Toby

From AlexBrownRacing

Toby is a retired race horse gelding (here's his pedigree) who is an on again/off again hunter/jumper.

How I got Toby

Toby was my niece's hunter/jumper "A" Circuit show horse. She tired of riding and seeing him so my sister asked if I would teach her younger daughter how to ride Toby. Toby and I had a love/hate relationship to start. He loves to test out people. He wouldn't do a thing for my niece and would occasionally buck to prove his point. He would then be a saint whenever I got on him. Soon my other niece got tired of him so the plan was to try to sell him. That's when Toby became lame. Evidently, his family didn't keep on top of his hoof care and let his feet get long often. He ended up with a hoof wall separation that turned into White Line Disease. He abcessed twice in two weeks and we could not figure out the problem. So off to Michigan State University we went. At this point in time I was fully responsible for his care. The vet xrayed his hoof and you could clearly see the area of the white line disease. The vet then resected about 1/4 of his hoof. By this time I told my sister I would pay for all his care including the medical care as long as he was mine. So Toby became my horse! After recovering from White Line Disease for a year we are making our way back into the show circuit albeit the lowest end of it till I get better at it!! Toby has recovered very well and his hoof is stronger than ever. Here is a photo of his resected hoof - it's a bit hard to see because there isn't much color contrast. We customized a rim to protect the inner hoof wall until the outer hoof wall grew down.

Toby Now

Toby and I love to trail ride among the sand dunes in the area. If he wasn't so difficult to trailer, I'd take him to the local horse shows but at this time he needs some work with trailering and I do not have a trailer for him to practice. I'm at the mercy of others. Oh well... My YouTube Video of Toby

Here are photos of us on various trail rides and arena riding:

Note the tape on his front right hoof in this photo - it was there to protect his resected hoof:

Recent News

In August of 2008 I received this email:

Came across your page on Alex Brown Racing while doing some google searches.Was pleasantly surprised to see Nannies Rio still alive and doing well.I raised him and raced him as a 2yo and 3yo.He won a couple for me and always tried hard.When I sold him the next year he was headed for New Mexico.Lost track of him after a while.Glad to see he has a good home. Curtis

This came from his Breeder Curtis Cranford. I was so excited and happy to know that his breeder still was thinking about him! Toby truly is one of the lucky guys.