The lessons one can learn from a thoroughbred are about courage, about determination in its most basic form. Thoroughbreds are not just about running, they are about seeking a goal and attaining it. That’s what is in their DNA and it is apparent from the moment they stand up on their long wobbly legs with their momma’s hovering over them. They are born new to the world with a desire to be perfect. They live to be on the track, testing each other, seeing who the fastest is, seeing which of them can go further than the others. They give to the point of death at times, as the life and death of Ruffian proves. They are inspiring in this spirit of determination that is inside of them. They are also far more impressive than human professional athletes.
To paraphrase the owner of the 1988 Kentucky Derby winning filly Winning Colors, Eugene Klein, Thoroughbreds don’t do coke, you will never see them at a club shooting their mouths off or getting into trouble drunk driving. You will never hear of this year’s Derby winner, Orb beating up his girlfriend or whining like a baby about a grossly overpaid contract because he doesn’t think he’s getting paid enough. That’s the difference. Thoroughbred champions ask for a carrot, a pat after a job well done, a warm stall and a bath, a big bucket of hot bran mash and a scratch behind the ears. That’s all. They could care less about what a newspaper says about them. They are the most professional athletes we have. There’s no “Horse” Union, or group demanding ridiculous concessions. All they ask is to be allowed their dignity.
Thoroughbreds, if anything, could show us how to behave when the going gets rough. Who can forget Affirmed and Alydar’s stretch duel in the Belmont? Two horses battling as hard as they could, and the courage and commitment they both showed is mind blowing. Thoroughbreds will fight till they fall apart to win.
Ruffian’s breakdown in the 1975 Match Race is the probably the perfect example of the courage a thoroughbred will show even in obvious agony. She ran for half a furlong on her broken leg, and when she came to in the operating room, she was still running. She’d never stopped.
Some people might find that horrifying. The bleeding hearts have no understanding of what a thoroughbred is, because they are afraid to see them for what they are. They are equine warrior athletes to whom God gave the power of the thunderbolt. They don’t want your sympathy, and they don’t want your tears. All they want is to run and give their gift of speed and stamina to the world. So save the concern because thoroughbreds don’t cry.
Stephanie Janiczek is a former Capitol Hill Staff Assistant, Schedule C Appointee and Leadership Institute alum. Military Wife, Hunter, Horse enthusiast, dog owner, writer and feminist kryptonite
