waterford ralph
07-10-2008, 12:45 AM
His book came out this spring, yet I dont remember talking much about it...
Book: Freedom's Rein
For all you non-believers:
Sellers recounts his early experience while riding at Evangeline Downs, in his native Louisiana.
“So what did I do? I adjusted my riding style and went against my morals to do what every other rider did there.
“Simply put, I shocked those horses into running – literally.
“In the world of horse racing, there are certain tools and tactics that a jockey should never use. The top tool on that list is the buzzer, or the machine. This machine is about the size of a standard lighter and it uses two little AA batteries that are stuck together with black tape. The machine has two prongs at the end. When the prong presses into a horse’s hide it causes a shock, like one of those gag hand-shaking buzzers. Only stronger. If you press that machine into a horse’s neck right where you are holding the reins, it shocks the hell out of the horse and makes it run like crazy.
“I was never one to resort to electronics –especially not illegal ones – to make a horse run. But at Evangeline, that was what I was expected to do; that is what I had to do. All of the riders there used a machine in those days, so if I tried to stray from the norm, I wouldn’t get any mounts.”
Thanks to the fact that more and more horseplayers get to see endless videos from numerous sources, I have to wonder if riders are just a bit more paranoid today than they were 10 or 20 years when it comes to using a buzzer at a B track.
Book: Freedom's Rein
For all you non-believers:
Sellers recounts his early experience while riding at Evangeline Downs, in his native Louisiana.
“So what did I do? I adjusted my riding style and went against my morals to do what every other rider did there.
“Simply put, I shocked those horses into running – literally.
“In the world of horse racing, there are certain tools and tactics that a jockey should never use. The top tool on that list is the buzzer, or the machine. This machine is about the size of a standard lighter and it uses two little AA batteries that are stuck together with black tape. The machine has two prongs at the end. When the prong presses into a horse’s hide it causes a shock, like one of those gag hand-shaking buzzers. Only stronger. If you press that machine into a horse’s neck right where you are holding the reins, it shocks the hell out of the horse and makes it run like crazy.
“I was never one to resort to electronics –especially not illegal ones – to make a horse run. But at Evangeline, that was what I was expected to do; that is what I had to do. All of the riders there used a machine in those days, so if I tried to stray from the norm, I wouldn’t get any mounts.”
Thanks to the fact that more and more horseplayers get to see endless videos from numerous sources, I have to wonder if riders are just a bit more paranoid today than they were 10 or 20 years when it comes to using a buzzer at a B track.