Tag: barn buddies

Given a large enough shedrow, it's not uncommon to come across a racehorse who's a little less self-assured than the rest. Sometimes they're just a nervous personality; sometimes they have a particular trigger that makes them uneasy, like a recent move or a neighbor they can't stand. Whatever the reason, these types often can be a puzzle for trainers, walking their stalls or weaving incessantly, putting excess wear on their shoes and soft tissues as they go.

When trainer Jane Cibelli acquired a horse who fit this mold, she did what many trainers before her had done – she called a friend to ask if they had a goat she could borrow.

The tradition of goats as companion animals for racehorses goes back decades if not centuries, and is supposedly the origin of the idiom “get your goat.” It's thought that Thoroughbreds take comfort in the presence of a goat because as fellow grazing herd animals they can substitute for the social interaction they'd normally get from another horse on the farm. No one seems to have made an academic study of whether other livestock species would serve just as well to calm Thoroughbreds, though our anecdotal reporting history of the Barn Buddies series suggests cows and sheep are also suitable, if less practical on the backstretch.

Cibelli and her assistant made a few calls and found someone who had a goat named Jeffrey they promised to put on the horse van from the Miami area to Palm Meadows quickly.

“He got off the van and I said, 'Oh he's huge. You could ride him,'” she said. “What he's taught me is how amazing animals are. We put him outside the horse's stall and it was an immediate 'Oh, thank goodness.' They looked at each other, and the horse had this glassy look in his eyes. Later, the horse was laying down looking at Jeffrey, and Jeffrey was laying down looking at him.”

To Cibelli's delight, Jeffrey has proven an intuitive companion to Thoroughbreds. It's the nature of racing barns to have horses who come and go, entering or leaving through claims or retirements. When one horse leaves, Jeffrey always seems to figure out who needs him next.

“He knows if a horse needs him,” she said. “When we first shipped into Palm Meadows, I had this one filly and she gets a little antsy whenever we move places. She wasn't really walking the stall but she was getting up tight, weaving, washing out. And immediately Jeffrey goes over to her and sat down in front of her stall and all was good. He's amazing.”

Jeffrey has his favorites, and he has his not-so-favorites among the racehorses. At Delaware Park, where the stalls have webbings he can climb underneath, he'll crawl into the stall with his favorite horses, while others may get a defiant head toss or knock of his horns on their doorframe as he goes by.

Jeffrey travels with Cibelli's string between South Florida and Delaware Park. He's not wild about the trip but knows the routine and gets his own box stall in the commercial horse van. Cibelli suspects he doesn't enjoy the colder weather up north, since as far as she knows he's always been a Florida guy.

“I do put a blanket on him, but the problem is finding a blanket that actually fits him,” she said. “You'd think a foal blanket would fit him, but it doesn't. The neck's too big. So I try to jimmy something together for him.

“He doesn't particularly like to be brushed or messed with. I think at some point he had kind of a rough life because he does stand up for himself. If there's something he doesn't like, he will turn around and let you know.”

Jeffrey has developed quite a reputation in the barn area, whether he's in Delaware or at Gulfstream, where he is based this winter. Cibelli often gets calls first thing in the morning from trainers in neighboring barns who report he has taken advantage of the training hour bustle to wander off visiting. He even recruited an assistant – a fellow goat joined Cibelli's string in Delaware last summer, to Jeffrey's apparent delight, but was not able to make the journey south with them.

Jeffrey seems to take seriously the need for collaboration between him and other staff, and often finds his way into Cibelli's office.

“I get here first thing in the morning and the cat I've had forever is like, 'Feed me, feed me,'” said Cibelli. “And I look around and the other cats who have decided to move in are also saying feed me. And then here comes Jeffrey. So before I do anything I've got to feed my menagerie.”

When he's not serving as sports psychologist to Cibelli's string, Jeffrey likes to kick back with a snack. Cibelli and her staff have found his palate trends towards the salty. Potato chips, Cheetos, and spicy, crunchy snacks are big favorites.

“He's got quite a following,” she said. “I was worried he'd be annoying, but everybody knows him. He's just a cool goat.

“I don't know how old he is, but he's got a home for the rest of his life.”

If you want to keep track of Jeffrey's exploits, you can find him on his very own Twitter account @jeffreybarngoat.

The post Barn Buddies Presented By Dapple Up: Jeffrey The Goat Goes Where He Is Needed appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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As any follower of this series knows, it's not uncommon (but is nonetheless delightful) for a racing barn to have a barn cat or two on duty. Among those of us who are particularly drawn to a good working cat though, trainer Kelsey Danner is social media famous.

She doesn't just have one; she has five.

“I've always been an animal person. You always have a barn cat. Five seems a little excessive,” Danner admits. “They're not really useful for anything besides eating a lot of food.”

The full roster is Rosa, Catherine, Fester, Bobby, and Linda, each with their own unique personalities. Danner runs horses up and down the East Coast, from Florida to Kentucky to New York and many points in between, but she has chosen to corral her feline employees at her permanent barn in Palm Meadows to minimize the stress of constant travel.

