Page 147 - September2021

LOOKING BACK
Pie In The Sky winning the 1979 All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs
home they met on top of a hill and locked in witness for Him in racing, or not. If He did, we so many foalings take place at night. We have
a head-on collision. Ken went through the windshield. Dan was hurt but managed to call me on the two way. Our beloved Greg, only fifteen, was instantly killed. We buried our son here at the 3 Bar D. Our good friend, Anita Bryant, sang at his funeral. The song asked for is the one that tells what life’s all about – One Day At A Time. We were never promised tomorrow.
We brought our filly, Easy Dimple, along. Her first out was in the 1979 Kansas Futurity trials. A hundred yards out of the gate, she cracked her knee. The jockey stood up on her, but the filly wouldn’t quit. She was a close second on three legs. In face of so much heart we had to save her. Dr. Zargas immediately slapped a cast on her. We called in Dr. Proctor from Kentucky. He and Dr. Zargas performed surgery. Today one of Easy Dimple’s knees is bigger than the others, but she can sure outrun anything that tries to match her in the pasture. When we brought her home after the surgery, we put her in
the little barn close to our back door. Every morning I’d go out and call to her. She’d nicker back. Horses can talk to you.
A particular Bible verse has always comforted Dan and me. It’s from Luke, chapter 18, verse 27: “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” We prayed together and asked God to let us know if He wanted us to
asked Him to open doors.
We went to California in search of another
filly but purchased Pie In The Sky instead. Then he stepped in and ran third in the Kindergarten and third in the Dash For Cash. We moved him to Ruidoso, and he had only two outs there – the All American Futurity trials and finals. He won both.
Doors continued to open. Splendid mares became available, and we acquired some of
the celebrities. I think of four special ones – Azure Teen, Pass Over, Possumjet and Miss Thermolark. The latter two are in the same pen together, were bred to Pie at the same time, and the estimated date of their foaling is our wedding anniversary.
We stood Pie for the first time last year and asked Dr. Charles W. Graham, owner of Southwest Stallion Station, and his assistant, Dr. Robert D. Lewis, to train and teach us breeding principles. We are so grateful to Dr. Lewis who taught our daughter Dana and me lab work, and we do most of it now. The mares that come to Pie are loved by their owners, and we make it a point to give outside mares some personal attention,
so they won’t feel so far from home. It is very rewarding to me, to be personally involved with these mares and to do the lab work, too, because it makes me think I’m helping to send the mares back to their homes, safely in foal...I wonder why
closed circuit TV from barns to house, and it’s almost always at night when the beautiful signs of foaling begin on screen.
When we buy horses, we look for lots of black type in pedigrees, for conformation and for something else you can’t always recognize, but it’s got to be there – heart. We saw all three in Mighty Deck Three when we purchased him. He is a natural athlete that literally loves to run. When he won the Rainbow for us in ’80, it was my father’s birthday.
I know that people who liked to watch Mighty Deck Three run will be glad to know that he’s healing beautifully after cracking his sesamoid. The way he’s recuperating is almost miraculous.
By the time this comes out, the ’81 Rainbow will be history. Here and now, I’m hoping our newest one, Special Effort, will add that victory to his record and that he’ll be the first two year old to win the Triple Crown.
We’ve always believed that God didn’t putusheretosit;Hewantsallofustodo,to accomplish, to improve mentally, physically,
and spiritually in order to leave something good and lasting in the world. Our son, Ken, is with us at the 3 Bar D. So are our daughter, Dana,
her husband, Ken, and our little granddaughter, Danielle. Together as a family we are trying to go forward...One Day At A Time.
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