Hastings (foaled 1893 in Versailles, Kentucky) was an American thoroughbred stallion racehorse. Bred by Dr. J.D. Neet, he was sired by Belmont Stakes winner Spendthrift out of the Tomahawk mare, Cinderella.

Originally, Hastings was bought by David Gideon and John Daly at auction as a yearling for $2800. He was sent to New York and raced for the partners successfully as a two-year-old, winning several until the partnership was dissolved by public auction and Hastings was purchased by August Belmont, Jr. for a record $37,000.

He was shipped to Saratoga Race Course but unfortunately fell ill. It is believed that his illness may have compromised his form for he finished fifth in his next race, the Futurity at Sheephead Bay.

At three, Hastings came into his own. He placed second in the Withers Stakes behind Handspring by a head. He went on to defeat older horses in the Toboggan Handicap. Then, following in his sire's hoofprints, he won the Belmont Stakes beating his rival, Handspring by a head.

His record at four was 12 starts, 4 wins and 6 places, carrying weights as high as 140 pounds. 

Hastings was known not only for his speed, but also, unfortunately, for his nasty temper. Handlers and grooms had to carry large sticks in his presence to control him.

He was retired to Nursury Stud outside Lexington, Kentucky and became one of the most successful sires of 1902 and 1908. Of his crops, he sired graded stakes race winners Gunfire, Field Mouse, Masterman, and Fair Play, sire of the great, Man o' War.

On June 17, 1917, at age 24, severely crippled with paralysis, Hastings had to be euthanized.

Man o' War, (March 29, 1917 Nursery Stud farm, Lexington, Kentucky - November 1, 1947, Faraway Farm) is considered by most to be the greatest thoroughbred racehorse of all time. During his career just after World War I, he won 20 of 21 races and $249,465 in purses.

From the prominent sire Fair Play, out of the mare Mahubah, Man o' War was owned and bred by August Belmont, Jr. (1851-1924), whose father's accomplishments were recognized through the naming of the Belmont Stakes. However, Belmont Jr. joined the United States Army at age 65 to serve in France during World War I. While overseas, his wife named the new foal "Man o' War" in honor of her husband.^[1] However, the Belmonts decided to liquidate their racing stable. At Saratoga yearling sale in 1918, Man o' War was sold to Samuel D. Riddle for $5,000 who brought him to his Glen Riddle Farm near Berlin, Maryland.

Trained by Louis Feustel and ridden by jockey Johnny Loftus, Man o' War made an impressive racing debut at Belmont Park on June 6, 1919, winning by six lengths. Three weeks later he won the Keene Memorial Stakes.

In the early 1900s, there were no starting gates. Jockeys circled around but then gathered their horses in a line behind a flimsy piece of webbing, known as the barrier and were sent away when it was raised. ^[2] In Man o' War's only loss, the Sanford Memorial Stakes, he still was circling with his back to the starting line when the barrier was raised (though other accounts give other reasons, such as it was rigged.^[3]). After the jockey got Man o' War turned around, he already was far behind the pack. In frustration, Johnny Loftus, the jockey, made three major errors while in the race. Three times he put Man O' War in bad positions, getting boxed in by other horses in the race. Despite this, he still came close to winning, losing by only a half-length, as Man O' War charged across the finish line, going much faster than any other horse on the field, and ultimatly finishing second. The horse that won was Upset, whose name is sometimes thought to have popularized a new phrase in sports ("upset" meaning an upstart beating the favorite). Also quite interesting is the fact that Upset's jockey's middle name was Sanford. Man o' War finished his 2-year-old campaign winning 9 of 10 races.

In 1920, Johnny Loftus was denied a renewal of his jockey's license by the racing commission and was replaced as Man o' War's rider by Clarence Kummer. That May, 3-year-old Man o' War was not entered in the Kentucky Derby because his owner did not like racing in Kentucky and believed it was too early in the year for a young horse to go a mile and a quarter. The previous year, Sir Barton had won the first-ever U.S. Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, though it was not yet called that at the time^[4]. It would gain that prestige and importance 10 years later when Gallant Fox accomplished the feat under a great deal of media attention.

