My new horse!!

I just bought this guy the other week off someone who had purchased him from a meat market in the spring. He is a real sweetheart!! I have named him Afterflash, but I was able to track down his registered name from his freezemark as Mark to Market out of Real Desire and Low Places. He just turned three in July.
He had a tendon injury, which seems to have healed up nicely. I plan to start him at a slow walk this weekend, and slowely build him back up. His hooves also need a little TLC, but the farrier said they should be ok after a few trims.

I got this one from his breeder- this is him when he was a yearling.


and this is him now

He is very handsome!! Looks like he needs some weight on him too, I am sure you'll get him in good shape in no time. I love horses.

From one new horse owner to another... Congratulations!!!

Our Big Al looked a lot like your guy. He has been a a weight gaining diet and those ribs now have fat on them and are not as visible.

You are wonderful for buying this guy. The care he needs only will endear him to you. It's a wonderful bond developing!

Have a wonderful time with him!

He's sweet looking, like my Ciderman.

Thanks guys! He's a real sweetheart. I'm going to start walking him on Saturday and hope for the best. He should fill out in no time now that he's on a good stable diet. He is going to be one gorgeous boy once he fills out!

Originally Posted by gothicangel69

I just bought this guy the other week off someone who had purchased him from a meat market in the spring. He is a real sweetheart!! I have named him Afterflash, but I was able to track down his registered name from his freezemark as Mark to Market out of Real Desire and Low Places. He just turned three in July.
He had a tendon injury, which seems to have healed up nicely. I plan to start him at a slow walk this weekend, and slowely build him back up. His hooves also need a little TLC, but the farrier said they should be ok after a few trims.

Click to expand...

What a beauty! I have a rescue OTTB named Foxy. I use her as a hunter/jumper but she's been on the trails the past 2 years and doing very well. Enjoy the new baby

Got bad news for you - he isn't going to fill out until he is around 5-6, so don't get him fat. He may not get fat anyway, as he has the look of Jate Lobell - long, lean and kinda slabsided, so may always look slightly ribby; white markings aside, he looks like a mare I worked with several years ago and Ritzy never got fat even when she wasn't racing. This guy was meant to be a good race horse as Low Places was a pretty decent race horse and Real Desire, well, he was a great race horse.

Congrats on getting him and bet he answers to Mark really well!!!LOL We are NOT imaginative when it comes to barn names for our horses, just take part of the registered name and use that.

God Bless You for taking this fellow under your wing!

I tried calling him by Mark, but didn't get any response. The people who had him before me had been calling him Ben. I figure he's young enough that he'll adapt very well to a new name. I plan on cutting back his feed a bit once he gains a little weight. I don't want him getting fat, but he does need a little weight as his hip bones and back ridge are quite prodominant.
I tried looking up Low Places online as I wanted a picture, but wasn't able to find anything on her. I'd love to be able to find out if he has ever raced as a two year old.

My goodness, what a stunning guy he is! Obviously lucky to have you as well!

I don't know if he raced or not but he has been to the track and trained - he was born before mandatory freezebranding was required to get the registration completed. He may have even qualified - hard telling from the brand since USTA and SC brands are now identical and have been since 2005. However, maybe I can point you in the right direction for the information: if you live close to the track, give them a call and ask to speak to the Standardbred Canada rep. They will likely tell you when s/he is is in and just go talk to the rep and you will be able to find out and if the horse raced, you can get his lines and maybe even a multi-generation pedigree. For a small fee (non-members is more) you can likely get him transferred to your name as well and have a new reg certificate, but you do have to get in contact with the owner of record and get him to sign off - he isn't on electronic reg so the guy has the papers.

His momma raced in the States, as far as I recall, she just had such an odd name it stuck. I don't know if she is even alive now, last foal reg submitted was for your guy; she would be 28. I know you can find race videos of Real Desire you youtube and some of his sire, Life Sign. You might even luck out there with Low Placesm but it's hard to find races by horse name.

Glad you aren't going to feed him up too much - part of the bonieness is the 3yo ganglies - out of certain lines, 3yos are downright ugly looking and while they may have raced at two, they just cannot manage at three, but do return at four when they have returned to looking less like a bag of bones (think gangly, clumsy teenage look rather than underfed) and have relearned how to pace without falling over and put on weight to catch up with the growth; all calories go to growing so the ribby, bony look is normal.

If I was closer, I likely would have remembered if he did qualify and try to race, but I just never check Atlantic Region races - don't know many people down your way, and know only one horse and his name escapes me now.

I hope the info I gave you about contacting the tracks will help.

Ok, I found out why I remember Low Places: she was an O'brien Award winner in 1996. 3yo pacing filly. http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/con...t-winners.html

With that info, maybe we can find a pic of her

Give me enough time and I can find almost anything. Found a sale page for his full sister from one of the Select Sales. Also discovered that I cannot read today - Low Places is a 1993 model, not 83 although Mark To Market is her last registered foal. He did race, has a qualifying mark of 2:07 on a half-mile track, so did this last year. Here is the extended pedigree of Flying Colour: http://trackit.standardbredcanada.ca...id=510950&ps=Y

It will probably be a lot of gobbledygook to you but I will happily answer any questions you have about it. The boy is bred in the purple.

