Page 48 - NMHBA_Winter2022

Robert & DelRae / Ben & Kathy
Who are
These People?
By Diane Ciarloni
Horse folks, for the most part, are good, with the majority of them living day-by- should spend time with horse breeders/
upstanding, compassionate, animal- loving people. Most have a morally centered, trusting relationship with the Almighty,
day on a wing and a prayer. As a matter of fact, anyone wanting to explore some of
the closest man/God relationships out there
owners/ trainers and/or farmers.
Horse people are highly competitive individuals, who are willing to give up,
sacrifice, or sell just about anything they have if it means increasing a colt’s or a filly’s shot at becoming a racetrack headliner. They are risk-takers. They know all about feast
or famine, and they sure as crap know how one nose skimming across one finish line
at the head of the pack can alter radically someone’s entire universe.
There are some special groups
within the general population of these
horse folks. One is the rapidly dwindling number of men and women who are actually volumes of horse history disguised as just ordinary people. The reason this iconic group is shrinking is attributed to simple, everyday attrition. They’re getting old. They’re dying. On November 2, we lost 90-year-old Bubba Cascio, as the most recent example. Whatever he knew that wasn’t passed along to someone else is now buried with him.
Anyone with even modest knowledge
of New Mexico racing feels his/her ears
perk up when they hear the name
Driggers. And then they prick back and forth if the name Bar Y Cattle is spoken in the same breath.
Ben and Kathy Ivey with River Flash.
46 New Mexico Horse Breeder