Man o' War in the 1920 Stuyvesant Handicap

After handily winning the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Maryland, the horse was sent to Elmont, New York for the Belmont Stakes. Man o' War won the then-1 3/8th miles race by 20 lengths, setting another American record with a time of 2:14.20, beating Sir Barton's mark set in the previous year by over 3 full seconds. That year he also won the Dwyer Stakes, the Travers Stakes, the Stuyvesant Handicap, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. As the racing season wound down, no one wanted to race his horse against the seemingly invincible Man o' War, who had easily won every race he entered. At the Lawrence Realization Stakes, no other horse was willing to go up against him until finally a good racehorse named Hoodwink was good-heartedly entered by Mrs. Riddle's Niece, Mrs. Jeffords. Man o' War won by an astonishing margin in excess of 100 lengths(some say more) while setting a new world record of 2:40 4/5 for a mile and five-eighths, besting the previous record by a full 6 seconds. His record still officially stands at the track.

The final start of Man o' War's illustrious career came in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in the Kenilworth Park Gold Cup, a race that for the first time was filmed in its entirety. For this 1¼ mile match race, Man o' War was up against the great Sir Barton but easily drew away in the first furlong, showing a decided superior to the first Triple Crown winner, and was slowed to win by 7 lengths. Following his undefeated season of 11 straight wins, the superstar horse was shipped to Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, to stand at stud. Over his two-year career, Man o' War won 20 of 21 races, setting three world records, two American records and three track records.

Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933—May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred race horse in the United States. From an inauspicious start, Seabiscuit became an unlikely champion and a symbol of hope to many US citizens during the Great Depression. Seabiscuit became the subject of a 1949 film, The Story of Seabiscuit, a 2001 book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, and a 2003 film, Seabiscuit, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

 Early days

Seabiscuit was born from the mare Swing On and sired by Hard Tack (son of Man o' War). The son was named for the father; the word seabiscuit is the name for a type of cracker eaten by sailors known as hardtack. The bay colt grew up on Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. He was undersized, knobby-kneed, and not much to look at, and was given to sleeping and eating for long periods. Initially, he was trained by the legendary Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, who had taken Gallant Fox to the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Fitzsimmons saw some potential in Seabiscuit, but felt the horse was lazy, and with most of his time taken training Omaha (a Triple Crown winner), Seabiscuit was relegated to a punishing schedule of smaller races. He failed to win his first ten races,(not uncommon in horse racing) and most times finished back in the field. After that, training him was almost an afterthought and the horse was sometimes the butt of stable jokes. Then, as a three-year-old, Seabiscuit raced thirty-five times,(a heavy racing schedule) coming in first five times, and finishing second seven times. Still, at the end of the racing season, he was occasionally used as an outrider horse. The next racing season, the colt was again less than spectacular and his owners sold the horse to automobile entrepreneur Charles S. Howard for $8,000, the equivalent of about 100,000 dollars in 2007. This was no bargain basement price for a horse, and the sale price proves Fitzsimmons thought Seabiscuit had potential, and was also probably going to be a decent racehorse sire. Seabiscuit was not as bad a runner for Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons as the 2004 movie and even the book by Hillenbrand made him out to be. Many thoroughbred racehorses never break their maiden and do not win even one race. However, Seabiscuit had not lived up to his racing potential when Charles Howard bought him.

Seabiscuit and jockey Red "Long Beard" Pollard pictured on the cover of Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit: An American Legend. Owner Charles S. Howard, in the hat, is being interviewed for national radio. Seabiscuit became the subject of both books and movies.

[edit] 1936–37: The beginning of success

His new trainer, Tom Smith, understood the horse, and his unorthodox training methods gradually brought Seabiscuit out of his lethargy. Smith paired the horse with Canadian jockey Red Pollard (1909-1981), who had experience racing in the west and in Mexico, but was down on his luck. On August 22, 1936 Seabiscuit raced for the first time for his new jockey and trainer, in Detroit, without impressing anyone. But improvements came quickly and in their remaining eight races in the East, Seabiscuit and Pollard won several times, including Detroit's Governor's Handicap (worth $5,600) and the Scarsdale Handicap ($7,300).

