Horse Owners

- Thoroughbred racing is sometimes called the "sport of kings," but the horse owners and prospective owners sipping red wine at a reception the other night seemed too young to have ascended to an exalted level of royalty. Maybe they could symbolically be earls or viscounts. They looked like recent college graduates too old for the bar scene but too young to yet possess the graying, distinguished, moneyed look commonly associated with the sport's elite. But that was the point.

- Thoroughbred racing is sometimes called the "sport of kings," but the horse owners and prospective owners sipping red wine at a reception the other night seemed too young to have ascended to an exalted level of royalty. Maybe they could symbolically be earls or viscounts. They looked like recent college graduates too old for the bar scene but too young to yet possess the graying, distinguished, moneyed look commonly associated with the sport's elite. But that was the point.

The Maryland Hay Bank, an operation of the Mount Airy-based Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue, was among 15 organizations awarded a piece of $21,000 in grants this week from the Maryland Horse Industry Board. The Maryland Hay Bank assists private horse owners who are experiencing a financial hardship or a personal crisis with free hay for their horses for 30 days, up to a maximum of 100 total bales. The Maryland Hay Bank is donation driven, and hay is provided at no cost to recipients.

Prominent Maryland horse owner and breeder Sondra Bender died Wednesday afternoon after a battle with uterine cancer. She was 78 A resident of Bethesda, Bender and her husband Howard owned Glade Valley Farm in Frederick. “I considered her the first lady of Maryland racing,” Larry Murray, who has trained for Bender since 1988 and is the farm manager at Glade Valley, said in a news release. “She enjoyed the game and was very classy. She took the bad just as well as the good.

State agriculture officials are urging Maryland horse owners to have their animals vaccinated against Eastern Equine Encephalitis after the death of an unvaccinated horse on Virginia's Eastern Shore.Although primarily a disease of horses and birds, the mosquito-borne illness can be transmitted to humans.The EEE virus was detected recently in mosquitoes trapped in Worcester County and earlier this summer in chickens set out as detectors in southern Delaware."Because of the wet summer, mosquitoes have been particularly prevalent this season on the entire Eastern Shore," said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Lewis R. Riley.

Veterinarian Lee Miller says he's worried the horse community doesn't know enough about the moldy corn threat this year.Miller, a vetin Woodsboro, Frederick County, who practices in Carroll, says Maryland horse owners didn't know about moldy corn poisoning during the last outbreak until a dozen horses had died.Moldy corn poisoning is frustrating for several reasons: It is almost impossible to detect; there are no known preventive measures other than not feeding corn; the disease has been considered incurable; and the animal must be dead to confirm the diagnosis.

Horse owners, who have not had much to cheer about lately with the struggles of Maryland's racing industry, can take heart in a couple of government-sponsored projects aimed at corralling more equine activity and income for the state. The latest development, which could be a boon for the racing industry as well as for farms that raise horses for recreational riding, involves the proposed construction of a $60 million animal quarantine center near Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

On a recent, rainy evening, a honey-colored horse named Gandolf stood in his outdoor stall - a wooden ring at the Fort Meade Equestrian Center near Odenton - contentedly gnawing on a large bale of hay. "He's one of those horses that is not bothered by anything," said his owner, veteran Matt McKnight. "When I'm here with him, I just zen." McKnight, 26, spends every afternoon at the equestrian center, a place he and many other horse owners - all of them military or Department of the Interior personnel or retirees - call a second home.

By the time Seattle Slew arrived at Pimlico for the 102nd Preakness on May 21, 1977, the fairy tale was one-third told.A modest $17,500 purchase as a yearling, Seattle Slew had starred in the rags-to-riches story of winning the Kentucky Derby. His owners -- two fun-loving couples in their 30s dubbed the "Slew Crew" -- were the darlings of American racing.The nation's sports fans watched eagerly as Seattle Slew -- this dark-brown blaze of speed so awkward as a baby that his handlers called him "Baby Huey" after the clumsy comic-strip character -- tried to do what no horse had ever done: win the Triple Crown without having lost a race.

When Barbaro broke down during the Preakness Stakes, his owners held insurance to cover them in the event of a catastrophic injury to the horse, which was likely worth at least $25 million to $30 million - and more if he had won. Owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson had purchased two types of insurance on the prized colt: one for if the Kentucky Derby winner dies, and the other to protect them if he is unable to fulfill his potential as a stud, Roy Jackson said...

