At the Races with Rusty
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Not this week. This week the spotlight hits someone that has piqued my interest for quite a while. I first saw Rusty Greiner as he rolled his wheelchair past me into the owners/trainers lounge. He’s at the track practically every day. I could tell that because he‘s known by every race track worker, and because I see him every time I am there.
What really caught my attention one day, was when I saw his wheelchair sitting by the entrance to the paddock. No Rusty, just his chair. I immediately looked around to see where he was. I thought maybe he needed some help. I found him quick enough, and help is something he was giving, not needing. He was making his way across the paddock.
Trudging along on the tips of his toes, he made it to the stall, water bucket in hand. He had a job to do and no wheelchair was going to stop him.
Rusty, 24, was born with Cerebral Palsy. His legs, which bend inward at the knees when he walks, have trouble supporting his weight even though he is not a big guy. His handicap doesn't stop him. He was born into racing, and that is just where he intends to stay.
Rusty smiles as he proudly talks about his daily jobs in the Greiner stable, but it wasn’t always so positive for him. Even though he was born with the handicap, as a child he was able to walk around without any aide. However, as his body grew, his legs weakened. By the age of 16, he was forced into a wheelchair because the pain of walking was too much. In an attempt to help him get around, his dad put a challenge in front of him.
“When I was younger, I had a horse and my dad would try and make me walk. He put it at the end of the stable and made me walk to it,” he said. “If I fell down, he made me go back and start over. It was frustrating for the first five times and I got tired of doing it so I stopped for like two days. Then one day I said I’m going to do it and I did.”
It took him a week of trying to make it to the horse, but his determination grew.
Even today he uses that in his job. He cleans stalls for his dad, helps the valet ready the jockey saddle in the paddock and takes care of the water, lead rope and blinkers for the horses. Oh yea, he is also a jockey agent for David Essman and Pablo Flores.
“I spend the mornings at my dads barn but im also on the phone trying to get mounts for my riders, “he said. “Everybody knows me here so I figured being an agent would be a piece of cake. But it’s a little harder than I thought.”
As far as his future goes, Rusty does have options to try and fix his legs. He has mulled over the idea of surgery but the risk of further damage outweighs the reward of getting better. He plans on getting a few more doctors opinions but for now, he is content the way he is.
Meeting Rusty was one of the pleasures I’ve had at Golden Gate Fields. For all he goes through, rarely do you see him without a smile on his face. It’s that kind of person that will make things work, no matter how much the deck is stacked against him.
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I Continue to following aspiring jockey Brittany Burrows. This week, from the 18-year old reports from the Frank Garza Jockey School, and she tells us what happened when her horse and her parted ways, accidentally.
"So what happened was that my horse took off with me and ran 4 laps around our half mile track and she jumped one way and I came off and landed on my neck. The speed didnt really bother me, I was trying to think how I was going to get this horse to stop or why she did it in the first place. What i've learned is you can't panic, if you do, you can't think straight. When I fell, I was just dead tired. My legs felt like Jello and every muscle was just spent."
"Before I fell I was working out almost every day and after I had to take time off to get rid of some of the soreness. So now i'm building myself back up and it's not easy. I do a little more each day again and regain my confidence."
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