In early November 1936, Howard and Smith shipped the horse to California in a rail car. His last two races of the year were at Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo, California (just south of San Francisco), and gave some clue as to what was to come. The first was the $2,700 Bay Bridge Handicap, run over one mile (1.6 km). Seabiscuit started badly, but, despite carrying the top weight of 116 lb (53 kg), ran through the field before easing up to win by five lengths, in a time only two fifths of a second off the world record. This form was carried over to the World's Fair Handicap (Bay Meadows' most prestigious stakes race) with Seabiscuit leading throughout.

For 1937, Howard and Smith turned their attention to February's Santa Anita Handicap. California's most prestigious race was worth over $125,000 (over $1.5 million in 2006 dollars) to the winner and was known colloquially as "The Hundred Grander". In their first warm up race at Santa Anita Park, they again won easily. In his second race of 1937, the San Antonio Handicap, Seabiscuit suffered a setback. Bumped at the start and then pushed wide, the horse trailed in fifth, with the win going to the highly-fancied Rosemont.

The two would be rematched in the Hundred Grander just a week later. After half a mile (800 m), front runner Special Agent was clearly tired and Seabiscuit seemed perfectly placed to capitalize, before inexplicably slowing on the final straight. The fast closing Rosemont edged out Seabiscuit by a nose. The defeat was devastating to Smith and Howard, and widely attributed in the press to a riding error. Pollard, who had seemingly not seen Rosemont over his shoulder until too late, had lost the sight in one eye in an accident during a training ride (not during a boxing match as implied in the 2003 film), a fact he hid throughout his career. Regardless, the horse was rapidly becoming a favorite among California racing fans, and his fame spread as he won his next three races, before Howard chose to again relocate the horse, this time for the more prestigious Eastern racing circuit.

Once there, Seabiscuit's run of victories continued unabated. Between June 26 and August 7, he ran five times, each time a stakes race, and each time he won, despite steadily increasing imposts of up to 130 lb (59 kg). The seven consecutive stakes victories tied the record. On September 11, Smith accepted an impost of 132 lb (60 kg) for the Narragansett Special. On race day, the ground was slow and heavy, and entirely unsuited to "the Biscuit", even without the heaviest burden of his career. Smith wished to scratch, but Howard overruled him. Seabiscuit was never in the running, and trudged home in third, four lengths behind Calumet Dick, who was carrying only 115 lb (52 kg). The streak was snapped, but the season was not over. Seabiscuit won his next three races (one a dead heat) before finishing the year with a valiant second place at Pimlico.

In 1937, Seabiscuit won eleven of his fifteen races and was the leading money winner in the United States that year. On the west coast, he had become a celebrity. His races were followed fanatically on the radio and newsreel and filled hundreds of column inches in the newspapers. Howard, with his business acumen, was ready to cash in, marketing a full range of merchandise to the fans. The Eastern racing establishment was considerably less impressed. The great three-year-old, War Admiral, had won the Triple Crown that season and was voted the most prestigious honor, the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.

[edit] The best horse in America

In 1938, as a five-year-old, Seabiscuit's success continued, but without Pollard. On February 19, Pollard suffered a terrible fall while racing on Fair Knightess, another Howard horse. With Pollard's chest crushed by the weight of the fallen horse, and his ribs and arm broken, Howard tried three jockeys, before settling on George Woolf, a great rider and old friend of Pollard, to ride Seabiscuit.

Woolf's first race was the Santa Anita Handicap, the "hundred grander" that Seabiscuit had narrowly lost the previous year. Seabiscuit was drawn on the outside, and from the start, was impeded by another horse, Count Atlas, angling out. The two were locked together for the first straight and by the time Woolf had his horse disentangled, they were six lengths from the pace. The pair battled hard, but were beaten by the fast finishing Santa Anita Derby winner, Stagehand, which had been assigned 30 pounds (13.6 kg) fewer than Seabiscuit. However, not all was lost for the Howard family as Stagehand was owned by Charles' son Maxwell Howard.

