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Regardless of the weather, trainer Marv Johnson hopes to have fit horses when Fonner Park opens a 35-day live meeting on Feb. 15.
Johnson and his training counterparts have given a Eurocizer that is a new addition at the Grand Island track a good workout. The machine allows horses preparing to race to obtain needed exercise, even when the main track is closed because of winter weather.
"It's been a great help," Johnson said. "If it wasn't for that, a lot of horses would just be standing in the barn."
Thoroughbred owners Paul and Jerry Breemes own the Eurocizer, which is located in the show ring of a barn on the Fonner backside. Paul Breemes is also the owner of Harmco Manufacturing, which has built and sold around 40 of the devices that are portable enough to be moved from track to track.
"It's very, very good for the horse," Paul Breemes said. "That's why it is well accepted in the industry."
Paul Breemes said trainers typically choose to jog their horses two miles on the Eurocizer, which is controlled by a computer operator. Six horse stalls are separated by front and back panels, allowing horses to move more freely than if they were tied to an exercise walker.
"Horses, by nature, are free running and are a herd animal," Paul Breemes said. "They do not really enjoy having a rope hooked to their head and being walked around. They enjoy being able to run free.
"And they actually work better in these machines if there's more than one horse in the machine. Horses just follow each other."
Fonner trainers pay $7 per horse to use the electronic machine. A typical exercise session lasts around 7 1/2 minutes per mile. Horses start out jogging one way in a circular motion for the first mile, then jog the opposite way for the second mile.
"It's a nice system when you can't gallop your own horses," Fonner racing secretary Doug Schoepf said. "They still get some pretty good exercise.
"It's something that this time of the year will definitely help people training here."
Johnson's 40-horse barn includes older competitors that benefit from occassionally exercising without the weight of a gallop boy on their backs. Other horses in Johnson's barn are put on the Eurocizer as often as every other day.
"I've been stalled at ractracks that have them," Johnson said. "They're a credit to racetracks."
The Breemes brothers have raced horses with Nebraska-based trainers Larry Donlin Jr., David C. Anderson, and Kim Veerhusen in the past. Jerry Breemes previously used a Eurocizer at his farm in Blair.
"I think it's very beneficial, especially in this cold weather," trainer Joe Moss said. "They can get some exercise and not hurt their lungs.
"The point is you can go get some exercise."
Fonner's Eurocizer sits on top of up to six inches of sand. The sand base requires horses to work harder when they jog.
"That also is making them work," Paul Breemes said. "They're getting a lot of air in their lungs."
Eurocizer's also help horses gain needed leg strength.
"You can get one relatively legged up by it," Johnson said. "It's not the answer for everything. But it's a part-time fix."
Paul Breemes said it's important for horsemen using the Eurocizer to also send their horses to the track for training.
"These machines are not to be confused with something that does everything for a horse," Paul Breemes said. "A horse still must be ridden. They still must learn how to break from a starting gate.
"You still have to teach them to be a horse."
Paul Breemes has talked with State Fair Park in Lincoln about acquiring the Eurocizer once the Fonner meet ends in early May. Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, has also been approached, as have Chicago-area tracks.
"There are some very large farms in Florida that have our machines," said Paul Breemes, a Georgia resident. "This business is not a business where you sell to trainers. You sell to farms."
Fonner trainers can use the Eurocizer from 5 a.m. to noon. The machine is currently doing a brisk business that Paul Breemes expects will slow down when the weather warms up.
"When the weather gets warm, the trainers will get a lot more gallop boys on their horses backs and get them outside," Paul Breemes said. "Our business will slow down slightly, but that's to be expected. The service we're providing now is because the weather is so bad."
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