LUSK RANCH

More info on stalls/barn here at Ranch. Exciting times finally getting horses in stalls. They finally have a roof over their heads and good floor, not mud, to be in. We would like to have them in stalls, being fed right for at least two weeks before John feels they are ready to race, competitively anyways!!

Here are more photos of the stalls being constructed. John and Juan are already trying to figure how to add on and build another cover and more stalls. The more the better!!

Ryan helping put the stall gate chains on all the stall gates. It was a family affair getting everything complete.

Here is a shot looking down into Seattle Spender's (Bacon) stall.

 Bacon (Seattle Spender) first evening in their stalls. First night dinner.

Doesn't it look so good with horses heads out the stalls with their heads in feed? Kimmie is helping Covy eat!!

Stalls at last. All five we have been training were officially moved into their NEW stalls Wednesday, Sept. 16th. It looks great having horses heads sticking out of stalls, heads in their feed buckets.

 Talula Mula working 3/8th of a mile at the Old Trinity Meadow training facility in Willow Park, Texas. Juan's brother, David, & friend, Alberto, (who assisted Juan with the horses we lost in the fire), came to watch Juan exercise the horses. You can see David (green shirt) & Alberto (white & blue) stripped shirt, watching on the track as they come into view on the video; also you see John come into view toward's the end, watching the stop watch! More pictures and info below about going to work Mula & Southpaw.

Check out the What's NEW? page for more of what happened this week!

Saturday, August 29 -

 Talula Mula working another 3/8ths of a mile. The track was thick, it had rained 2 inches there Thursday night. Juan held her back a little more than last week. She came straight back to the barn moving good. Southpaw Saint worked well. With it being Saturday, the old Trinity Meadows track is a lot more crowded than it is during the week. The "haul-in" barn was just about full this morning, and when we went in the middle of the week we were one of two in the barn. Big difference being on the track this morning! Juan handled it like an old pro.

His brother, David and friend, Alberto, came to watch this morning. It was great seeing Alberto, we really miss him around here. So they were a big help!! Thanks guys it was great seeing you!!

(you can see Alberto & David watching on the video, also John with the stopwatch)

Juan took Mula "slow" one time around the track before he let her go. She wanted to run the whole time around, as you can see!

Saturday mornings at the Old Trinity Meadows Race Track in Willow Park, Texas is an interesting time. There is a crowd of people working horses, mostly Quarter Horses, to see - who has the best horse? One of Rex's friends, Poncho, was injured working a horse out of the gates Saturday morning. We wish him the best in his recovery.

Rex brought us the Aledo Newspaper, which had a article about the owner of Trinity Meadows is asking the Texas Racing Commission to be on the Sept. 15th Agenda to ask about resurrecting the track for 2011 Live Race Dates. That would be Awesome! More live racing in the State of Texas would be great for the industry!

John and our friend Jerry went to pick up these large rubber strips, actually they were coveyor belts from a factory in Texas City along the ship channel. John will have them cut to fit the floors of the stalls that are being built. That way the stall floors will be covered in the rubber (which has been "roughed" up) and shavings.

Great for the horses in training!

The mats folded up on the trailer they were picked up on.

The mats laid out on the grass so they will flatten out in the sun.

Temporary Barn almost ready to start putting Tin up on the roof. Hooray!! When the tin starts going up then the welder will start putting together the stall wall structures for the 10 stalls. So we are much closer to having something for these horses in training to be kept in.  It's been hard taking care of them and keeping them dry the past week and a half because we have gotten more than 3.5 inches of rain. We had to move one of the geldings temp pen out and around to keep him out of the mud.

This is a photo from FM 1816 towards the temp barn and the old metal barn. This is the day after the pearling started being installed.

The training track is being mowed every 10 days or so and a Dirt training course has been plowed along the inside top half of the grass course. Below are a few photos from the starting gates (which have not been weeded eated around yet, in this photo!) up along the straight and of the training track. This is where all of the horses currently in training are exercised each morning.

Structure is starting to take shape at Lusk Ranch. I-beams are complete and pearling will start being put up next week. We will be looking at tin to order. This structure is 72' x 48' and will have 10 stalls under cover. If your familiar with the ranch, this is being built in the large square pin adjacent to the old metal barn. These stalls will be built portable so that they can be moved to the permenant barn once we have a chance (funding) to build it. The covered area will then be used as a mini-covered riding arena. We also got the electricity back on at the barn and the walker working.

 Any color suggestions for the tin? email john@luskranch.com

*Remember Lusk Ranch racing silk colors are hot pink / black!