Throughout 1937 and 1938, the media speculated about a match race with the seemingly invincible War Admiral (also a son of Man o'War, and hence Seabiscuit's uncle). The two horses were scheduled to meet in three stakes races, but one or the other was scratched, usually due to Seabiscuit's dislike of heavy ground. After extensive negotiation, a match race was organized for May 1938 at Belmont, but again Seabiscuit scratched. By June, however, Pollard had made a recovery and on June 23 agreed to work a young colt named Modern Youth. Spooked by something on the track, the horse broke rapidly through the stables and threw Pollard, shattering his leg, and seemingly ending his career.

A match race was held, but not against War Admiral. Instead, it was against Ligaroti, a highly regarded horse owned by the Hollywood entertainer Bing Crosby in an event organized to promote Crosby's resort and Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. With Woolf aboard, Seabiscuit won that race, despite persistent fouling from Ligaroti's jockey. After three more outings, with only one win, he would finally go head to head with War Admiral in the Pimlico Special in Baltimore, Maryland.

[edit] Match of the century

On November 1, 1938, Seabiscuit met War Admiral in what was dubbed the "Match of the Century". The event itself, run over 1 and 3/16 miles (1.91 km), was one of the most anticipated sporting events in U.S. history. The Pimlico Race Course, from the grandstands to the infield, was jammed solid with fans. Trains were run from all over the country to bring fans to the race, and the estimated 40,000 at the track were joined by some 40 million listening on the radio. War Admiral was the prohibitive favorite (1-4 with most bookmakers) and a near unanimous selection of the writers and tipsters, excluding the California faithful.

Head-to-head races favor fast starters, and War Admiral's speed from the gate was the stuff of legend. Seabiscuit, on the other hand, was a pace stalker, skilled at holding with the pack before destroying the field with late acceleration. From the scheduled walk up start, few gave him a chance to head War Admiral into the first turn. Smith knew these things, and had been secretly training the Biscuit to run against type, using a starting bell and a whip to give the horse a Pavlovian burst of speed from the start.

When the bell rang, Seabiscuit ran away from the Triple Crown champion. Despite being drawn on outside, Woolf led by over a length after just 20 seconds. Halfway down the backstretch, War Admiral started to cut into the lead, gradually pulling level with Seabiscuit, and then slightly ahead. Following advice he had received from Pollard, Woolf allowed his horse to see his rival, and then asked for more effort. Two hundred yards from the wire, Seabiscuit pulled away again and continued to extend his lead over the closing stretch, finally winning by four clear lengths.

As a result of his races that year and the victory over War Admiral, Seabiscuit was named "Horse of the Year" for 1938. The only prize that eluded him was the Hundred Grander.

[edit] Injury and return

While being ridden in a race, Seabiscuit faltered. The jockey, Woolf, said that he only thought the horse stumbled and continued the race. Afterwards, Howard and Smith ran to the horse with Smith yelling. The injury was not life threatening, although many predicted he would never race again. The diagnosis was a ruptured suspensory ligament in the front left leg. With Seabiscuit out of action, Smith and Howard concentrated on another of their horses, an Argentine stallion named Kayak II. Pollard and Seabiscuit recovered together at Charles Howard's ranch, with Pollard's new wife Agnes, who had nursed him through his initial recovery. Slowly, both horse and rider learned to walk again, although poverty had brought Pollard to the edge of alcoholism. A local doctor broke and reset Pollard's leg to aid his recovery, and slowly Red regained the confidence to sit on a horse. Wearing a brace to stiffen his atrophied leg, he began to ride Seabiscuit again, first at a walk and later at a trot and canter. Howard was delighted at their improvement, as he longed for Seabiscuit to race again, but was extremely worried about Pollard's involvement, as his leg was still fragile.

Over the fall and winter of 1939–40, Seabiscuit's fitness seemed to improve by the day. By the end of 1939, Smith was ready to confound veterinary opinion by returning the horse to race training, with a collection of stable jockeys in the saddle. By the time of his comeback race, however, Pollard had cajoled Howard into allowing him the ride. After again scratching from a race due to the soft going, the pair finally lined up at the start of the La Jolla Handicap at Santa Anita, on February 9, 1940. Compared to what had gone before, it was an unremarkable performance (Seabiscuit was third, bested by two lengths) but it was nevertheless an amazing comeback for both. By their third comeback race, Seabiscuit was back to his winning ways, running away from the field in the San Antonio Handicap to beat his erstwhile training partner, Kayak II, by two and a half lengths. Burdened by only 124 pounds, 56 kilos, Seabiscuit equalled the track record for a mile and 1/16.

