LOPE is excited to announce that we have two horses in our new training initiative. One is a lovely four-year-old filly named Mystery Blessing (aka “Blessing”). She was donated to LOPE by Betty Knox and Carrol Key of Southwestern Racing, LLC — and she has had exceptional care and handling for her entire life.
Blessing is a Texas-bred TB — she is by Uncle Abbie and out of Mysterious Light by Mystery Storm. She was home raised and personally handled by her race breeder/owners — and carefully prepared for the track. Mr. Key and Ms. Knox are fond of the horses they breed and race — for them, racing is very personal and they care about each of their horses deeply.
Blessing raced eight times at the track and even won a longer distance race — while she showed some promise, it was not quite enough for a truly competitive racing career. She was retired sound and given time off to relax in the pasture. When she was ready, Southwestern Racing began the process of preparing her for a post-track career. They paid for Blessing to receive 90-days training (for w-t-c and some light jumping) — their hope was that Blessing would go on to a successful career in eventing or another show discipline.
When they heard about LOPE’s new training program, Ms. Knox and Mr. Key quickly came to the decision to donate Blessing to LOPE. She is a calm, sound and very talented filly — and they were excited at the possibilities for Blessing at LOPE.
They personally delivered Blessing to the LOPE Ranch — and we were impressed with Blessing from the moment we saw her. She unloaded calmly and stood quietly outside the trailer while we all chatted. Even though it was a new place, Blessing behaved as if she had just stepped out to her usual home pasture.
Blessing is a beautiful bay mare with an athletic build, feminine head and soft, quiet eye. She is @16.1H and carries herself with dignity and poise. Although she is only four-years-old, Blessing behaves like a more seasoned, older horse. Her ground manners are impeccable and she loves people. It is clear that she thinks the world is a good place — and that all of her experiences in it have been positive (thanks to her race owners).
Blessing is a great example of the type of Texas bred we have often seen here at LOPE — well bred, carefully handled and owned by people who cared about her while she was racing. Kudos to Southwestern Racing for donating her to LOPE — and for caring about their racehorses after their track careers are over.
We will be assessing and working with Blessing over the next week or so — to figure out what she might enjoy as a second career and to select the right trainer for her. Our guess is that Blessing will want to be an eventer — she certainly has the looks and temperament for the job!
Stay tuned for more updates on Mystery Blessing…including her training progress, her upcoming appearances at LOPE events and more!
She is beautiful! Can't wait to see and hear how she progresses!
Posted by: Karen Johnson | August 03, 2012 at 04:27 PM