ANOTHER DOSE OF REALITY... what now? (Part 58a)

Even though I knew it was directly against what Dan wanted for her I was still upset with how he treated me when I made the suggestion to switch her gait and want to see for myself. Of course being “egged” on by Chit only added fuel to the fire. Long story short... In spite of her front hoofs being too long and with a really heavy (horse)shoes she took right to the hopples and never stumbled once. We had her on on the gyp line (a rope connected to her bridle) and had her go around in a 25 foot circle for about 5 or so minutes. I was really pleased and Chit was smiling the whole time. We cleaned her up again and I headed back to the apartment not knowing what to do with my discovery.

Tuesday was her next scheduled training day and Dan told me he wanted to take her for all her four trips. After we had her hitched to the cart Dan came over and started doing an inspection of her legs starting with her hoofs, working his way up to her chest. Once there he stood up and screamed “Who had hopples on this horse?” There was no way I could deny it as almost all the grooms had seen Chit and I working with her on Sunday. I spoke up and before I even got the words out he screamed “YOU’RE FIRED!” with a whole stream of expletives following. I just stood there not believing what I’d just heard. When I didn’t move he charged up to me and gave me a shove. I tried to say something and all he did was to yell for me to get out of his sight. I have to admit I was a bit afraid. I was about 155 pounds and 6’ 1“ while Dan was 6’ and about 220 pounds. I remember seeing spit coming from his mouth as he continued to curse me. I finally turned and walked away. I’d driven to the track with Jean Paul so headed for his barn.

Jean Paul couldn’t believe it when I told him what had happened. He saw how upset I was and I guess he knew his words wouldn’t help so he told me to take the horse he was about to go out onto the track to train. It was more instinct than anything else as I took the reins. He told me how fast he wanted the horse to go as I jogged off to the race track. Concentrating on the job at hand took my mind, temporarily, off Dan and my firing. When I got back Jean Paul and I headed for the cook house. After a couple of cups of coffee he had suggested some ideas for me. Since we were both in the same precarious financial position he knew that income was my major concern. Since he was about to ship out to start the racing season he was going to have to hire additional help to care for the horses. (Taking care of three horses when not racing was fairly common for the lower level stables. Two horses per man was the standard when racing.) He told me he couldn’t afford an assistant trainer but he could pay me a groom’s wage and he’d work in some training for me to help him out. I know it was a reaction but I said ”yes“. I also knew it would take some of the pressure off me when I told Elle later.

In truth, I think Elle was relieved that I was done with Dan. The biggest problem we were faced with was that our trailer was still up at Dan’s farm. I knew my situation with Jean Paul was only temporary so didn’t know what to do with it. We decided that the best thing was for me to take Elle home to her parents. I loaded all the kids and Elle’s stuff into the little trailer and drove home that weekend. Our parents and my grandfather were quite upset with the situation but it was my problem and I was determined to survive. After unloading the trailer I headed back. Jean Paul was shipping out on Tuesday and I needed to be there to help.

The track didn’t have a place for trailers on the grounds. There was a run down trailer park right across from the track. The guy running it was a real hard nosed character. He wanted the same rent regardless of the size of the trailer and it was more than the rent I’d been paying for the apartment. Right next door was a junk yard. I happened to see an old race car through the fence. I was mad at the trailer park guy but seeing a race car put a smile on my face. I drove into the yard and found the car. It was very similar to my race car back at home although it was obvious that it’s racing days were over. When this guy walked up he actually startled me. He said it was his but he was no longer racing. We chatted for a while and one thing led to another. I told him about the trailer park and what they wanted for rent for my little trailer. The guy had a sort of smirk on his face as I, more or less, cussed the trailer park guy out. Then he said I could park it in his yard for free... one race car guy to another... and to stick it to the trailer park guy who I later found out was his brother in law. He was nice enough to even let me run an electric cord from his office.

I’d previously mentioned that Jean Paul’s horses weren’t very good. Out of the sixteen or so horses that we unloaded only five were ”qualified’ to race. The rest had to run qualifying races. The track had so many stall requests that they decreed that non-qualified horses only had one chance to make it and their entries had to be received by the end of the first week of racing . For Jean Paul it presented another problem. There were only a limited number of qualifying races and with 12 horses to be qualified he’d have more than one horse in a race. That’s where having me working for him helped and gave me a chance to drive in a few races, even if they were only qualifiers.

To be continued...