There was only one race left. A week after the San Antonio, Seabiscuit and Kayak II both took the gate for the Santa Anita Handicap, and its $121,000 prize. 78,000 paying spectators crammed the racetrack, most backing the people's champion to complete his amazing return to racing. The start was inauspicious, as a tentative Pollard found his horse blocked almost from start. Picking his way through the field, Seabiscuit briefly led. As they thundered down the back straight, Seabiscuit became trapped in third place, behind leader Whichcee and Wedding Call on the outside. Trusting in his horse's acceleration, Pollard steered a dangerous line between the leaders and burst into the lead, taking the firm ground just off the rail. As Seabiscuit showed his old surge, Wedding Call and Whichcee faltered, and Pollard drove his horse on, taking the Hundred Grander by a length and a half from the fast closing Kayak II.

Pandemonium engulfed the course. Neither horse nor rider, nor trainer nor owner could get through the sea of well-wishers to the winner's enclosure for some time.

On April 10, Seabiscuit's retirement from racing was officially announced. When he was retired to the Ridgewood Ranch near Willits, California, Seabiscuit, the horse nobody wanted, was horse racing's all-time leading money winner. Put out to stud, Seabiscuit sired 108 foals, including two moderately successful racehorses, Sea Swallow and Sea Sovereign. Over 5,000 visitors made the trek to Ridgewood Ranch to see Seabiscuit in the seven years he spent there before his death. His burial site is to this day a secret, known only to the immediate Howard family.

On June 23rd 2007, a statue of Seabiscuit was unveiled at Seabiscuit's home and final resting place, Ridgewood Ranch.

[edit] Seabiscuit in popular culture

In 1940, right after his spectacular Santa Anita win and at the moment of his retirement, track writer B. K. Beckwith wrote Seabiscuit: The Saga of a Great Champion, complete with a short foreword by Grantland Rice, that summed up the impact of this horse on America at the time.

In 1949, a fictionalized account was made into the motion picture The Story of Seabiscuit, starring Shirley Temple. Sea Sovereign played the title role. An otherwise undistinguished film, arguably its one virtue was the inclusion of the actual match race footage of War Admiral.

In 1963, author Ralph Moody wrote Come On Seabiscuit (ISBN 0-803-28287-7), recently brought back into print by the University of Nebraska Press. It served as an inspiration for Laura Hillenbrand. On the radio show Fresh Air with Terry Gross on July 29, 2003, Hillenbrand said of Moody's book:

When I was about seven years old. . . . I found a children's book called Come on Seabiscuit! which was just wonderful! I read it so many times I broke the spine and all the pages fell out. I still have it; it has to be wrapped in rubber bands because the pages will go everywhere. But that book in just vivid prose told the story of the horse.

In 2001, Laura Hillenbrand wrote Seabiscuit: An American Legend (ISBN 0-449-00561-5). The book became a bestseller, and on July 25, 2003, Universal Studios released a motion picture titled Seabiscuit, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The 2003 film has been tweaked by some critics on the grounds that the match race restaging, the centerpiece of the film, lacked the drama one would have expected from it.

At Santa Anita Park, a life-sized bronze statue of "the Biscuit" is on display. In 1958, he was voted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Seabiscuit was ranked twenty-fifth. His grandsire, Man o' War, was first.

War Admiral (1934-1959), was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, the offspring of the great thoroughbred Man o' War and the mare Brushup. He did not resemble his famous father physically, being much smaller (he was only 15'2 hands tall (most racehorses are between 16 and 17 hands); although the movie Seabiscuit claims him to be a much taller 18' hands - which would make him the same height as many draft horses) and taking the coat color of his mother, but he did inherit his fiery temperament and talent.

