Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  It’s January first 2016 and every horse is celebrating their birthday.   So as of today, we have no foals / weanlings.  (I may not be able to say that for long because we have a mare thinking about delivering her foal!)  And, as and as you can see, we celebrated with a choice of treats.

So all the babies I wrote about last year are now yearlings, all the yearlings are two year olds, and so on.  The mares have sworn me to secrecy about their ages, except Tigress Woods.  She is proud to be 17 and pregnant for the last time.  Some of you may remember that she has given us many good runners, including Miss Dixie Rose (whom I wrote about in my last blog) and Lookin At Tiger.

As a yearling Lookin At Tiger did not bring the price we wanted, so we chose not to sell him but race him instead.  One of our friends in Cincinnati wanted to buy into a racehorse so we told him about Lookin At Tiger, he put together an LLC with several of his friends and bought part of him.  They were very happy to stand in the winners circle one night at Churchill Downs  when Tiger broke his maiden.  Then later that year we all stood in the winners circle at Keeneland…what a thrill that was.  Lookin At Tiger is now retired and enjoying a second career eventing.  He seems to love it and is doing great.

Colts sunbathing / napping in January.

So back to the farm… It’s a quiet time.  There are not many guests at the B&B, Lil’s is running smoothly and babies have not yet started arriving.  So I have more time to spoil the mares with treats and get a few more shots of the yearlings.  You can see, the colts decided to take a very long nap where as the fillies were more interested in coming over to visit. (Pictured at the top of this post.)

I’ve had many guests who have stayed at the Guesthouse tell me they believe I’m “living the dream” and yesterday I had to agree.  As the sun came up and filled the sky with vibrant color, Chuck and I enjoyed a cup of coffee together before we went on with our day.

Chuck headed up to the barn as I enjoyed a second cup and dawdled at home.  Depending on which window I looked out, I either saw the retirees or the yearing fillies.  As my phone buzzed and reminded me I needed to get on with my day, I got in the car and stopped at Lil’s to pick up the grocery list and a latte before I was off to Lexington to shop for groceries.  I do this at least once a week,

but I’m not complaining.

Horses working at Kentucky Training Center.

As many of you know my route to Lexington takes me down Paris Pike.  I pass many beautiful farms bordered by Kentucky’s signature stone walls.  I eventully pass the Thoroughbred Center where I see horses training.  And, as you can see, I sometimes stop to see them upclose!  Since our two horses in training are in California, I have to be content watching someone else’s horses train in person.  Luckily the O’Neill Team sends videos when our horses work out.  But it’s not quite the same….there is just something special about the feel and smell of the track.

Entryway to Gainesway Farm.

After I loaded the car and was driving back to Paris, I pass the same farms but enjoy another perspective.  As I pass Gainesway Farm, I see the street sign that reads La Troienne.  (They have a great sense of history at Gainesway.)  This is the name of a famous broodmare of the 1930’s whose blood line is still extremely influential today…and that will be a story for next week.