Racehorse Remix Spotlight: Crystal Ackerman

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My wonderful mare's story started like a lot of others, I was looking through ads online and came across HER pedigree (Special Effort x Rocket Wrangler and Streakin Six) and pictures. It was luck that I saw it because I had looked at so many by this point I had given up hope and thought about taking a break, but I decided to talk to her owner. Unsure of what I was going to hear and figuring she would be well out of my price range, I told the gentlemen what I wanted to do and how our place was setup. He seemed very pleased and wanted me to have her so he cut me a deal, but he also told me some bad news. She had been injured as a 2 year old, a stick had gone through her leg in between the bones. Thankfully it missed everything and she got a clean bill of health but she didn't want to really run on the track so he wanted to find a good home that he trusted for her, somewhere he knew she wouldn't get run into the ground. Well he decided it was me, trust me I was ecstatic!

She came to my place not long after and we just clicked, that spark was there as soon as we met. I had Jazzy restarted by Ken Williford and trained on barrels by Ducky Keller, both of them saw promise in her too. I started running in 2010 and we seem to on fire, we placed at alot of shows we went to. May not have been 1D times but I was so happy either way.

By 2012, I was on cloud nine, we were doing great. I was still placing and I had my sights on higher divisions. Then the unthinkable started happening, my father was diagnosed with cancer and not long after Jazzy injured her leg, everything came to a screeching halt. While my father had chemotherapy, I also had the vet out trying to heal Jazzy's leg. It was a very long process, the vets even told me I wasn't going to be able to run her at NBHA World Championships that year.

August of 2012 my father passed, by that point I had given up on doing any racing for an uncertain amount of time because I was not sure what the future would hold for us or the farm. After everything was done with my father's passing I'm not sure how but Jazzy's leg started healing faster. For Jazzy things started to get better and better and by late September her leg was almost completely healed! The vet I was using said to try taking her to a show, so I took her to a small local show. I was very nervous, I didn't want to hurt her or cause more damage after all those months of nothing but wrapping bandages and lots of medications. Well, she placed, not only placed but she won it! A few weeks later was NBHA State Championships, I decided to give her a chance again, she didn’t disappoint! She ran like nothing had happened, we didn't place but it was amazing. I was worried about taking her to NBHA World because of the long haul down to Georgia, so I decided to take my older mare instead. Well of course, she gets hurt a week before heading out. So Jazzy was it, I was so nervous about the trip was her leg going to hold up for a week of running, will she be ok in a stall, all of these things and more were running through my head the entire drive down.

Well our first run in the arena at World she had never been there before and she stood like she knew everything, she looked back at me while we were in the holding pen and you could see the look saying "I got this mom, don't worry." We went in and she took over, she took care of me, even though we knocked that run I knew she was fine. Each run was faster and faster, our last run was a 18.1 and I was thrilled after everything we had been through that year to make it there and make 3 runs without her being lame... I was so happy!

We came home and the last show of the season was the following weekend, of course I took Jazzy, we ran a 17.4 with some very tough riders and horses and placed. Jazzy has been my rockstar ever since, even though we've had some rough patches since then she has been my go to girl ever since. And now I trust her with everything in me and she does as well and with each run we make we keep reaching our goals and setting new ones. Can't wait to see what our future holds because she is my unicorn 🦄

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