Age is relative

I had horses all the way through college and even the first eight years after. In the army, it got to be trouble, so when Catspaw died in a barn fire while I was in Europe and he was in Tennessee, I never bought another. But I like to ride, and I like to watch competitive riding, so when I saw that the World Equestrian Games were going to be on after the Ryder Cup, I left the TV on. They're doing the eventing, and one of the announcers just remarked that the first-place, German rider's horse is "ten years old, a young horse".

There are a lot of people in this country who would think that was old for a horse. That's because they only pay attention to the Triple Crown, with its three-year-olds. I didn't even get on Catspaw - the only horse I ever bred and raised from birth - until he was three. Thoroughbred racing is a splendid spectacle, but those horses are teenagers. They're just kids at two. It's no wonder they have so many leg problems. It's also no wonder Thoroughbred breeding is a crap shoot.