The Story of Maxwell

Hi There!

Welcome to my blog, and thanks for reading along. It's about a week late, but I've decided to start a blog chronicling the progress that myself and my newly acquired OTTB make! Now on to the good stuff: The Story of Maxwell.

Baby Maxwell
2008 Florida Bred Thoroughbred
Skip Trial X Mary is Purrfect by Noble Cat

Maxwell had 36 starts, 2 first place finishes. (the above pedigree does not reflect correct race information on him).

Max had a bad last year on the track. He seemed to mostly race between Calder and Tampa Bay Downs. He ran in mostly claiming races, and really you can just tell his heart wasn't into the whole race thing by looking at his record. He retired sound from his last race on February 27, 2015. 

There are many great organizations that try to take prospects or horses just needing a place to land after racing in our area. Summer happened to get a phone call regarding this sweetheart gelding.  I had mutual friends on Facebook with Summer and one day decided to request her friendship so I could more closely follow the OTTBs she finds off the track, restarts, and places in new homes. Baby Maxwell had popped up on my Facebook feed almost daily for a week at one point. Summer had posted some updates after his 30 days off, showing Max's first, very uneventful (that's a good thing) ride post track life. I had been actively seeking out a home for my large pony mare, Bella at the time that Maxwell found his way into my heart. The next few weeks were spent closely following his progress and admiring him through the internet. 

April 1st 2015 was the first time me and Summer spoke on the phone about this remarkable gelding. I had formed my own opinion of him through pictures, Summer's updates, and a few videos. This gelding was the exception to the rule of OTTBs. I'm sure many people feel that way about their's, but seriously, he wasn't even mine and I thought that of him. I was in love, folks. And they call it puppy love.....only this time, it was a horse. So April fools day and I'm driving home from work talking to this extraordinary human being that happens to be housing the horse of my dreams. She tells me all about his quirks, the good the bad the ugly. I don't think Max would be appropriate for everyone. He needs a human that accepts his personality and can take a joke. The only ill thing Summer had to say was that he simply didn't care to be groomed. She probably could have told me he'd torn her left arm off and I would have said, "uh huh when can I come see him?"... 

That was on a Wednesday, and the following day I had an appointment lined up to try two horses that were being offered as a trade for my mare. After much anticipation, the horses I tried just weren't what I was looking for. My barn owner and best friend Kristina knew what was up. On the drive home in the truck she simply said, "You already know what horse you want, don't you?" All I could simply manage was a smirk, and a nod.  I hadn't even met this horse and I was almost certain that I would be taking him home.  Many thoughts in my mind led to stress that seemed never ending. "What are you going to do with an OTTB?" "Has he even been restarted?" "Do you want the responsibility to restart this horse?" The anticipation was killing me, but FINALLY Friday after work, I got to meet the infamous Baby Maxwell. I can only imagine what thoughts were in Kristina's mind when we pulled up to the farm. Up until now all she knew of Max was that he was "really sweet" "a racehorse off the track since end of February" and that he had only had "one ride post track". It's safe to say she probably thought I was insane.

Baby Maxwell's second ride off track was split between Summer showing me how he was, and me trying him out for myself. I probably spent a collective 15 minutes on his back that day. No more than a few walking circles. Mostly standing still rubbing his neck and admiring what a sweet old soul he was. We un-tacked Max, gave him more and more love, and finally, we were on our way home. I don't think we got a mile down the road before me and Kristina started discussing how to make this work. She finally understood. She had gotten to meet him, and finally another human understood why my conscious told me this was the horse. 

As we walked back and forth from the barns to the paddocks at 8:30pm in the dark to turn out horses, I chatted back and forth through text with Summer, and in person with Kristina. This deal was happening, and quick! After about an hour and a half, we made arrangements to pick up Maxwell the next morning. Baby Maxwell was coming home.

Baby Maxwell--Last day on the Track

Baby Maxwell's first moments in his new stall

Stay Tuned. As I said, I have had Maxwell for a week now, so I need to slowly update what has happened over the last week (a lot of good stuff!) but I wanted to get his backstory on here as quickly as I could!