The Dusk of Horses by James Dickey Right

The Dusk of Horses by James Dickey Right under their noses, the green Of the field is paling away Because of something fallen from the sky. They see this, and put down Their long heads deeper in grass That only just escapes reflecting them As the dream of a millpond would. The color green flees over the grass Like an insect, following the red sun over The next hill. The grass is white. There is no cloud so dark and white at once; There is no pool at dawn that deepens Their faces and thirsts as this does. Now they are feeding on solid Cloud, and, one by one, With nails as silent as stars among the wood Hewed down years ago and now rotten, The stalls are put up around them. Now if they lean, they come On wood on any side. Not touching it, they sleep. No beast ever lived who understood What happened among the sun's fields, Or cared why the color of grass Fled over the hill while he stumbled, Led by the halter to sleep On his four taxed, worthy legs. Each thinks he awakens where The sun is black on the rooftop, That the green is dancing in the next pasture, And that the way to sleep In a cloud, or in a risen lake, Is to walk as though he were still in the drained field standing, head down, To pretend to sleep when led, And thus to go under the ancient white Of the meadow, as green goes And whiteness comes up through his face Holding stars and rotten rafters, Quiet, fragrant, and relieved.

Turcotte cherishes 40 th anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown By Peter Shmuck Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte is savoring the 40 th anniversary of Secretariat's amazing Triple Crown performance in 1973, and why not? It was the ride of his life. "I had a wonderful career, " Turcotte said on Tuesday. "I was the leading rider when I rode in Canada. I was the leading rider whereever I rode in Maryland I also had a beautiful career before that, but he was the icing on the cake. Having ridden the greatest thoroughbred of all time in Canada — Northern Dancer — and now we come with the greatest horse of all time in the world, in my opinion. I would never have dreamed of that. “ Turcotte reminisced about Secretariat's amazing talent and unprecedented string of record performances in the three Triple Crown races during a roundtable discussion on Tuesday night at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, right before a screening of the documentary about his career entitled "Secretariat's Jockey — Ron Turcotte. " Clearly, he has no problem with his career being defined by just three of his 3, 032 career victories, though Turcotte's story runs much deeper than just one spring four decades ago. He was one of the great riders of his generation and might have stacked up a lot more victories if his career had not been cut short by a fall that left him a paraplegic. But being confined to a wheelchair hasn't slowed him down. Even at 71, he still uses his fame and standing in the racing community to advocate for the disabled and raise money for the Permanently Disabled Jockey's Fund. Tuesday night's roundtable, which was taped for ESPN's "In the Gate" thoroughbred racing podcast series, was focused largely on the infamous timing controversy that kept Secretariat from being recognizing for breaking the course record at Pimlico for 39 years. Owner Penny Chenery, who was portrayed by Diane Lane in the Disney movie "Secretariat" in 2010, and author Bill Nack, who wrote the book that served as the basis for the movie, joined Turcotte on stage to open the evening. Several others involved in the fight to correct the timing error that cost Secretariat immediate recognition that he had broken the course record in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. "After the race, I didn't look at the Teletimer, " Turcotte said, "but when I went upstairs to the press box, the first guy I ran into was Joe Hirsch and he said, 'Ronny, do you think the time is right on this race? And that's the first time I looked at the Teletimer and I said, 'Hell no!'" It took almost a lifetime to change the erroneous clocking, which added two seconds to Secretariat's time, but Turcotte and the others on the panel conceded that the change was more important for the purpose of correcting history than it was to the reputation of "Big Red. " That wasn't Turcotte's first Preakness or Triple Crown victory. He had ridden Tom Rolfe to victory at Old Hilltop in 1965 and got two thirds of the Triple Crown in 1972 aboard Riva Ridge, but everybody remembers him for guiding Secretariat into the annals or racing history. For that, he will not brag. When he was asked how he bonded so well with Secretariat, he demurred. "Actually, I think that many riders could have bonded with Secretariat, " he said. "He was such a lovely horse, such a generous horse. He was a gift that just kept on giving. I don't really take credit for riding Secretariat, because he was a great, great horse. He was the greatest horse of all time. " The Preakness included that legendary outside run at the first turn, but Turcotte said that Secretariat actually saved the best for last. "I'll tell you, at the Belmont, I think if he had wings, we might have taken off. "

My Future In my future, I see myself helping the world by taking care of injured animals of all kinds. As most of you can already tell, I plan to be a large animal vet when I’m older. I’ve always been infatuated with animals, including small animals. I hope to study Veterinary Medicine at LSU so I can be in school and also be near my family at the same time. I think that I chose this poem because I really enjoy thinking about what horses see, what they feel, and just what they think about in general. The poem really does a fantastic job of portraying that. I’d like to study how racehorses differ from other horses that are trained in different disciplines. My news article also is about horses and it kind of explains how far I want my career as an equestrian to go. I feel like Ron Turccotte really inspired a lot of young riders when he did all of these interviews about Secretariat. I can only hope to be as successful as he is in the horse world, even if I don’t go the racing route.