War Admiral was born at Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky and was owned by Samuel D. Riddle. After 1936, his regular jockey until retirement was Charles Kurtsinger. Racing out of his Glen Riddle Farm in Berlin, Maryland, War Admiral won 21 of his 26 starts, including the Pimlico Special and the coveted U.S. Triple Crown in 1937, earning him the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.

War Admiral raced in the Eastern United States and in 1938 won eight major races including the Whitney Handicap and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. War Admiral would be linked forever to Seabiscuit, who was a son of War Admiral's half brother Hard Tack and the pre-eminent horse based primarily in the Western U.S. Their famous match race in the 1938 Pimlico Special, which War Admiral lost to Seabiscuit by four lengths, is considered by some to be the best Thoroughbred horse race in American history.

War Admiral retired with a career earnings total of $273,240. He was the leading American sire in 1945 and the leading juvenile sire in 1948. Before his death in 1959, War Admiral had sired 40 stakes winners. [1] Major War Admiral sires include Blue Peter, Searching, Busanda, Mr. Busher, Navy Page, Cold Command, and Admiral Vee. [2]

He also sired the filly Busher (ranked #40 in Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century).

War Admiral was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, War Admiral was ranked #13.

If you know a horse, and he is a good horse, but all of the sudden he does something out of character, there is probably a good explanation for his behavior. Give him the Benifit of the doubt. He most likely either senses something you can't, or he might even be in pain that you dont know about. Look at everything before you decide he is acting bad. Look at his enviornment, the weather, and anything out of ordinary to find out whats wrong.

My riding instructor always told me that the most important thing to remember was to always trust your horse. One time I was riding a horse named Smokey. We were about to cross over a creek on a road that there was a dropoff on either side of it. He had crossed it a hundred times before but for some reason he wouldn't go over it. He started backing up till he was halfway over the edge. He refused to go forward. I remembered that Judy had told me to trust my horse, but I also remembered her telling me not to let a horse get away with anything because then he will know he can do it again. I took a good look at Smokey... He was shaking... At the time I didn't know why but I guessed it was because it was cold. I was scared and he started rearing. I finally knew he was trying to tell me he was scared of something. I let him go and he raced back to the barn. A few hours later we got a call from some of our neighbors that they had crossed the creek about two hours ago and that a mountain lion had crossed right in front of them. I know Smokey sensed him there. He probably saved both our lives. So I say to you again... Trust your horse.

In the spring of 2006, a 3-year-old colt named Barbaro galloped into the spotlight teaching us all about courage.

Barbaro's owners and breeders, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, had known few prospects as promising. His trainer, former Olympic show jumper Michael Matz, also felt Barbaro was special: a born winner with speed and power to spare.

On the first Saturday of May all eyes turned to the Kentucky Derby, the first jewel in America's Triple Crown of flat racing. Undefeated in five races, Barbaro, fresh from five week's rest, left his rivals in the dust and won the Kentucky Derby. Could he become the first horse since 1978 to win the prestigious Triple Crown?

The world watched eargerly as Barbaro took aim at the Preakness Stakes. Keen to run, he broke though the starting gate prematurely. Then, just yards into the race, Barbaro took a bad step, shattering his right hing leg. A hush fell over the record crowd as his jockey Edgar Prado managed to pull him up and dismount.

In the blink of an eye, the classy colt's will to win turned to a fight for his life. The Jacksons were determined to save their beloved homebred, and help came from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine's renowned New Bolton Center.

Using state-of-the-art technology and the latest surgical prcedures, Dr. Dean Richardson set Barbaro's broken bones with a steel plate and 27 screws. A cast was applied, and a special shoe was fitted to Barbaro's left hind foot to compenstate for the cast.

A model patient, he began his recovery as bravely as he ran his races, amid a tramendous outpouring of national support and media attention that the horse world has not seen since the days of Seabiscuit.

Sadly, Barbaro lost his fight to Laminitis on January 29, 2007, In order to support further research of this disease, the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine established the Laminitis Fund.

The horse I learned to ride on died December 31, 2005 of Laminitis. She was a great horse. We have to take a stand and try our best to find a cure for Laminitis. Its to late for Barbaro and my Nylus. But it's not to late for the thousands of horses who have Laminitis now, or will get it in the future. There is a cure out there. We just have to find it.