Rosa, like any truly over-worked assistant trainer, never leaves the barn office and is often found on Danner's desk. Catherine, who is the only member of the group not thrilled by the others, eats three meals a day in the barn and is otherwise roaming the training center.

Rosa has no desire to hunt, but Fester, Bobby and Linda will prowl from time to time. There aren't many mice or rats for them at Palm Meadows, so their focus has recently turned to lizards and pigeons.

All five of them technically came to Danner for free, but Fester was by far the most expensive freebie.

“Fester, we found on the track and we thought he was about to die,” she said. “He had herniated all his organs through his diaphragm so he had major surgery. He was on stall rest for like three months, which, stall rest for a cat is being locked in the bathroom. He must have been attacked by something, because he had some lacerations on his shoulder. He was not my cat then; I acquired him with the vet bill.

“Seven hundred dollars later, he has continued to live.”

Bobby (whose antics sometimes prompt him to be called 'Bad Bobby') and Linda, are named for Bob Baffert and Linda Rice. The siblings came to Danner as kittens when she was stabled at Churchill Downs and someone decided she didn't yet have enough cats. Bobby is the favorite of Danner's stable cats and is fond of snuggling her horses, climbing onto hay nets and stall ledges, or resting in the cat shelf hung for him and Linda in the office window. Danner describes Linda (the cat) as “a little controlling” and “two and a half hands of terror.”

Bobby has an unfortunate desire to see the world.

“Bobby makes the rounds; he's very popular on the backside,” said Danner. “Bobby gets into people's vehicles. He's gone to Gulfstream from Palm Meadows twice. And apparently he had to be evicted from an electrician's van at the stable gate the other day. It's a really bad habit, because I'm afraid he's going to really disappear. Obviously they all have chips and numbers on their collars, but he's very keen to get in any open door on a vehicle.”

He has not yet exceeded Danner's record for accidental cat journeys; she once had a barn cat sneak onto a trailer bound for Oaklawn Park – but Bobby is known for breaking records. It's only a matter of time.

Danner isn't the only one who worries when Bobby or one of his colleagues go on an expedition. She says her employees at Palm Meadows are devoted to the whole group of barn cats. Their favorite bonding activity is laundry time.

“They really love the fresh laundry out of the dryer when it's hot,” she said. “That's their favorite place to sleep in the mornings. The hot walkers get the laundry out, and then the cats lay on top of it. Then the hotwalkers will usually wrap them in towels. It's not like it's exactly frigid in South Florida, so I don't know why they need to be wrapped in hot towels all the time, but they look like little burritos as you walk around. They lay there and take it.

“My employees are all big cat fans.”

Bobby taking out his license soon. pic.twitter.com/0PhmqeLgjM

— KD (@kelseyjdanner) August 8, 2022

Bad Bobby getting another massage. pic.twitter.com/zKc7xYSb1K

— KD (@kelseyjdanner) August 15, 2022

Linda and Bobby working hard at Palm Meadows. pic.twitter.com/8QTASXLN5s

— KD (@kelseyjdanner) October 19, 2022

The post Barn Buddies Presented By Dapple Up: While Danner Travels The Country, Feline Assistants Keep Palm Meadows Base Running appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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With Labor Day weekend come and gone, the Saratoga race meet is over for another year. The barns are probably already a little emptier, the grandstand is mostly quiet, and the traffic on Broadway is finally lighter. However, just because the tourists and racegoers are gone, that doesn't mean the work of Upset is done.

Racing folk who went downtown for dinner or shopping after the races have probably seen 14-year-old Upset out and about. He appears in parades. He attends museum grand openings. He hosts an April birthday party for himself each year. He goes to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's fundraiser barbecue. He does an annual fun run with children for charity. Many people see him munching hay on the sidewalk outside Impressions of Saratoga or The Dark Horse Mercantile, both gift shops run by Zanetti and Marianne Barker.

“One of the most popular comments is, 'Wow that's a really big dog' or 'Only in Saratoga,' said Maddy Zanetti. “People love it. He loves the attention, and people love getting their picture taken with him.

“I think it's also educational, because people ask lots of questions about horses. Even people who are racing fans, it's amazing what they don't know about horses. They'll see him and think he's a foal, that he's going to be a racehorse someday. Or they don't know the lifespan of horses or what their teeth look like or anything because they've only ever seen them from afar.”

Zanetti and Barker had the idea to find a brand mascot in 2014 when they launched The Dark Horse Mercantile. The brand focuses on the archetype of the “dark horse” at the races who can surprise with an impressive finish. For Zanetti and Barker, the notion of a “dark horse” ties in with Saratoga's reputation as the graveyard of champions. The name of Upset seemed like a natural choice.

“It started out that we wanted an icon for Saratoga. When you see a crawfish you think of New Orleans; when you see the black dog you think of Nantucket or Maine,” said Zanetti. “When you hear Saratoga, you think of a horse. We talked about Jim Dandy and Onion and things, but we decided Upset was the most infamous.

“Upset ran against Man o' War so many times and came in second place. Harry Payne Whitney kept entering him again and again. He was a great horse probably, if it had been a different year.”

