LEANING PINE FARM

01/04/2026

Penny Chenery didn’t just own Secretariat , she chose him, day after day. In a world dominated by men, she carried her vision with quiet strength and conviction. She wasn’t just a breeder; she was a listener, even to that c**t with the massive heart. There were no grand gestures between them, just a silent bond of trust and instinct. Penny could sense Secretariat’s moods, his hunger to run. When he exploded down the stretch, her heart was already ahead of him. In press rooms or behind barn doors, she defended him like a son. She didn’t make him a symbol ,she let him become one. Without Penny, Secretariat might still have won. But he wouldn’t have become a legend.

01/04/2026

No one thought much of SEABISCUIT when he was born.He was knobby-kneed,his head was too big him and his legs were too short,he looked as if he would be a disgrace to his thoroughbred ancestors.Considered an outcast by his stable ,his owners did not recognize the heart,intelligence and drive of a potential winner.Not until TOM SMITH bought him for the Howard Stables could SEABISCUIT break the odds agaist him and surge ahead to greatness.With affection and care,his new trainer and jockey brought out the best in this gallant horse.SEABISCUIT went on to make dramatic racing history !

01/04/2026

01/04/2026

When the starting bell rang and the gates lifted, Secretariat broke well on the inside and shot toward the lead. Turcotte would make sure there would be no chance of getting boxed in, figuring they can’t cut off what they can’t catch. Before the group hit the first turn, Sham had moved to near the front on the outside and was looking to challenge his nemesis.
As the drama played out on the track, announcer Chic Anderson set the tone.

“They’re moving for the first turn. It’s Secretariat, Sham on the outside is also moving strongly and now it’s Sham. Sham and Secretariat are right together in the first turn.”

Laurin lowered his binoculars just long enough to share his fear about the pace. “They’re going too fast!” he said.

“Those two together, Sham on the outside. Sham getting a head in front as they move around the turn with Secretariat second.”

As they made their way through the turn and hit the backstretch it had become a two-horse race. The other contenders – My Gallant, Twice a Prince and Private Smiles – had already fallen at least eight lengths back of the two leaders now going head to head.

Veteran horsemen were shocked. What was Turcotte thinking going so fast?

“They’re on the backstretch. It’s almost a match race now. Secretariat’s on the inside by a head. Sham is on the outside.”

As they hit the backstretch, they had opened a 10 length lead on the field.

And then the big horse simply took over.
Jockey Laffit Pincay, on Sham, could feel his horse beginning to falter. The pace had taken its toll. He wasn’t firing as Secretariat began taking off. He never asked anything else from the horse. “I wasn’t going to abuse him to get fourth,” Pincay said later. “He wasn’t the same horse that ran in the Derby and Preakness.”

01/04/2026

Don’t over complicate it....

There was a time when you were just happy to ride, happy to be in the company of horses. It didn’t matter if you could execute a perfect lead change or jump double clear rounds. You were just happy to have two feet in the stirrups and ears leading the way.

You didn’t care about having the best tack, the coolest boots, or the newest hi-tech breeches. An old ex-racehorse, your favorite, and wearing a worn out pair of jeans with a colourful t-shirt did the job just fine.

You didn’t spend the days between Christmas and New Year planning a heavy schedule of training sessions, clinics and competitions. You threw tinsel round your pony’s neck and went hacking with friends. The new year was just another 365 days to go riding.

Don’t forget that you started this sport because you loved the animal. You loved the rush of galloping across open fields and the serenity of watching horses quietly graze in the sun. You do this because there is nothing on this earth that makes you feel more alive than being on the back of a horse, so don’t overcomplicate it.

Enjoy the little things, because one day you will look back and realize... they weren’t little at all.

- Croel Performance Horses

📸 Kaly Madison Photography

01/04/2026

MAN O'WAR 🏆
"Of all the great horses which have thundered over the American turf, Man o’ War remains the standard by which Thoroughbreds are judged for class. Those who saw him race said Sysonby and Colin might be compared with him; that Twenty Grand and Equipoise might have tried him. Those who know only his reputation have challenged it with successive stars: Count Fleet, Citation, Tom Fool, Native Dancer, Swaps, Nashua, Kelso, Buckpasser, Secretariat….. but contemporary excellence pales before a legend."

