QUARTER HORSES ISSUE 37_Jerkins feature.qxd 04/03/2012 17:26 Page 2
QUARTER HORSES
OLIVER’S TRAVELS
Ollie Cole went on an American adventure to experience quarter horse training and racing Texan style WORDS AND PHOTOS: OLLIE COLE
I
TOUCHED down in Dallas at 7.30am on an ancient American Airlines jet from Louisville, Kentucky. Most of the in-flight staff must have been on the maiden voyage! We’d just been treated to some of the best racing in the world over the two days of the Breeders’ Cup and were still on quite a buzz from the entertainment of Churchill Downs and backing St Nicholas Abbey. Suddenly I realised that Texas really is uncharted territory on my radar. I was greeted outside the airport by Fasig-Tipton’s local manager Tim Boyce, who has an accent that you only hear in cowboy movies. It’s so different from the gentle drawl of the Kentuckians, particularly those Southern women. It took ten minutes of him not understanding me and me not understanding him, but that bit of practice put me in good stead for what was about to hit me. Driving out of the airport is a maze of highways heading to towns that were probably home to Billy the Kid and Jesse James. There was an endless string of 18wheelers, trucks and truckers whizzing by at 60 miles per hour with their windows open, blaring western music, all wearing their Stetsons very proudly. Here we were in the concrete jungle of Dallas, which is the ninth largest city in America, we finally pulled up at Lone Star Park, which took me completely by surprise. It looks like a mini Meydan, and just as luxurious.
Tim took me to the track and set me up with Mr John Bassett, a roping champion who was good enough to be on the senior pro tour. Imagining that he commanded respect, I addressed him as “Sir.” He gave me a look that ‘The Duke’ – that would be John Wayne – would have been proud of and said, “You call me John.” This rather daunting guy, wearing his Wranglers jeans and worn-out boots that had not seen a lick of polish in their lifetime, told me I was expected to learn something about quarter horses. He was breaking in a horse with elastics that came from the surcingle. The idea behind this method is that if the horse pulled against it his mouth would be sensitive and start hurting and the horse would eventually stop fighting. John then put the more pressure more on the right side and the horse would again fight but then eventually he started turning right around the box on his own and then the same was done on the left. The horse would be taught for just 20 minutes on each side. John boasted that it took him two days from bitting to riding, which was quite hard to swallow. He claims he could revolutionise the breaking in yards, in England and the owners would not get ripped off. John took me into his ‘office’, which was more like a cross between a horsebox and a spacecraft. It was the biggest truck I had ever been in. His first act was to suddenly spit into an empty Coke bottle. I was quite shocked and with a reply of a loud roar he asked me if
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