ELMONT, N.Y. - When you think of Belmont Park, you think prestige, but behind the scenes Belmont has over 2,000 horses which makes up for a lot of you know what.
I met up with Fran Lawrence from Equicycle, who assigned me to clear out the debris from piles of manure so that it is clean enough to go out to compost farms.
Taking care of these 2,200 stalls and 445 acres of track is far from glamorous. I learned how to groom horses. A groom's day begins at 4 a.m. Each groom takes care of 4 horses a day. Not only does the job take hard work, it also takes guts because they get kicked and bitten.
I hoped to keep that tradition going as I went in to meet my horse, a 2-year-old New York thoroughbred race horse named R. Ben's Brush. Our first job was to make sure our horse got brushed and saddled.
The grooms never stand behind the horse in case it kicks. This guy weighs just over 1,000 pounds, which is on the small side for a racehorse.
I loved the guy, and I think he loved me, too -- or at least the perfume I was wearing.
While R. Ben's Brush took a walk to dry off, I stocked his bucket with feed. A racehorse's diet is high in protein, whole grains and vitamins to keep them lean and healthy.
I conquered my last mountain. So how did I do? I went back to Belmont to get my grade: A.