The Maryland Hay Bank, an operation of the Mount Airy-based Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue, was among 15 organizations awarded a piece of $21,000 in grants this week from the Maryland Horse Industry Board. The Maryland Hay Bank assists private horse owners who are experiencing a financial hardship or a personal crisis with free hay for their horses for 30 days, up to a maximum of 100 total bales. The Maryland Hay Bank is donation driven, and hay is provided at no cost to recipients.

It's deja vu for Maryland's thoroughbred racing industry. Less than three months before the 2012 season, the Maryland Jockey Club and the horsemen are at odds again and have yet to agree on the number of live racing days for next year. "We're staring at the barrel of a shotgun again," Louis Ulman, chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission, said Tuesday. Ulman had asked the Jockey Club and horse owners and breeders to provide an update at Tuesday's meeting about next year's racing schedule at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore to avoid a similar situation to last year's, with the future of the sport and the storied Preakness Stakes in doubt.

The Queen Anne's County state's attorney's office has filed criminal charges against the owner of a Centreville horse farm from which 140 animals were seized in April. Marsha H. Parkinson, 66, owner of Canterbury Farms, faces 35 animal cruelty charges of failure to provide adequate care for an animal, after the horses were taken from her Melfield Lane farm, according to electronic court records. Neither Parkinson nor Queen Anne's State's Attorney Lance G. Richardson returned calls seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.

Harry Nye , who co-owns Norman Asbjornson, the Preakness contender trained by Chris Grove , is blunt when asked about his horse's chances in Saturday's race. "We're going to win," he said. "The horse is peaking at the right time and we're going to surprise the hell out of everybody. We're going to kick everybody's butt. " Hello, Mr. Subtle. Nye, 65, lives in Harrisburg, Pa. He and his partner, Thomas McClay , own about 22 horses; this is their first trip to the Preakness.

At age 21, Not For Love is a little bit spoiled. Set in his ways, he knows what he likes. He likes grass. He likes being outside, away from the hustle and bustle. And when he comes inside, he likes a little warm water and honey in his mash. He also likes mares who have been to the breeding shed more than once. "I think he's a just a wise old man," Northview Stallion Station manager Louis Merryman said. "He's had enough of putting up with younger women. " Over the years, 16 of them in the breeding shed now, Not For Love has had more than average success.

The future of live thoroughbred racing in Maryland — along with the Preakness Stakes —is in jeopardy once again after a state commission on Tuesday rejected a proposed racing schedule contingent on several conditions that horse owners and breeders refused to accept. That means the Laurel Park racetrack could close its doors Jan. 1 unless a last-minute deal is reached between the horsemen and owners of the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates the tracks. Pimlico Race Course doesn't traditionally run races until the spring, when it puts on the Preakness, the second leg of racing Triple's Crown and the state's largest single sporting event.

It's deja vu for Maryland's thoroughbred racing industry. Less than three months before the 2012 season, the Maryland Jockey Club and the horsemen are at odds again and have yet to agree on the number of live racing days for next year. "We're staring at the barrel of a shotgun again," Louis Ulman, chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission, said Tuesday. Ulman had asked the Jockey Club and horse owners and breeders to provide an update at Tuesday's meeting about next year's racing schedule at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore to avoid a similar situation to last year's, with the future of the sport and the storied Preakness Stakes in doubt.

The General Assembly's budget chairmen approved yesterday the release of nearly $5 million in aid to horse owners and breeders, after a briefing by racing industry representatives on the status of improvements to Maryland's tracks. Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman and Del. Howard P. Rawlings, both Baltimore Democrats, had blocked the release of the money because of concerns over whether the track owners had made sufficient improvements in to the tracks, management and promotional activities. After a joint briefing before two budget subcommittees, Hoffman and Rawlings agreed to the release of the $4.9 million, which was approved last year on condition that track owners make the improvements.

Seventeen horses that were seized by the city Health Department in the fall will be returned to Baltimore's traditional A-rab produce merchants under a deal approved by the city's spending board Wednesday. The A-rabs, who contested the department's claims that the stables were not well-maintained, plan to pick up their horses as soon as today from the Howard County horse rescue farm where they have been boarded. "I continue to hope that the health of those horses comes first," Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake said.