Whyistherumgone embarked on what looked to be an exciting racing career in 2013 when he won his second lifetime race. The cleverly-named son of Mr. Greeley from the top British Columbia-bred mare Sand Pirate, by Desert Wine, raced at Hastings Park for Dana Barker and trainer Troy Taylor but soon after his impressive maiden win, he went to the sidelines.
‘Rum’ returned to racing a year later, but slid down the claiming ladder before he was retired in the summer of 2015. The gelding found his way to the New Stride Thoroughbred Adoption Society in Langley, BC soon after, the same day that Dianna Jones tagged along with a friend to visit some retired racehorses.
“I went there the same day ‘Rum’ came off the track, I remember seeing him,” said Jones, 59. “I was just there for my girlfriend who was looking for a horse.”
Little did she know that a year later, Jones would be packing up ‘Rum’ and taking him home.
Jones, who is from Revelstoke, BC, shares that familiar story of a horse lover wanting a riding companion at an early age. And she did have a horse as a child but once she was old enough to join the work force and raise a family, horses got left behind.
Not for long.
When her kids became teenagers, Jones was back in the saddle, riding her Morgan horse until she needed a hip replacement a year ago. Once again, horses were on the back burner.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to be riding again but after the surgery, I felt like a million bucks,” said Jones. “With my Morgan horse being a bit too old now, I started checking websites for a horse to adopt.”
She ended up back at New Stride and taking ‘Rum’ for a ride.
“I was very comfortable on him and he was very personable. New Stride does such a good job with the horses off the track.”
Jones adopted ‘Rum’ in the fall but didn’t get a lot of riding done as the winter was a harsh one in her area.
This spring, she sent ‘Rum’ to a trail riding school and visited him every weekend to ride him as he was learning about all the different things he might see on trail rides in the woods of BC.
“I want to be careful since I have had a lot of accidents, pretty severe ones. And he needs to see all the things that might pop out during trail rides.”
Indeed, in the final week of his trail riding school, ‘Rum’ had a bear cross his path and paved roads to traverse and he passed the tests with ease.
Jones is a member of the Selkirk Saddle Club and she lives at the club’s farm. The group has camps and overnight trips and other events and she is anxious for her and ‘Rum’ to experience all of those together.
“The best thing about him is that he likes people so much,” said Jones. “He is not stand-offish as some horses can be. He comes right up to the fence when I call him. He just loves to be with his people.”
