Inside the Thunder

"Inside The Thunder"

Have you ever been in a really big thunder storm? Most people have. Before the storm actually hits, there is this feeling of anticipation, mixed with the unknown. Excitement of danger, yet there is no fear. This is what it is like for me being inside of the starting gate just before a race.

I have always looked at being in a horse race a little different than most jockey's do. I've talked to a lot of riders about this very thing that I feel in the gate. And I think I have gotten a much different response from each rider I have talked to. We all seem to have very different views, and feelings before the starter springs the latch.

I can only tell you what it is like for me. Since I cannot speak for anyone else. I can remember clearly my very first horse race, almost like it was yesterday. I mean everything about it. Most vividly though, I remember the gate.

Being inside of the giant green monster, on top of a 1,200 pound beast, in very close quarters, probably doesn't appeal to most people. I loved it! When the starter kicked that latch I thought I'd pee in my jock pants right then, and there. I mean the excitement, the sheer thrill of it all was very nearly overwhelming. Not to mention I was sitting atop the best horse in the race.

Inside of the thunder. That is really what it felt like to me. That feeling before the storm actually hits at first, before the race. Then when the starter kicks it,...well I'm there. Inside the thunder. It's loud. Jockeys all yelling, heeyaahing their mounts, and the sound of hoofbeats. So loud you'd think you were in a stampede. And,...a stampede is a little bit what it is actually like. There is an awful lot of confusion as to how it all comes together at the finish of a race. Each rider has an idea of their own srategy "how to win" their races. Or they are given specific instructions on how to ride the race by a trainer. Since no rider in the race really knows how the other guy intends on riding his/ her horse, so stampede is pretty much, a good word for it.

Alot of things can happen in the gate. In the blink of an eye, what seems to be just fine one minute, can turn quite tragic the next.

Years ago I had an accident inside the starting gate myself, which resulted in a broken back for me. My horse Sexy Sadie, a Thoroughbred who already had a bad reputation in the gate was sent to my trainer for re-breaking, after she had been banned from racing in Ca., and even at Caliente Race Track in nearby Mexico.

Sexy Sadie was a 3 yr. old filly with speed to burn. But Lord the filly hated being in a closed gate. I was working at a training center in S. Ca. at the time.One fine morning after all the other horses had been worked, or galloped, we decided to school Sadie in the gate. Now, I had been working with this filly for a couple of weeks by this time. And what we had done was slowly work her up to being all shut up in the gate. Like the first day, we'd close the tailgate, while leaving the front opened, or vise versa. Sadie was clostrophobic. That is what we had learned.

Anyway,...as I was saying it was one fine morning when I learned what it was like to be struck by lightning. As well as sitting inside the thunder. After a couple weeks of schooling Sadie in the gate, with either the front, or the tailgate left open. It came time to close her up in there entirely. It all happened so fast there was no time to think, much less to react. Sadie walked in that gate just as calm as any horse I had ever sat on. And as soon as the tailgate closed behind her,...WHAM! Up, and over she went. Landing with me square underneath her. I had been struck by lightning. The second I hit the ground I knew. I was broken. And so did my trainer, and the other two hands we had helping at the time. Listen closely to the thunder in this background......

When my back broke it sounded very much like King Kong had grabbed up a telephone pole, and batted an Oak tree with it, swinging as hard as he could. It was loud.

By the time I got to the hospital for X-rays, my back was as black as coal. I spent the next ten months in traction, in addition to that, I was another six months in physical therapy. It was devastating to me. There is no way you can really know unless you've been hurt by a horse just what that's like. This business jockeys find themselves in, they're in it because they love it. They have to love it. If we didn't there is no way we could ever do what we do, day in, and day out.

After I healed from this accident I couldn't wait!! For what you ask? To be back inside the thunder,....where else? You probably think that's a little nuts. But for me it is home. The gate does not scare me today. I'm as comfortable there as anywhere on the race track. But there is one thing that every jockey does know. And that is, that whatever they feel when they're racing,... they are all aware of the risks involved.

I wrote this story to help those of you who really have no idea of what it is like from the other side of those grandstands to understand those of us who try to win those races day, after day in a sport which we love as much as life itself. If you ever find yourself in a big thunderstorm again,...think about being inside that thunder. This is my life.