12/12/2025

These two sayings point at the difference between seeking opportunity, which requires energy, and watching from the sidelines, which only requires sitting.

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

“No for an answer I already got.”

Some people seem to have more chances fall into their laps than others have, but so often the part that we can’t see is what those people did behind the scenes to “force” those opportunities into existence. So often it comes down to something as simple as daring to ask. “Do you have an extra horse I can ride?” Like that.

And, sure, the answer might be no, but that leaves you no worse off than you were before you made the request. This is the essence of being a door to door salesman, developing a thick enough skin to tolerate lots of rejection for those fewer times when the answer was yes,

Photo---Riding Farnley Rob Roy at Rolex. Owned by Matthew and Winkie Mackay-Smith, who gave me the ride.

12/12/2025

Why I No Longer Take Horses For Training?

When my career began twenty years ago, everything was different. I enjoyed riding horses and soon found a way I could get paid to do it. Fast forward a bit and I was working a steady job to pay the bills as I was building my business, and in the meantime was learning a lot, about horses certainly, but as much about people.

Horses are the easy part, people are not. Quite frankly, people are hard to please and at the same time are often unreasonable. I have met some great people because of horses, many were clients, but people are still the hardest part.

Here is a situation that played out enough that I have it memorized by word.

Client-I have a horse I need started.

Me-how old is it?

C-5 or 6, I really wanted it to mature before it was started and now I dont have the time.

Me-what will be changing in your schedule so that you can keep riding the horse when it comes home?

C-oh I will find the time. I just can't afford to get hurt right now.

Me-I can't either

Me- here is what I charge...per month, and I require 90 days

C-oh I can't afford that! What can I get for 30 days?

Me-........

C-and I want to be there everyday so that I can watch you and learn what you do. Can you work it everyday on my schedule?

If life was only this simple. The truth is that training horses is a very tough business. I have recently had numerous aspiring trainers reach out to me, which is great. But everyone needs to realize that that the industry needs to fix some things. If we dont do some things soon, I fear no one will be training horses in a decade, especially starting c**ts. And that is where I want to focus on.

We have too many people that have trained one or two and think they know everything and want to throw stones at everyone else that might do things differently. Then, what realistically needs to be charged to make the finances work is much more than most will pay. So why would a young person want to start something that takes considerable time to learn, doesn't pay much, and has a high risk of a short career?

So here is what I believe can be done. Take it or leave it.

Be reasonable, despite what you may think, ALL young, uneducated horses can have their moments. I know in the YouTube, TikTok age that doesnt happen, but in the real world it does.

Don't be cheap. It isn't the trainers responsibility to make horses affordable for you.

Understand that the process of training a horse is a VERY time consuming, thought out process filled with immense intentionality in everything and that doesn't end when you pick them up from the trainers.

And finally and most importantly, understand that horses are not programmable. Just because a trainer spends tons of time teaching a horse to do all the things, but you do everything differently they they did. You will get a different result. That wasnt and isn't the trainers fault. Ask the same way they did or expect something different.

I have just scratched the surface of the topic. Much more could, and maybe should be talked about. And to be fair the horror stories can be told from both the client and trainers perspective by many of you. So lets see if we can communicate better with each other and do our best to look at life from potentially others perspectives, not just our own, just like when we are working with our horses.

Pc Tracey Buyce Photography

12/12/2025

Prices for sound, sane horses that are in the sweet spot age range, size range, are getting much more expensive.

Now certainly sound means different things to different people---many horses struggle with current pre-purchase exams---and sane for a brave 17 year old kid might terrify a 74 year old, but GENERALLY those horses that can be ridden several days a week, tolerate greener riders, are hard to find, which leads to that old supply and demand equation.

We have a local dealer who used to have lots of nice using horses in that $4,500-$7,500 range. Today, nearly double that.

What are YOU seeing where you live?