I noted that my beloved Secretariat is having a movie made about him, and it fills me with joy and remorse for this thoroughbred as he was such a gallant stud and then had to perish with hoof rot of all things, but it pleases me with this greatest horse ever of American breeding that people will find out about him again.Horses are different creatures in most people have no idea what an American horse even is. American horses are a strange mix of the Spanish Barb and the Arabian, of which three were captured by the British from the Ottoman Empire, and produced then what we know as the English Thoroughbred, which in turn, arrived in America to cross with a coming breed of the cowboy plains in the Quarter Horse, which was suited to both ranch work and the American love for fast short races in the quarter mile, which this breed excelled at.
Most people will not know that the Quarter Horse can have Thoroughbred breeding in it's background and still be of the breed.
My Libby, a strawberry roan, who can be as loving or ornery as they can be, has her roots in Man O War, the Thoroughbred legend, Go Man Go, who was the orneriest race horse known and the best and Poco Bueno, the legendary cutting horse, with a Skipper thrown in as the best show horse of modern history.
I have a Quarter Horse Pinto cross, which is then termed a Paint, and I always love comparing these two range horses as Libby has such powerful hind quarters while the Paint is more slender.
When the American horse showed up on the Great Plains during the Indian Wars of 1850 onward, it was a telling test of the Mustang to the big Thoroughbreds.
Gen. Custer had two fine Thoroughbreds in Dandy and Vic. Dandy was a homely horse, but a pet like none other in he could let the horse graze on it's own and it followed him around like a puppy.
Dandy was shot by some ass of an Indian at the Little Big Horn, just for spite, as one buck was on a hill just shooting horses with a buffalo rifle, who was later dispatched by one of the Officers, but not until he shot Dandy through the neck and there the poor horse laid suffering as the battle raged on.
Vic was run off with the other Custer command horses and never seen again. He was a powerful long distance running horse.
That is what needs to be explained about Secretariat as he was a throwback to the old horse of the Plains. See, a Thoroughbred really is not that great of long distance runner. For example, Buffalo Bill Cody, who had an eye for fine race horses had three in his life of note, Brigham, Buckskin Joe who was a cavalry horse, and Tall Bull, who he acquired in an Indian battle by shooting Chief Tall Bull off this horse.
Old Brigham was an exceptional horse for wind, in Bill noted one day he rose him 15 miles on a dispatch, and happened to run into some hostile Indians who he had to flee from.
Bill was concerned at about mile 20 as Brigham was loosing his wind, but after they rode a few miles further he noted the horse got his air again, and they rode to safety.
It was not that Brigham was that fast, but that Brigham had wind for the long run. In one race, Bill noted that Brigham was behind a number of horses at the first mile. The second mile he started to pass the Thoroughbreds, but mile three he was in the lead, and by mile four the jockey let Brigham run and he came across the finish line far ahead of the other horses.
Horse racing is an odd combination of weight and the speed and wind of a horse. Libby Custer was mounted on a Thoroughbred named Phil after Gen. Sheridan, and George with brother Tom, finally convinced this little girl from Michigan to let Phil have his head one day on the track, to which she was forever changed by that fiery animal who with her petite weight flew like the wind.
That is what Secretariat had in him. He just had enough speed to take the sprint of the Kentucky Derby. He shown brighter at the Preakness in it being longer, but when the Belmont Stakes arrived, that is where the stud shown in his old breeding as he won that race by 31 lengths, set a track record which stands to this day, and showed that as other horses failed, he like Brigham, actually got stronger and faster the farther he ran.
Secretariat has never thrown a colt which really shown, yet in contrast like Old Brigham, Secretariats father was a most homely horse, and that old stud has thrown a number of champions.
What I am dithering about here though in horses is the reason to remind folks of the 2008 races in America, when it was Barack Hussein Obama who bet on Big Brown, and I desire people to remember that omen of Big Brown as was predicted here.
Remember how Big Brown won the sprints and was the favorite, but remember how the horse finished in the long race?
Big Brown was a disaster, he lost to every horse, was about 31 lengths behind the worst horse in the race, and the jockey and benefactors had no idea what to do with that animal as it just quit over the long haul.
Looks exactly like dictator Obama now doesn't it?
Thus the title, Obamatariat, the biggest nothing to ever enter politics, in he ran against no one in all of his races, and when a long race came about, he was loosing to the mules, ponies and cows in the race.
Dream on broomstick cowboy as your race is already done...........
agtG
