ANaturalBluff or “Bluff” is the one and only horse One Horse at a Time, Inc. has actually rescued. He is our heart and inspiration, as well as the horse featured in our header. If you would like to help sponsor Bluff’s ongoing care please paypal us and designate it for Bluff.
Bluff’s Story
A short synopsis of who ANaturalBluff or “Bluff” is. Bluff is a 14 year old OTTB who came into the Secretariat Center in the summer of 2008. The Secretariat Center asked OHAAT to sponsor his three month retraining. The Board agreed and he became the first horse that OHAAT officially helped. It was readily apparent based on his numerous old injuries that Bluff was not going to transition to anything but a pasture companion. OHAAT’s board had fallen in love with him and decided that the corporation would adopt him. At the time, there was no room for Bluff with the board members, but the Secretariat Center said they had a farm owner willing to provide him a temporary place to stay until space opened up with the Board. In the summer of 2009, space was available with a board member, and the board voted to move him. Two things unfortunately happened, a former board member denied that Bluff had been adopted by the corporation, and claimed she and another member had adopted Bluff personally. Additionally, the farm owner felt she had adopted Bluff. Neither the Secretariat Center nor the Thoroughbred Retirement offered to settle the dispute, which they very easily could have done. OHAAT had to bring suit against the former board member and by extension the farm owner. The wheels of justice being what they are, this process took over three years to conclude – and conclude favorably it did. In the meantime, Bluff had been the sole companion of an elderly blind mare. The farm owner and OHAAT agreed that Bluff could stay with the mare until a mutually agreeable time. That time occurred this past weekend. OHAAT is forever grateful to the farm owner for taking care of Bluff over the past four years. Please note that no corporate funds were utilized for the lawsuit. Funds were donated for that cause.
Bluff raced seven years – beginning at age 2 at Churchill Downs and Keeneland. He disappears for about a year as a three year old and picks up racing as a four year old – in small claiming races. While it is not known for certain, we surmise that he had an accident sometime as a three year old, for he raced the last four years of his life with a badly healed broken shoulder, displaced pasterns, and offset knees. When he ran, his his legs were so askew that his front hooves literally shredded the flesh of his back legs. But he ran and won almost $100,000 in those small claiming races. A few years prior to OHAAT’s adopting him, he was at a track when the killbuyer came through. Bluff was destined for slaughter. A jockey went through the barns looking for one particular trainer – and begged him to buy Bluff for $300 from the killbuyer. The trainer, a small independent trainer didn’t need or want another horse, but he went and looked at Bluff and immediately handed over the $300. He raced Bluff very lightly over the next couple of years, finding the right farrier to shoe him to minimize the damage to his legs. During the last year he owned him, he tried placing him through Canter without any luck. He then turned him over to the Secretariat Center.
And the rest is history. During the first year of his adoption, he suffered a bout of EPM, which was treated with a drug called Navigator. He survived. And did very well. He had some lameness issues over the past few years, but once his pasterns fused, he has been sound. Or as sound as he could be. There are some youtube videos out there of his racing days. One of them is from December 2007, the last year he raced. He won in that race, starting out in the lead, dropping back to the middle and then you see his heart and spirit kick in. He dug in and ground his way to the lead to win. There used to be on one of the racing sites, CAL Racing, I think, a video of that race shot from the front, in it you could see how he ran, pinwheeling that leg with the badly healed broken shoulder out. Doctors who have examined his xrays were astounded that a horse with his injuries and advanced arthritis was walking, let alone racing and winning.
How do you measure heart?
Bluff is by Pine Bluff out of Shine Natural by Jade Hunter.
He is our heart and we will protect him always.