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Getting ready
A farm that has a racing stable the size of Spring Hill - which may have as many as 60 to 70 horses in training for the races - often sells some horses each year to help with the cash flow situation.
“ have between 60 and 70 foals a year, and we try to sell half and race half, to raise money to offset the expenses,” Baker explained. “Mr. Evans enjoys it, but it’s a business, and a very expensive business.”
Several of the yearlings were being exercised in a round pen that features a mechanical walker with a series of moving gates to keep the yearlings separated and moving.
“This is what’s called a ‘European’ walker,” Baker explained. “On the old walkers they were tethered to the walker at their bridle, and that was dangerous. Here, they aren’t tethered, and they have about 20 feet between gates. It’s worked really well for us.”
The yearlings get about 20 minutes of walking at a time, enough to get them sweaty on a hot day. The concept of exercising a yearling before a sale is a relatively new one.
“It used to be that buyers wanted to see some flesh on a yearling,” Baker said. “That showed people that the horse was a good eater. Now, however, many of the buyers are buying to resell at a later date, and they want to see a horse with some muscle on it.”
The yearlings moved around easily, with some lagging at the back of their space and a few appearing to want the machine to go faster so they could walk faster. They all appeared quiet
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