The next task was finding a mini horse who could put up with crowds and indoor environments.

“Upset was actually a show horse out near Cobleskill, N.Y., and she was looking to find a new home for him because even though he'd done well in the show ring halter classes she said he wasn't super into it,” recalled Zanetti, who agreed to take the little horse on trial. “We walked him downtown once, and the first event he was in, he was in the Flag Day parade and was behind one of the bands that has trumpets and drums and they were firing off shotguns with blanks. He was just like, 'Ok, this is what I'm doing now.' So we thought he's perfect.”

Upset lives on a boarding farm in Saratoga Springs alongside Zanetti and Barker's riding horses, and has a friend of his own in Poppy, a white mini horse/Shetland cross. Poppy sometimes accompanies Upset to more relaxed events, but is not as fond of loud noises as Upset and is mostly a homebody.

Upset rides in style to all his events.

“We take him in this Warmblood two-horse trailer which is huge,” said Zanetti. “We've modified it so that he has a stall, and his parade cart can go in it. He has so much space in there and it's just him usually, so we call it his limo.”

For times when you can't find him in downtown Saratoga, Upset can delight fans through his own children's book. The book, written by Zanetti and illustrated by Saratoga's Gretchen Tisch, was published in 2018 and has proven so popular it has sold out. Zanetti is in the process of organizing a reprint. The book tells the story of Upset's defeat of Man o' War in the 1919 Sanford Stakes through the eyes of a mini horse. The story's goal is to encourage readers to believe in themselves, even when the odds are long.

The post Barn Buddies Presented By Dapple Up: Saratoga’s Little Celebrity appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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With horses comes grain. With grain comes mice and rats. It's a universal truth battled by horsemen in many ways through the years, from sturdy bins to cats to a Jack Russell Terrier named George. 

Trainer Amira Chichakly has a different solution. They require an oversized plastic cage, and often confuse her toddler's toys for theirs.

Their names are Jagger and Slim Jim, and they are ferrets.

“I had a ferret when I was a kid briefly,” said Chichakly. “And I knew they would go after mice, and that even the smell of them would drive away mice. Actually the first time I brought them to Belmont, the rats cleared out. They didn't disappear, but they stopped coming into the barn. Then they got used to it a little bit, they came back, and then I started letting [the ferrets] loose in the shed.”

When Chichakly first acquired them from a pet store near Belmont a few months ago, they were too young and too unfamiliar with a stable setting to roam freely around the barn. About the time they got big enough to do some serious hunting, it was time for Saratoga, where there isn't a rodent problem. While she doesn't have a lot of data to go on, she suspects they're going to earn their keep as rat-catchers when they return to Belmont.

“I'm excited to let them loose at Belmont to let them hunt for a few hours instead of just 30 minutes a day,” she said. “People apparently sell ferret-soaked papers and bedding to get rid of mice, so you don't even really need the ferret. But my guess is the genetically-modified pseudo rats we have at Belmont wouldn't care so much. They'd figure it out.”

Jagger and Jim are both leash-trained and (sometimes) come when called. They're also faster than you may expect of a creature with such short legs, darting around and disappearing into holes they've made under the barn office or storage shed. They spend training hours in their cage in the shade outside Chichakly's barn and hop around the yard after horses are put away for the morning. Chichakly will sometimes leave one in the cage while the other plays to keep them from getting bold and wandering too far, but they mostly seem, like a barn cat or dog, to know their territory and stay nearby on their own. They showed some initial interest in the horses, but have learned decorum at the ripe age of five months.

“They seem to have no understanding of their own mortality,” she said. “When I first got them, Jimmy, day one, goes into the stalls, bites a horse on the foot. Looks at it, sniffs it, bites. Now that they're a little older, they now know the foot is attached to a whole horse and you don't do that.”

At the time, the three-month-old ferret's teeth weren't much to write home about and didn't even leave a mark on the horse's pastern. Rather, the filly snorted at the ferret in surprise, and he evidently rethought his priorities.

Ferrets are odd creatures for those unfamiliar with them. Chichakly says they have the attitude of a puppy with the fluid spine of a snake. If you pick one up, they feel much like a furry Slinky toy, wriggling and wobbling in all directions without a care.

That's assuming you can catch one. Jim and Jagger spent a recent morning darting from one side of Chichakly's storage shed to another, trying to make off with a bath sponge, and ignoring a bag of their own feed while trying to climb into a bag of the horses' grain.

They've gotten used to being carried or slung over the shoulder of Chichakly's daughter Kriya, who enjoys carting them around. Although they're not given to sit still long enough to request pats from humans in the same way a dog or cat would, they are social.

“They're unlike anything and they're both terrifyingly creepy and adorable,” she said. “They want to be a part of our family. They'll search us out.”

Despite their quirks, Chichakly said the mischievous pair have a certain charm to them.

“They're very loyal animals,” she said. “And I'd say they're a lot smarter than your average Labrador. You'll see them figure things out. You have to watch the latches [on the cage] and double latch them because they'll figure that out from the inside. They come in the feed room all the time, and they know where they left things. You'll see them plan things. It probably serves them well when it comes to hunting rats and mice.”

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