Testing God - Post Twelve

Earlier on, I mentioned that Jerry left Claiborne to resume his training career after a brief hiatus. He had never had a huge stable of horses; in fact the most at one time was about 15, and that was going back 22 years to the time he took over his father’s training stable just after we were married.

In more recent years, he would train a couple horses for an owner or two, generally while training a horse or two of our own. Let me just say for the record that Jerry is the best horseman I have ever known. He truly does have a way with horses. And oddly, I knew this the moment I laid eyes on him nearly 24 years ago, when I met him while interviewing his father for a magazine article I was writing.

I have a photograph of this exact moment, as I was shooting the pics to go with the article. There he was, my future husband, “doing up” a filly in poultice. Sporting a mop of curly hair and those gorgeous blue eyes! I remember thinking how I’d like to go out with this guy, and how having that thought was probably entirely unprofessional.

As it turned out, Jerry’s dad, Bob, had the same idea. He told me (only half jokingly) that he wouldn’t give me an interview unless I agreed to go out with his son. Well, what could I do? I needed the info for my article. I found out later that Bob paid for the date, leaving me to wonder if Jerry really wanted to go out with me, or just couldn’t pass up a free meal. Sorry…digressing again. J

So when Jerry met Joe at Claiborne while giving a tour of the stallion complex, they began talking about racing and Jerry mentioned that he was considering going back to training. The fact that both men were Christians was also discussed. The two exchanged business cards, and Jerry really didn’t give the encounter much further thought.

Jerry turned in his resignation at Claiborne, after much prayer and serious thought. And then a strange thing happened. Or should I say—a God thing happened. Jerry got a call from Joe asking if he had given any more thought to resuming his training career. Jerry said he had already left Claiborne in anticipation of doing just that.

Joe explained that he was making a trainer change, and would be coming to town soon. He wanted to meet with Jerry to talk about sending some horses his way.

Jerry arranged to meet Joe in Lexington, and as usual, I tagged along. I’m not sure if Joe anticipated getting a package deal of both Jerry and me, but we are a team. I’m sure that there have been many times that my husband wished I was more of a silent partner, but that’s just not how I roll.

Daily Notes: Major blessing to be reported! God has indeed answered my prayers and was watching over my husband. I mentioned a few posts back that Jerry had done his time in the starting gate, and indeed he still works on the gate five mornings at week at a training center in Lexington. He was schooling a horse that was there to break (a timed workout from the gate to simulate a race.) The horse was fractious, and rushed forward, hitting the front doors. The doors didn’t give, and the frightened horse reared up, flipping over backwards against the back doors. Jerry was pulled off the 6” ledge where the starters perch, and he and the exercise rider were both trapped between the flailing wedged horse and the back doors. Jerry, the exercise rider and the horse were all extricated from the gate, unharmed except for scratches.

More good news—the annual tobacco buyout payment came through, so there is more money to be tithed this week. And...I hear peeping coming from inside the eggs in the incubator in our upstairs bathroom, which means chick-lets are on the way! I think it's so cool that you can hear peeps before they even hatch!