Picking Up The Pieces

It has been a difficult week for our stable.  The pain we felt last Wednesday from the loss of Meese Rocks is still fresh in our minds, even as we now try to collect ourselves and move forward.  Emotionally and financially, our stable faces an uphill battle in the months to come.  We will now rely on a few of our babies (2- and 3-years olds) to carry us through the next phase of this rollercoaster journey.  In the coming weeks, we will highlight each of these horses individually so that you may all get more familiar with the rest of our equine family.  For now though, we are still sitting with a feeling of loss.  And yet, in this very difficult time, we have discovered one of the most gratifying aspects of thoroughbred ownership.

To our disbelief, in the days following the big girl’s passing, we received an outpouring of support from all corners of the thoroughbred industry.  From Brooklyn to Kentucky, Georgia to California, words of condolences and encouragement flooded our inbox and were publicly posted throughout the internet.  Perfect strangers went to great lengths to detail how much admired Meese Rocks’ grit and determination, and how they were sharing in our sorrow. 

Needless to say, we have been delighted and shocked by the kind words and well wishes.  Owing to simple probability, we never believed that we would be so lucky as to have a horse of Meese Rocks’ caliber.  Even more surprising (and touching) was that our girl meant so much to so many people outside of our immediate circle.  We are amazed and unbelievably thankful to those who supported her efforts from afar, and who were kind enough to reach out to us to share their stories and support.  While we truly appreciate all of you for your well wishes, we wanted to highlight a select few that went above and beyond in their tribute to Meese Rocks:

• Derby Trail (www.derbytrail.com) – A few days after last week’s post, we noticed a large amount of traffic coming to the blog from this site.  Unfamiliar, we investigated, and found a community of the most knowledgeable and dedicated horse aficionado’s anywhere.  One of their seasoned members felt compelled to give Meese Rocks here own thread, which you can find at http://www.derbytrail.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2 (thread titled “Farewell, Meese Rocks”).  It is incredible to read people just like us speak so highly of our mare.  To the member who goes by “My Miss Storm Cat,” whoever you are, thank you.
• New York Thoroughbred Breeders (www.nytbreeders.org) – The classy folks with NYT Breeders posted on their site a moving tribute to Meese Rocks.  Going well beyond their normal coverage of New York-Bred Thoroughbreds, their article really captures how meaningful our girl was to the New York Thoroughbred community.  It is an incredible tribute and gives us tremendous comfort to know that our horse meant so much to people outside our stable.  A special thank you is in order to Jeff Cannizzo and Sarah Mace.  Your kind words and efforts in getting the story up mean more to us than you could ever know.

Finally, we want to acknowledge the efforts of the physicians and staff at New Jersey Equine Clinic (www.njequine.com).  Throughout the tenure of Meese Rocks’ stay, they treated her with all the TLC deserving of a beloved family member.  Just as she refused to give in to her ailments, they refused to give up on her, working tirelessly in their efforts to nurse her back to health.  A special thank you is in order to Dr. Scott Palmer and Dr. Jennifer Smith.  Their near-daily updates were a constant reassurance that our girl was in very good hands.  We thank you for your efforts.

As mentioned, we will soon begin introducing the rest of our stable.  While we are sorry that it comes under such saddening circumstances, we are happy to have any new followers along for the ride.  We hope that you will join us in honoring the memory of Meese Rocks by supporting us as we rebuild our stable and get back on the right track.  We know we are in for a tough trip, but we will be empowered by having the additional support riding along with us.  Thanks again!