Austin's local newspaper, the Austin-American Statesman, ran a big story on LOPE that made the front page of the Saturday, June 5th edition. And the online version features a slideshow of images and a wonderful video of the ranch.
Here are the opening paragraphs:
"Lynn Reardon strides down the quarter-mile driveway at her ranch and slips through the fence of a pasture filled with recovering racehorses. It's time for some off-track petting.
"Lightening Ball, a brainy thoroughbred with lifetime track winnings of $300,000-plus, spooks and turns away. The 14-year-old dark chestnut soon circles back, though, and bites down on Reardon's straw hat, yanking it over the woman's large aquamarine eyes. Lightening Ball's soft gray lips pull back to expose a mouthful of teeth as if he's laughing at his own joke.
"Oh, you're feeling good about yourself," Reardon says. "You're gonna eat my hat. Aaah boy. That's pretty cool."
"That hat trick would have been out of character for the powerful Lightening Ball just a few years ago, when he was a race champion known as a mercurial rogue who liked to come from behind in the homestretch. As his racing career faltered, the commanding and opinionated horse often withdrew or resorted to kicking." Read the full story and watch the video
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