OTTB Showcase: The Irony of It (a.k.a. Irony ) and Ashbriar
THE DEETS:
Name: The Irony of It (a.k.a. Irony)
Born: 1994 (Died: 2010)
Height: 17.0 hh
Color: Gray/Roan
Sire: Iron Courage
Dam: Gaby’s Pet
Sale History: None
Race Record: 2-0-0-0
Race Earnings: $0
Name: Ashbriar
Born: 1991
Height: 16.1 hh
Color: Chestnut
Sire: Ask Me
Dam: First Class Orphan
Sale History: None
Race Record: 2-0-0-1
Race Earnings: $1,040
Like many of the best off-track Thoroughbreds, Ashbriar and The Irony of It were not successful earners on the track. Unlike most off-track Thoroughbreds, however, the pair racked up the frequent flier, trailer, and ocean freighter miles, traveling from coast to coast and even to Hawaii and back in their off-track life.
Stacy Durham grew up with her family near Maui, Hawaii and from an early age was interested and involved in equestrian sports.
“I began riding when I was ten-years-old and, since the equestrian world in Hawaii is somewhat limited to certain disciplines, I initially began riding hunter/jumper and eventually moved into dressage as well,” explained Stacy.
By the age of thirteen, Stacy was ready for her own horse. Her first horse and first off-the-track Thoroughbred was Ashbriar, a California-bred whose lack-luster racing career earned her an early retirement to a hunter/jumper stable. There, she was trained and later sold to an equestrian facility in Maui, where Stacy bought her.
Together, the pair competed in the jumper ranks on Maui, and Ashbriar taught Stacy numerous lessons both in and out of the saddle. One such lesson came about when Ashbriar was boarded at a facility in which the stalls were elevated above the barn floor.
“I was cleaning out her stall and she walked up behind me and shoved me in the back with her head,” recalled Stacy. “I ended up falling out of the stall and landing in the manure cart. To this day I have a hard time believing it was an accident.”
Eventually, the Durham family decided to breed Ashbriar. That decision became the turning point not just in Stacy’s life, but in the life of a horse named The Irony of It.
Bred in Kentucky, Irony’s racing career resulted in zero wins and earnings of zero dollars. Upon retirement from the track, she was sold into the Premarin breeding program in Canada, which collects urine from pregnant mares to be used most commonly as a form of hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women (PREgnant MARes’ urINe). Irony stayed at the Premarin farm in Canada until the program was downsized and the facility was disbanded.
“Many of the mares and foals in Irony’s herd were likely shipped to slaughter, but Irony was part of a group that was sent to Maui for resale as riding horses,” explained Stacy. “The woman who had imported the Premarin horses was inadequately equipped to take care of that many horses. My father purchased Irony from her so she would receive proper care and so that I would have a project horse while Ashbriar was pregnant.”
The fact that Irony had been out of “riding mode” and used in more or less a factory farm setting for six years presented a unique set of challenges for Stacy, which included Irony’s aversion to sharing her space with other horses.
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“Irony HATED having other horses in the arena, and this was probably one of the hardest things to overcome with her as I retrained her,” said Stacy. “At first, even if a horse was on the opposite side of the arena, Irony would become extremely aggressive. With time and patience, this behavior gradually modified itself, but she always made sure to make her displeasure known if a strange horse passed too closely in the warm-up arena!”
After producing her foal, Arabella, whom Stacy plans on keeping for her entire life, Ashbriar got back to work under saddle, and Stacy and her two Thoroughbreds continued to work their way up the jumper ranks in Hawaii. Stacy also started thinking about college and her future. An ad in an equestrian magazine led her to consider Georgetown College in Kentucky and in the fall of 2006, Stacy, Ashbriar and Irony made the long trip from Hawaii to the Bluegrass. For Irony, it was a homecoming.
“The process of bringing them to Kentucky was a long, arduous, stressful and expensive one,” explained Stacy. “The horses had to get on a barge to travel from Maui to O’ahu, where they got on a plane to fly to Los Angeles and were then trucked to Kentucky from California. I was very nervous about the barge part of their journey in particular, but there was no other way to transport them to the island of O’ahu so that they could be flown across the Pacific. Interestingly enough, Irony’s arrival to Hawaii from Canada included a barge ride all the way from Canada to Hawaii. Irony’s life story was one that began and ended in the Bluegrass, and somehow that feels fitting.”
While Stacy was in college at Georgetown, Ashbriar was forced into an early retirement when a bout of colic revealed the existence of a heart murmur.
“I had brought her to Kentucky with the intention of competing her and did participate in a few Combined Tests before the murmur was discovered,” said Stacy. “She was not a mare that would ever be suitable to the excitement and unpredictability of Cross Country!”
Stacy continued to compete on Irony, and the pair’s jumping and dressage background evolved into a talent for three-day eventing. Eventually, Stacy and Irony were competing at the Preliminary level, though they still dabbled in the jumpers here and there.
“We learned the ropes of eventing together and she became a wonderful 4’0” show jumper who absolutely loved her job,” said Stacy. “We aspired to compete at the one star level, and afterwards I had planned on retiring her from eventing competition and breeding her.”
Tragically, Stacy never got the chance. On the morning of October 17, 2010, Stacy went out to the pasture and saw a sight every horse person dreads.
“It was a Sunday morning. I found her standing in the field, unable to move,” recalled Stacy. “Her shoulder was massively swollen, and I immediately knew that every horse owners’ worst nightmare was probably in my future. I called my vet, crying hysterically, and when he arrived he quickly confirmed that her shoulder was broken, and because of the location, rehabilitation was not an option. I had to make the painful decision to have her euthanized. I couldn’t stand to see her suffer, so I told Irony good bye and how much I loved her. I still miss her and think about her every day.”
Today, Stacy still has Ashbriar and says the mare is a valuable and much loved companion. She also has a new love in her life - Bear’s Sunshine (by Proud Citizen) - an off-the-track Thoroughbred whom she adopted from New Vocations and who will be competing in her first Three Day Event later this month.
“The only goal I have for Ashbriar is for her to enjoy a long and healthy life with me. I cannot even begin to enumerate the many lessons she has taught me, both as an equestrian and as a person,” said Stacy.
While the majority of Stacy’s foundational experiences occurred in a state with no formalized Thoroughbred racing, Stacy has been a supporter of off-the-track Thoroughbreds for her entire equestrian life.
“The opportunity to provide one of these horses with a new direction in life is a beautiful opportunity that shouldn’t be passed up,” explained Stacy. “My OTTBs have taught me valuable lessons in patience, perseverance and faith. They’ve brought me to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. They have broken my heart and made it whole again. An OTTB might not always be the simplest or easiest decision, but they certainly are one of the most fulfilling.”
If you have or know of a retired Thoroughbred with an interesting story to tell, we’d love to hear about it! Just email Jen Roytz (Jenlroytz@gmail.com) with the horse’s Jockey Club name, background story, and a few photos.
Jen Roytz is the marketing and communications director at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky. She also handles the farm’s Thoroughbred aftercare efforts. She currently owns two retired Thoroughbreds: Point of Impact (by Point Given; a.k.a. Boomer), who retired from racing in late 2011 and is just starting back under saddle to find his forte as a riding horse, and Shotgun Shine (by Tale of the Cat, a.k.a. Gage), who is in training as a hunter/jumper. Contact Jen on Facebook and Twitter.
