bound for the next 9 months.
Nopie arrived last Saturday at Golden Gate Field a very hungry, sore, tired and skinny horse. He has a new 1.5" long scar on his nose, a few other scratches and scrapes not seen a couple months ago and his ribs and hip bones were very pronounced. He spent the night at Steve Sherman's barn before the final drive to his new home at GEVA and I had the opportunity to visit him last Saturday and Sunday. The vet let me know that Nopie tore both branches of his suspensory ligament in his front left leg and a chip of bone was pulled off as well. He'll be stall bound for the next six months followed by another three months of paddock rest. The encouraging thing was hearing that with proper rest, he has a very good chance of giving rides to my three young nieces next summer
GEVA has had great success in horses recovering from this same type of injury in the past so I'm feeling really good about his future. Last Sunday I visited GEVA for the first time and was impressed with their farm. It's nine acres of almost nothing but living space for retired race horses - I was introduced to the 30 horses that Nopie will be hanging with for a while and was impressed with their stories - a lot of good northern California horse trained by some of the best trainers in this area - all fairly severely injured but given a chance to live a good life at a nice little farm. I plan on visiting Nopie at least 2-3 times a month and will keep you updated on his progress (photos to follow soon, I just need time to download them). If you want to help Nopie, you can make a donation to GEVA at
http://www.glenellenfarms.com/geva
There was a happy ending to this story but that's not the case with a lot of horses that leave local tracks at the lowest claiming ranks... I honestly believe that if I had not stepped up to save Nopie he would be dead now - either they would have put him down shortly after his last race or he would have been sold to a Canadian rendering plant and killed for his meat. You know, I've never done something like this before (I'm not a member of PETA nor a bleeding heart liberal) but this felt right... I love this sport and because of my close association with my trainer, Steve Sherman, I got to know this one horse in his barn and felt that he was worth saving. I'm just one person but I think I made a difference (with Scav's help, can't ever forget what Tom did to help - he's an outstanding person
).
I'll post photos soon, I promise!