War Horses: Westwood Vixen
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications
Rarely has one creature labored for another as a horse for a human. From the Crusades to World War I, battles were fought and won on the backs of horses. Frontiers were explored, homes built and communities created from the labor of horses at the will, and for the benefit, of humans. So, too, does the modern day Standardbred labor for their humans. In the heat of summer, through freezing rain, around and around they go. They do our bidding.
Today is the start of an occasional series of snapshots from the lives of the horses who have performed exceptional service to their humans. They are our War Horses.
Freehold, NJ --- Westwood Vixen has made good use of her 30 years here on earth. While no precise measure of human age equivalency applies, the daughter of Braidwood-Western Vixen, who will have her actual 30th birthday on Feb. 22, is effectively well in to her 90s and perhaps 100. She was bred by Arthur Rowney in Ottawa, Ill., and raced by his son and daughter-in-law, James and Joan, who have owned and cared for her throughout her life.
Westwood Vixen, who earned $288,317 in her career, enjoys some time with her breeder, Arthur Rowney.
Race she did, 237 times over eight years, from the time she was a 2-year-old in 1984 through age 9 in 1991. Competing primarily in the Chicago area, the brown mare averaged almost 30 starts and $36,000 each year with very little in the way of maintenance, says Joan Rowney.
