Animal Are Athletes Too
There are humans out there who claim animals can't be athletes 'cause, well, I guess 'cause they figure all animals are born with all the power and grace they'll ever have. Hardly. First ya' gotta' have the attitude (which of course I do, as you know, and it's not as common as ya' might think). Then ya' gotta' train for competition, even if it only means holdin' yourself the right way in a show ring. (Flirtin' with the old lady judges helps too.)
Now I always figured horses were the real athletes of the domestic animal world. They've got those skinny little legs and ankles (with real big hoofs attached, admittedly) that carry 1,000+ pounds around a racetrack at about 35 mph. And they're noisy--those hooves really do thunder--'specially from my perspective at ground level when they go past you on the trainin' track.
That's what makes yesterday's Preakness amazin'. Imagine you're that big, goin' that fast when another horse cuts you off. Talk about road rage.
Try takin' a horse butt to the jaw and still winnin'.
Tough to tell which athlete is grinnin' more--the jockey or the horse.
AHM says a lot of people got their nose out of joint when Secretariat was named one of the top 50 athletes of the 20th Century by ESPN. I wasn't around waaaayyy back in '73--and my great-great-great-granddam isn't around now to ask--so I'll have to trust AHM when she says watchin' Secretariat run was almost a religious experience. Grown-up people all cryin' and huggin'--in New York, of all places--when a horse came down the stretch at Belmont Park--all alone.
Now he was an athlete.
posted by Harrison at 10:10 PM
Now I always figured horses were the real athletes of the domestic animal world. They've got those skinny little legs and ankles (with real big hoofs attached, admittedly) that carry 1,000+ pounds around a racetrack at about 35 mph. And they're noisy--those hooves really do thunder--'specially from my perspective at ground level when they go past you on the trainin' track.
That's what makes yesterday's Preakness amazin'. Imagine you're that big, goin' that fast when another horse cuts you off. Talk about road rage.
"…one of Alex’s front feet hit one of Scrappy T’s rear hooves--a frequently disastrous collision known as “clipping heels” in racing terminology. The impact caused Afleet Alex to begin to fall forward, almost as if someone tripped a human runner as he was sprinting for the wire.
"But as Afleet Alex went down nearly to his knees, sending Rose sliding forward out of his saddle, the colt somehow managed to stab forward with one foot in the blink of an eye, catching his 1,100-plus-pound frame and then lifting it and his rider skyward."
Try takin' a horse butt to the jaw and still winnin'.Tough to tell which athlete is grinnin' more--the jockey or the horse.
AHM says a lot of people got their nose out of joint when Secretariat was named one of the top 50 athletes of the 20th Century by ESPN. I wasn't around waaaayyy back in '73--and my great-great-great-granddam isn't around now to ask--so I'll have to trust AHM when she says watchin' Secretariat run was almost a religious experience. Grown-up people all cryin' and huggin'--in New York, of all places--when a horse came down the stretch at Belmont Park--all alone.
Now he was an athlete.
posted by Harrison at 10:10 PM
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