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Hello Diane,
Thank you for the background on Fred (WC Freiheit). We all
knew that Fred had to be a terrific athlete with years of conditioning to
accomplish the tremendous feat of winning the OD and Tevis in one year.
The very sad and very callous part done by Mack himself after Fred gave
his all is of public record which required no "cocking" just
pulling the trigger. =-O
Don Huston

At 12:37 PM 1/5/2006 Thursday, you wrote:
> Wow... talk about going off
> half-cocked!  How can anyone not personally familiar with
> this horse's history possibly claim that MMS callously sacrificed this
> horse for his
> own ego?
>
> Bear in mind, the AERC records are missing early incompletes.  Steve
> Hanson
> rode Freiheit as a 5 yr old and completed 4 50's that year, 3 of them Top
> Tens, and
> then as a 6 yr old another 5 50's, ALL Top Tens, none in more than 6
> hours, then at
> 7, a 50 and a 100, both first place, and at eight a final 50, first
> place.  He then
> sold this horse to MMS having ridden him a total of 650 miles, HARD, and
> when the
> horse was still in it's growing years.
>
> In 1992, Matthew rode his new 8 yr old on 2 rides and Top Tenned
> both.  The
> following year he rode him on 1 50 finishing 22nd.  As a 10 yr old,
> Matthew did an
> easy 50 (24th) and then Top Tenned 2 100's.  Then at 11, he did 3
> 100's, Top Tenning
> the first and then winning the Old Dominion and the Tevis.  This for
> a total of 850
> miles on an 8-11 year old.  MMS then sold the horse to Hal Hall in
> 1995 who rode him
> on one ride 4 weeks later.  Then nothing till 1999 when he shows up
> in the records
> being ridden by James Oury (who pulled all 3 of his 1999 rides).
>
>  From these AERC records, it would seem that Mr Hanson rode this horse
> pretty hard
> for his formative years and that Mr Hall and/or Mr Oury was unable to
> keep the horse
> sound.  But without knowing what actually happened to the horse,
> except to say that
> Mr Hanson probably overrode him, one cannot possibly accuse MMS, Mr Hall
> or Mr Oury
> of destroying this horse.
>
> As to selling the horse directly after winning Tevis, I would guess MMS
> was offered a
> VERY substantial price and thus had the choice of trailering him home
> some 3000+
> miles or selling him.  I'd say selling him must have looked pretty
> attractive,
> especially since it appears MMS had several other ponies at home to work
> with.
>
>
> Don Huston wrote:
> > My God, what an egotistical
> > "it's all me" attitude! Of course MATTHEW MADE IT HAPPEN and he
> > destroyed the horse in the process. Who the hell thinks Mack won! Not me.
> > The horse won. No horse, no win. Mack just happened to be callous enough
> > to let the horse sacrifice itself for his ego and then dump it. Instead
> > of retiring the horse for a while and giving the horse the benefit of all
> > his veterinary skills while letting it recover from such a tremendous
> > feat he sells it to another egomaniac who continues to race it 6 weeks
> > after Tevis. A very crappy way to treat the real champion of Tevis &
> > OD!
> > Don Huston
> > At 09:47 AM 1/5/2006 Thursday, you wrote:
> >
> > > *The horse wasn,t that amazing,
> > > it,s the rider that is amazing. Matthew made it happen, with alot of
> > > planning, work, & determination and of course luck. The horse never
> > > did anything impressive before or since. jvm*
>
>
>
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