Yachats Oregon Writer Rick Schultze

Well, our gatherings at our favorite watering hole have been altered somewhat. Myself, Jersey Jerry, chef extraordinaire, and Jungle George, renowned retired animal trainer and circus man, are going to be scaled back due to Jersey’s relocation to Central Oregon. Of course he says he will return to visit Yachats and Waldport and we can get together and discuss worldly issues, but as you know, when folks say they will be back to visit it’s often just a casual statement and sometimes never results in anything.

However we just had a chance to get together talk about issues and the topic? Big Brown and Eight Belles; the two most talked about race horses lately. Eight Belles the fabulous filly who literally died trying to beat Big Brown; the highly touted colt one win away from a triple crown. I’d seen both races they were in and like millions was stunned when Eight Belles had to be euthanized right on the track. Jungle George took that particularly hard because he’s been an animal person dealing with trained animals as well as horses. Jersey and I felt bad too and all agreed that the only good thing to come out of that event was that investigations into the breeding of race horses and the steroid issues racing faces would forced to happen and they are. But what got us going was the collapse of Big Brown. There were explanations ranging from the high heat of the day, the firmness of track and that Big Brown hadn’t been given the monthly legal steroid dose he normally got. All of us agreed, something which amongst us is rare, that the horse just looked like he was having a bad day and said “that’s it, I’m coasting.” So when we’d heard the news that there are pictures of Big Browns left rear horseshoe coming loose and flopping, it made sense. You ever run in flip flops and the little toe piece comes out? Or how about running with rock in your shoe? Both instances would really slow you down I bet. His owner Michael Iavarone was quoted as saying; “When the shoe spread, a nail could have been pinching him. Or he could have been stepping on a hot nail, which would have been worse. I'm guessing the nail went back in but not in the same spot. Or it could have been a loose shoe, which would be like trying to run with a wobbly cleat. Any of those things would be significant for a horse running a mile and a half. The [deep] track was my original explanation. But now I'm thinking the shoe was dislodged during the race and incorrectly reset while he was running."

That did it for us; it had been foretold by Sidney J. Harris who wrote an article in his syndicated column (Nashville Banner, August 4, 1971) entitled "Catastrophes Begin with a Nail." Here is part of that article; “for want of a nail, a shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, a horse was lost!” Now there is more to that article but it all bolls down to this; that nail cost a lot of folks money and there were possibly kingdoms lost; and all for the loss of a nail; so watch out for those loose nails and be safe and have fun!

To reach Rick Schultze: email yarick@pioneer.net