Foaling Feedback, Achin' For Aiken

I am posting again the Foaling Diary I wrote for "Beyond The Blinkers" at Bloodhorse.com. It has garnered a few more comments in the past couple of days, and I am still amazed by the feedback. I couldn't have even imagined people would love it this much. Thanks so much to everyone who shared their thoughts, I will keep my creative juices flowing and see what else I can come up with:

Foaling Diary at "Beyond The Blinkers"

Yesterday I followed up on a tip to The Blood-Horse and wrote a story on the injury and death of 2008 Triple Crown contender Big Truck. I have since learned more about this incident, and there will be a follow up to come on Turf Beat.

Click here to read the story on Big Truck.

This morning there was word that a horse was euthanized with symptoms of EHV at Penn National Race Course, however, EHV tests later came back negative. It was interesting for me to follow this story and post it on Bloodhorse.com:

Penn National Horse Tests Negative for EHV.

My feature for The Blood-Horse on Aiken, South Carolina came out in this week's (March 13) issue. The pictures Anne Eberhardt was able to collect are beautiful, and I think the story looks fabulous with the art. I also adore the headline, "Achin' for Aiken". It is definitely the perfect swan song to my internship at The Blood-Horse. Yes, less than two weeks left in the office, my friends.

I watched some good racing over the weekend, but if there is any one in particular to comment on, I think it is Misremembered's win in the Big Cap. I was simply mesmerized by the way he was sitty chilly at the top of the stretch and just kicked on. Although he won by just a neck over the courageous Neko Bay, I think the way he moved powerfully down the stretch while smartly stalking the pace says it all, and although Neko Bay was gaining at the wire, I'm not convinced Misremembered would have given it up had it come down to a grind. This win will only increase the popularity of red-hot sire Candy Ride.

Today Was a Fairytale

So I may have stolen that title from a recent Taylor Swift single, but it seems to fit most of my days. I couldn't help but feel like I was in blissful dream when taking the following photos this morning. But in fact I was at what is soon to be my full time job, it was about 7 am, and I was alone outside the barn in perfect unbroken silence. This has always been my favourite time of the day; the time when I am alone, with the horses, before the hustle and bustle of business begins, when I can simply enjoy being, and being with my animals.





What is your favourite time of the day? What is your fairytale?

Want to Hear a Story?

While I would like to be going to bed right now (please don't notice that it's 9:00 on a Friday evening), my computer is taking eons to upload a video. But on the bright side, its allowed me some time to share a couple of stories. Not musings or reminiscences...real stories, that I wrote today:

Sea The Stars, 2009 Cartier horse of the year, has the first five mares of his stellar first book scanned in foal. These include the dams of Zarkava and George Washington. Zarkava herself is scheduled to visit Sea The Stars later this year.

See The Story on Sea The Stars

My colleague and friend Esther Marr was kind enough to let me post some of my foaling experiences on her blog "Beyond The Blinkers" as a guest blog. The response has been greater than I could have imagined. Today, the blog was even picked up by the Kentucky Horse Council, which posted it to their website.

Original blog on "Beyond The Blinkers".

KHC Website.

Thanks again for reading everyone. It's hard to believe I have just two weeks left at The Blood-Horse. Well three, if you include Derby week. And you really should include Derby week!

And also, I just made the great discovery today that I was able to dumb down my security preferences to allow anyone to comment on my blog. The deed has been done. Feel free to comment away!

Back Again!

Since Turf Beat has been badly neglected over the past few weeks, I'm coming back tonight with lots of new info and photos!

Yesterday marked the end of a hectic week on call for foaling at Lane's End. Altogether we were pretty lucky though; 10 foals born on our watch, and all of them except two before midnight (excluding the one born at 6:30 am, a very reasonable time). Living about a 15 minute drive from the foaling barn we had a bit of trouble getting there on time for some of them. So on Saturday I made a pact with one of the mares, who graciously broke water while I was alone at the stall, allowing me to be in the stall first. Thanks girl.

In the past two weeks I have had two features come out in The Blood-Horse; the first one on the Simeone's, and this week on sires relocating to Canada. Apparently the latter story, largely featuring Adena Springs, motivated that farm to purchase 560 extra copies to use for advertising in Canada. That's a pretty big boost! Look for my feature on Aiken next week. Of all the features I wrote during my internship, I'm most proud of that one.

This week marks week eight of 10 of my internship. It's so hard to believe that after all the hard work to get here, it's almost over. I recall learning about the internship program being I was even accepted to GH, and imagining what it would be like to intern at The Blood-Horse. I started seriously pursuing it in second year by sending in story ideas and freelancing, and I distinctly remember receiving the e-mail last August inviting me to come to Kentucky. In just three weeks the internship will be over, and another two weeks later I will hand in my thesis, and my university career will be effectively over.

Well that's enough reminiscing for now; there's too much to look forward to in the future to stay stuck in the past. Since I left you all hanging for so long, I will now let the cat out of the bag: I'm currently working on arrangements to stay in Kentucky through the spring and summer, working at Lane's End. I've found a real great niche here and learned so much already, I can't imagine wrapping this trip up after just 10 weeks. It will be a very long time away from my family and extended family in Canada, but I've met some very wonderful people here and I know I'll get through just fine.

While it has been a bit tiring working seven days a week, I'm very glad to be spending time in the office at Lane's End on Sundays. This is a side of the industry I have yet to experience, and should contribute to creating well rounded management material!

Ok, without further ado, here are some photos from the last couple of weeks. My March resolution: to keep you all a little better updated through this month.

Flaming food at the Japanese restaurant we went to

She's not pawing her baby. She's just petting him.

White babe!

Another white babe!