A Grand Old Lady

Happy Birthday this past week to Sophia, our retired OTTB mare, who celebrated a quarter-century of equine life and wisdom. Oh, the things she has seen, the places she has been! Here is a bit of her story:

Sophia's registered name is "Durability." She was born in 1985, out of Gipsy Jet by Affirmed (his photo to right), which makes her true thoroughbred "royalty." Her father, Affirmed, was one of the most successful and lucrative racehorses of his time, whose most defining moments came in 1978, when he won the Triple Crown and also proved triumphant over Seattle Slew at the Marlboro Cup Invitational, marking the first time two Triple Crown winners faced off against each other. He was the Eclipse Award Horse of Year, twice, and is hailed as one of the great horses in American racing history.

Like Father, Like Daughter

A family resemblance was always there: see portrait of Affirmed to the left, and Sophia below.

Sophia/Durability was trained and raced as a 2 and 3 year-old, out of Affirmed's home stable, Harbor View Farms, in Ocala, FL, wearing the same black and flamingo pink silks as her father. She raced at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park, and carried some world-class jockeys, including Gary Stevens. She made it to the Winner's Circle once, and had two third place finishes. She went from the track to being a successful broodmare, mothering a total of 13 foals. Her last foal was born in 2006.

From 2006 to when we adopted her in 2008, the details are sketchy. We know she was owned by a wealthy obstetrician in Kentucky in 2006.  We know she was sold to someone in Indiana, and then ended up starved and uncared for before coming to the Indiana Horse Rescue in 2008. Her story is the quintessential example of a lovely, talented, and generous horse who happily gave herself over to the demands of the horse "industry" for years, and was then "thrown away" when she could no longer produce. A very common, very heart-breaking story.

This time, however, the story has a happy ending for the horse. She came to us in 2008, skinny and wide-eyed and completely aloof from humans, who had obviously let her down quite seriously. Two years later, she still quite slender, but glowing with healthy and discovering what it is like to be honored, listened to, allowed to have opinions. Discovering what it is like to be loved for simply being. No demands.

Sophia has shared some thoughts and images with us about her past. She loved racing other horses, loved the speed, the wind, it gave her a sense of flying. She thinks that is what the Pegasus image on her blanket means. She was a flying horse. She deserves respect, she has a strong sense of dignity, she expects her humans to groom her, and pamper her, and treat her as a lovely royal child deserves to be treated. She doesn't understand why that stopped. She is grateful to be someplace where she is "seen" again as the lady she has always been. She is willing to forgive.

What a lady.