One of the darn cutest baby faces you'll see
Mort's History: He was a 2009 foal by Kitten's Joy out of Mortgage the House. If you're at all interested in Thoroughbred lineage you'll know that Kitten's Joy, who is currently standing at Ramsey Farm in KY, has a stud fee of $100,000. He also has numerous #1 rankings under his belt as a sire. Mort had a wonderful start in life and I would love to have another OTTB from this farm. You can just tell when the farm starts them well or starts them like they're machines. I am eternally grateful for how Mr. Mort has a brain in his head and fully think that how he was started has a lot to do with this. .
Kitten's Joy
Mort sold as a yearling for $18,000 and went to to race from age 2 to age 5. He earned over $330,000 and had a few stakes race wins under his belt. He was mainly a turf horse. If you're extremely interested in his race record: http://www.horseracingnation.com/horse/Burn_The_Mortgage#
My boy representing Ramsey Farm
During his 5-year old year he ended up with bilateral medial sesamoid fractures. For any of you who might not be fully immersed into the horse injury world that means that he fractured little bones in both of his front ankles. This is of course not good news for any horse, but for Mort it meant retirement. It was determined that he was not going to stand at stud anywhere so after 8 months of healing time he was gelded and put up for adoption.
Mort's head shot from New Vocations
He was delivered to New Vocations in Kentucky April 2015. I filled out my application in June and started regularly watching their website. There are always some really awesome horses available and I highly recommend this organization. Mort is actually the third horse that I have gotten through them. They are extremely honest and knowledgeable horse people. Toward the end of June I called and asked about Burn the Mortgage (BTM to them). The SO and I drove the 8 hours on the 4th of July to check him out.
I was extremely impressed with his manners and that they tacked him up without tying him. He let me rub all over him and touch all of the annoying parts (like ears and under his tail and his sheath area) without too much fuss. The rider said he was a very uncomplicated ride. He was a bit awkward and definitely needed to loosen up, but I loved his personality. They offered to show me a couple other horses that were available, but I was not interested. I wanted Mort. I dropped his $500 adoption fee and paid for him to get a health certificate and drove off. Total time it took was about an hour.
Me feeding him a carrot right after officially making him mine
Later that week he was dropped off at the end of the gravel road where I was going to be boarding him. The big rig wasn't going to fit down that road so the barn owner had her truck and trailer to drive him the last three miles. Mort hopped off the trailer happily and with minimal sniffing jumped onto the next trailer. I was impressed with this as well, as he was probably tired of dealing with being in those dang moving boxes. Unfortunately the truck wouldn't start. Enter the barn owner calling a friend to bring their truck and trailer over. Mort hopped off trailer #2 and was on trailer #3 a few minutes later. Finally he arrived and after a quick look around he just started grazing. What a good boy.
Right after he got to his new home
Fattening up some
Cute little face
A couple months after I got him
Little cutie rehabbing after an injury (we'll talk about that later)
Winter update picture for New Vocations (let's say my thickness is because of winter clothes)
In the next several posts I'll bring you all up to date with his training and what we've done since those first couple months.
Oh my gosh, Audrey took his photo for New Vocations! She's a photographer friend of mine :) so neat to read about Mort's history! Ruby is proud to have such a famous buddy as her trail and show partner.
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