Saturday, November 20, 2010

Smarty Moves In


This is Smarty Jones and presumably, one of his new handlers at his new digs, Ghost Ridge Farm in Pa. According to the New York Daily Record, Smarty has settled into his new home and has been bred a few times!

"It's just like a person moving to a new area, " said Carl J. McEntee, general manager of Ghost Ridge Farms. "Horses communicate with other horses, like humans. They communicate with people. Part of it is the acclimation of the staff to particular horses, too. Thoroughbreds are higher-strung than other horses--they are athletes."

Smarty doesn't look too high strung in that photo. In fact he looks remarkable calm, cool and collected as in "I think I'll stay awhile," which is exactly the plan. For now, his routine is pretty much the horse's dream existence: eat, graze, romp and get groomed. Not to mention a lot of TLC and human contact.

"You have to get to know them, and they have to get to know you," Marshall Horan, Ghost Ridge Farms' stallion barn manager, elaborates. "They have their own personalities. They are worth millions of dollars and you don't want to do anything that can hurt them."

So far so good. Smarty will be available for public displays of affection from 10-2 today at the farm, 860 Dietz Road in Windsor Township, for those of you in the neighborhood.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The person in the photo with Smarty is Sandy Hatfield, Stallion Manager ot Three Chimneys. I was at the Open House at Ghost Ridge Farms yesterday. Smarty looks happy and settled and there were several thousand happy fans who stopped by to welcome him back home!

Kathryn Levy Feldman (Kit) said...

Thanks for the update I'm glad the event was successful and Smarty was right at home.
Kit