Page 24 - May 2017

Ex-Racehorses Bring More Than Speed To New Courses In Life
The Quarter Horse, as we all know, is the fastest horse on earth. They are the most versatile, too.
We’re talking breed here. The American Quarter Horse registry comprises multiple sire and dam lines that produce pretty much every kind of horse that can do every kind of thing. But every individual is, well, individual. Good Quarter Horses don’t generally come off the track when they are still the fastest on earth, but when those family lines do jump that work line, more than a few ex-racehorses bring speed and versatility to their new life.
“We had a lot of good racehorses, but we also had a lot of horses that had what we called
Frank “Scoop” Vessels III and Bonnie Vessels
‘bad legs.’ They wouldn’t move fast enough on the racetrack,” says Bonnie Vessels, with a laugh. “That’s when you turn them into second-career horses.”
That is, they began a second career if they fell within certain parameters.
“You know pretty quick whether it’s a good individual with a good mind that’s willing to do what you ask,” she says. “It’s pretty simple to just go from there.”
Bonnie would know. She is riding one of them. His name is Habilitate, or “Habit” to Bonnie. He’s a full brother to Champion and 1999 All American Derby-G1 winner Old Habits ($680,966), that Bonnie raced in the high-profile partnership known as The Girls. Bred and raised in California by Bonnie and her late husband, former AQHA President Frank “Scoop” Vessels III, the sorrel gelding Habit,
by Apollo TB and out of the stakes-winning First Down Dash mare First Femme, recorded his best finish in 4 races when he lit the board against maidens at Ruidoso, just before the trials to what became Champion Heartswideopen’s 2007 All American Futurity-G1 victory.
“When Habit was two, we were in Ruidoso to see our entries in the All American trials,” Bonnie says. “We walked past Habit’s stall and he was standing with his head back in the
by Richard Chamberlain
corner. He kinda looked over his shoulder at
us and Scoop said, ‘That guy doesn’t want to run today.’ Then Habit goes out and runs dead last in his trial. Scoop said, ‘That one’s going away.’ I raised my hand and said, ‘Hey, if he’s going away, I’ve got dibs on him.’ I wanted him because I knew he was going to be tall enough that my feet wouldn’t drag the ground.”
So here’s another parameter to consider: size and shape matter.
“In the Quarter Horse registry, we have dif- ferent disciplines with different conformation and distinct phenotypes,” says Frank Merrill, the former AQHA President who is the general manager of Bob Moore Farms in Norman,
Frank Merrill, general manager of Bob Moore Farms
22 SPEEDHORSE, May 2017
© Robby Edwards
© Heather Lowe