When do they usually stop growing? He's 15.2 hands right now- will be get any taller, so stay at his current height?
Thank you for all the great info. I live about an hour away from a track, so will have to give them a call and see what I can find out. Im at work now, but will look at the links you provided when I get home this evening.

Haha, I've not got much to add, but wanted you to know I'm following your thread with avid interest! I love horses. But will probably never have one. I will have to live vicariously through you!

I would go by what your vet recommends as far as weight goes.

Our guy was terribly thin. He needed to gain about 100 lbs. He is now looking so much better. Prob put on 40 or so pounds. We look at the old pics of him 8 weeks ago, and marvel at how well he looks now. Not fat. Just healthy. And another thing weight affects how the saddle fits. Al has such high withers that were more pronounced by his being so thin. For a while it was a real challenge to get the saddle to fit right. As he is gaining, it is fitting much better and we don't have to spend so much time seeing if it's pinching his shoulder here or putting pressure there. We actually had a therapist check out the fit of the saddle. That might be something you may want to look into.

Your fellow is a real looker. You must be so happy!

Hard telling if he is going to grow anymore or not - some grow to age seven. From the looks of your guy, he may grow another inch or two, and likely will get his size from Jate Lobell, a tallish, rangy, kind of rawboned horse who threw that look to all his foals and the mares, in turn do the same so don't be shocked if he tops out around 16hh or a tad over

Showed him to a friend and she remembers him vaguely as well from sales pics. Saiys, and I said the same, he is impeccably bred. I am just shocked that he was thrown away like that. Friend also said he would make a good race horse with a little more age on him and I agree

I think its sad that they threw him away at only two years of age as well. Apparently he had slipped in the paddock and injured his tendon, which is why he was shipped off to auction. He seems pretty sound right now, no limp or anything, but time will tell if he'll be able to use it fully again. I would love to jump him once he gets older, so I hope that tendon does well.
The breeder did seem a little disappointed when she heard how I got him and about the injury. I'm sure he would have been a great racer.
If his legs holds out, he'll be one fine $700 horse. Lol

I should think the breeder was more than a little disappointed. He was bred with care to be a very good horse, and should have been; he is out of an award winning mare and by one of our super sires. Low Places had a mark of 1:56 and a bit when it wasn't common and Real Desire a life mark of 1:48.2 in a race that I watched. You can read all about Real Desire at Brittany Farms website. Frankly, if I had been the breeder I would have been downright sour over this.

Exactly what did he do to his tendon and how long ago? If it is still fairly fresh, ice it 20 minutes a day for a couple of weeks or so, or cold hose it. The rest of the rehab is hard work- you, not him. Find some horse linament that smells good and is mild - Absorbine or Green Cool (my choice because I like wintergreen smelll) and after the hosing, dry the leg, and rub with your 'poison' of choice until the skin is warmed by the action of your hands. Park yourself where you are comfortable, put linament in one hand then procede to rub; rubbing in this case is a rapid downward hand over hand working of the offending leg for almost the same amount of time as the cold application. The massage is what works, not the massage medium - I am old enough to have seen people use plain tap water (and used it myself) on horses that were sensitive to some linaments, or themselves had developed sensitivity to the ingredients in a rub and have achieved soundness after a length of time, but I cannot be specific about time without knowing what he did to himself. If you can manage the hosing and rubbing more often, do it, it won't hurt and most likely will do a lot of good. Take heart - I raced an aged horse (as opposed to gelding or mare) who had a bad bow. I worked on it every day with mostly water and would wrap him tight to race (this was 25 years ago) and he did retire about as sound as we thought he would - gimpy but managable in pasture. I also did that same 15ish minute rub on every horse I had after training trips and after a race, sometimes bandaging afterwards, often not bandaging. Do not bandage if you don't know what you are doing, and if the leg is cold, even if you do know how to wrap.

You are in Ian Moore country so there should be a vet somewhere that can come and ultrasound that leg to let you know where it is in healing.

Once you find out what he damaged, I may be able to talk you through it llong distance so to speak.

Thank you for the advice. They got him early this year and he had the injury when they got him. They said there was alot of swelling and from their discription it sounds like a bowed tendon. They did not have a vet look at him, just put him in a paddock and let him be. The legs do not have any heat and he does not appear to be limping at all. There is a little lump on one of his legs (about the size of the pad of your thumb)- its swishy, but I'm not sure if thats scar tissue or a little bit of inflammation.
My vet said he doesn't believe a visit is needed unless he starts to show signs of discomfort as the injury happened so long ago.

I did try walking him in the round pen today, and do you think I could keep that bugger at a walk! He did a few lapse of trotting before I could settle him down, and his legs seem ok at the moment. I'm just super paranoid of him re-injuring that leg.