Thoughts

Today I have been thinking about my days at the track and how much I miss them. The freshness of the air in the cold dark mornings as you get ready to gallop under the lights on top of a magnificent athlete. Pausing at the entrance watching other horses train and saying hello to friends who are more like family members. I don't believe there is any more satisfying and peaceful feeling in the world than sitting on a horses back. I read an article on Tyler Baze about his time away from riding and how great it is to be back. It talked of his substance abuse problems and bolemia. It got me thinking about all my friends and the struggles they go through everyday just to have that feeling you get from riding. I was lucky that I never had to watch what I ate or spend hours in a hot box to make weight. I was a natural 110lbs always. Even as a bug when I had to make wieghts of 102, 103lbs I just needed to lay off the sweets. Most everyone else was not as fortunate. I would come to the jocks room and see guys sitting in the hot box after not eating all day or eating very little. Some were eating at the kitchen only to go and throw it up immediatly. Most jock rooms even have a special type of urenal for throwing up in. There were times when I would be using the restroom having to listen to someone gag themselves over and over. Those were the rookies. The veterans could do it on command. No need to gag yourself. Then there's the lasix that some would take. Lasix is a medication used in horses to stop them from bleedeing during a race. For humans it helps you to pee frequently so as not to retain any water. The same for laxatives ect. The extreme lengths these guys would go through for rush and excitement of the race is amazing but sad. The Jockeys Guild is always there fighting to raise the weight scale, but that won't solve this problem. If you raise the weights a couple of pounds, you will just have another group of guys who were just a little to heavy to ride before now come in and do the same things the others were doing. It's been five years since I have been to a race track and been around a horse. I miss it as if I were missing an arm or a leg. It is an empty hole inside of me that is hard to fill up.