Kentucky Horse Park!

Today I spent a fabulous day at the Kentucky Horse Park.  I rode a big ole percheron on a 35 minute walk around the park, drooled over Cigar and Funny Cide, who were mostly just hanging around their stalls, and frolicked around the cross-country course...

Knabstrupper

Cutie Pie QH

Andalusian

Akhal Teke

Gypsy Vanner

Yearling - In training to be a police horse!

Police man and his horse playing soccer :)

Terrible picture of Cigar... I didn't get any of Funny Cide because he was in his stall and it was dark.

Me in front of Bruce and Eagle Lion!

Not sure if I was technically allowed to be there, but I went into the big arena grand stand!

Alltech Arena from the grand stand.

Yes, that step IS almost as tall as I am!  AND there was an enormous ditch in front of it (that I am not standing in... it probably would have been over my head if I got in the ditch!)

And that table... ALSO almost as tall as me.  The middle was a little shorter, but that's still huge, and it was WIDE.  Just as point of reference, I'm almost 5'7...

Man o' War!

Secretariat!

Favorites: A to Z

Summer has officially arrived here in Tennessee.  The weather has been balmy and beautiful, and I was able to spend a lovely week with my mother and grandparents galavanting through the Smokies (pictures to follow eventually).
I absolutely adore summer, though it's making me desperately miss my Beastie.  So, I decided to do an A to Z of all of my favorite horse-related things... with pictures!

Scared of Girls ...

I'd consider myself a "mare person."  Most of my best horse-relationships have been with mares.  I've always felt that nothing beats a mare for heart if you make the connection with her.
I'm sitting here "studying" for contracts and watching the Derby Pre-show, wondering why it is that you hardly ever see any fillies in the Derby.  I know some people think it's because the boys are faster, but I don't think that's the case at all.  Like I said, if you have the right relationship with a mare, I submit that she can out-try any colt there is.  Here's my thought as to why you don't see more champion fillies: they just aren't as profitable as a champion colt, so why enter them in a prestigious race like the Derby?
If your colt wins the Derby, he's a super star that you can now breed to lots of mares in one year, for exorbitant prices.  If your filly wins the derby, she's a super star that can have 1 foal every year, if that.  Sure, your filly might have won you tons of money in races, but she won't earn you as much as a colt once she's retired.  Maybe I'm just being crazy, but it's the only reasonable explanation I can come up with, considering that I don't believe the fillies are inherently slower than the colts.  I think that at the end of the day, it makes money-sense to just run the girls against the girls, because when she has a foal, you can say "look how much better she is than all the other mares who foaled this year AND look at her Derby-winning dad!"

For the record, I think Zenyatta outclasses and could outrun the best of the boys (and she and Dee share a granddaddy, which makes me love her more).

Anyway, I'm just babbling on at this point.  That's just my 2 cents... 2 biased cents.

Fantasy vs. Reality

Where I wish I was this weekend:

Where I am / what I'm actually doing this weekend:

However, while I'm beating my head against a wall getting ready for my Civ Pro exam on Wednesday, you can be sure that Rolex will be live streaming from the USEF network site on my iPad straight through to my TV!  I can't explain how excited I am that this will work... I tested it out on some old videos on USEF, and they seem compatible with my Apple TV!  Does it get any better?  Well.. yes, being there would be better, especially considering how close I am to Lexington, but given that actually attending isn't an option, it probably DOESN'T ACTUALLY get any better.  Maybe next year I can attend...

"Today is the greatest..."

Snapfish was running a deal on framed collages, so I bought this, which is now hanging in my living room...

I think it pretty well sums up the greatest mare*.  On another note, I was speaking with Steph the other day, and she actually said that while she never thought it would be the case, she actually thought Dee was a pretty awesome horse.  I knew she ended up liking her more towards the end, but it was really great to hear her say that she actually finds her to be nice.  I know that I just adore her!  While it terrifies me to think that I'm going to have two mouths to feed when I graduate school [mine and hers, with hers being more important], I have big plans to grow old with this mare.  Somehow, some way.

*I have to qualify that statement by saying she ties Dusty for that title.  

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

So, I'm not going to say too much yet, because it's all very tentative, but it looks like there might be a life change in the works for Dee.
H has begun working full-time and hasn't been able to ride much, and L is going for her PhD at the moment.  B might know someone who would like to take over the ride for a bit, and it might be an eventer.
I will keep updating as I know more, but there might be some fun changes in store for my baby.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling like I'm on a runaway freight car, heading straight into exam week.  I might have some interesting plans for the summer, too.  But again, I'll update as I know more!

Paddy's Day!