2014 and into 2015

No one wants to read a blog with no new content.  I haven't had any new content here for months. That's the bad news.  The good news?

In Over My Head will be coming back for the 2015 racing season.

My last post back in September mentioned the bone bruise Mo suffered after an equipment break and a subsequent gutty victory a few weeks later.  Now that we have the benefit of hindsight, I can tell you that what Mo did at the end of last season was even more impressive than we originally thought.  He didn't go on a win streak, but he showed us once again he is made of hearty stock.  The injury he suffered from that equipment break lingered, eventually got worse and he somehow managed to hide it from us for the most part....at least until his last start in the late fall.

His last start wasn't suppose to be his last start...we planned on going into December with him.  Up until that point, he was like that old boxer who was despite a laundry list of issues finds a way to pop up from that little stool in the corner of the ring when he hears the bell and after a vicious 12 round fight he takes off his gloves and heads home.  He shows up at the gym the next morning and goes back to work, much to the astonishment of almost everyone around him.

That was Mo...until that last start.

Danny was at the track that night and for the first time in what was an incredible season for an old battle worn eight year old, he showed his age.  His personality was muted.  He made it from the bath stall and back, but did so with less spring than normal.  He was worn out.  We all put our heads together the next day and took about 5 seconds to decide to quit for the year.  The thing is, when you quit for the year with an eight year old, you may be quitting for good.   You just can't predict how they will come out of the time off in the winter.  As always, we were going to let Mo tell us if he wanted to put on the horseshoes and jump back into the fray.

While we are still only in February, I'm happy to report that after a couple months of being turned out, Mo got bored.  Greg can attest to what it is like when Mo gets bored.  He spent a couple off- seasons up in Mineral Point and for awhile he loves the life of no equipment, no training miles, no schedule other than to walk out into the field in the morning and run around for awhile.  In the past that was good for about two months.  Then he got bored.  He'd start to get more studdy, be a little less attentive and just generally hard to handle.  That was his way of saying, enough vacation...let's get back to work.  It worked out the same way this off-season.

Mo went back to work a couple weeks ago.  Starting easy...in the swimming pool, but the fact that he's ready to get back to the grind tells me that there are more than a few races left in the old boy.  And why not?  We can limit his schedule, pick our spots and quit at any time.  As you've learned in this post (and many more if you've followed this six year marathon), Mo has some pretty good communication skills.  He will let us know when it is time to stop.

I don't think he will ever let injury end his career...barring something major...he will just fight though it.  Eventually, what will give will be his will to go through the grind of being a racehorse, but we aren't there yet.  His spirit still burns as bright as ever.  Even though he has some challenging days ahead of him to get back into race shape in the twilight of his career, the reward of walking into the winners circle at the end of a tough race is too much to pass up.  He may be old, but he's not done yet.

More to come.  Let's go Mo!