The best part about this farm are the turnout paddocks. Toby and Ollie will spend their springs/summers/falls in a 9 acre paddock with the other horses. In winter they move over to a 50 acre field which is their hay field. My guys won't know what to do! It's been a super long time since Toby has been in a field with any substantial grass! Fall will be a good time for them to try it out since the grass isn't growing. In fact, with this drought it's flat out brown and dry. And if the lush fields are too much, there are 3 one acre dry lots with run-ins. It is a self-care facility so my guys will really get to know me much better... :) Pictures will come once they are moved in.
In the meantime, I'm helping Matt out with photography. He had a wedding to shoot last weekend so I went to Keeneland and covered the races for EquiSport Photos.
This is Mimi's Bling who won the Buffalo Trace Stakes last Friday. I just read that she will be offered for sale in the Fasig-Tipton select sales in November!
On Saturday, Lentenor raced. Lentenor is a full brother to Barbaro which always brings a lot of attention to him.
He has that "don't-mess-with-me-because-I'm-a-Dynaformer" look about him. He didn't put in a good race this time around. Maybe next time.
The feature race was the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes. A beautiful dark bay filly won named Harmonious. I was thrilled when I looked in the camera and saw that I captured this:
I LOVE the details! It's not the kind of shot that get's published - but this one is.
The racing is fun. But it's also fun to go to the breeding farms and the training farms. Like this morning when we got to go to Ken McPeek's farm called Magdalena. It was such a pretty morning!
I have some visitors coming tonight and tomorrow. Some of you may know my friend Alex Brown and his website. He'll be here for a couple nights to catch some Keeneland action. Should be fun and I'll be sure to take photos!
And as a sidebar, if anyone has any advice for introducing two adult cats to one another let me know! Pita (my 14 yr old female cat) is slowly being introduced to Monster (Matt's 6 yr old male cat). So far it's been fairly good but Pita keeps wanting to run back to Traverse City. Sigh...
Congrats on finding a lovely place for the boys. Stunning photography, as always.
ReplyDeleteGreat that you found a new home for the boys - sounds nice to have that much space for so few horses! Hope they adjust ok...
ReplyDeleteGreat pics (as usual!) - the close-up (second-last pic) is incredible. It's almost as if the horse was watching you - how close were you? Out of curiosity, what kind of camera/lens were you using for that shot?
As for the cats, can you keep them separated in a spare room for awhile? Keep one in, let the other out to get used to the house...??? That worked for integrating our kittens with an older cat...
Who is Lentenor's jockey? All business (and a face I just cannot put a name to). Great pix and wonderful about the new barn for the boys. They are going to be very happy, as are you two!
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for the compliments on the photos!
ReplyDelete@Laura - I shot that ultra TIGHT photo using a Canon 1D Mark III with a 300mm lens. It was a turf race and I was standing at the end of the tote board in the infield. I'm squeezed between the hedges and the toteboard. :)
As an fyi - all the shots I used in this post were shot with that combo of camera and lens! It's a GREAT lens!
@TBDancer - Robby Albarado was the jockey for Lentenor in that race.
Hi, I have been reading your blog for sometime but this is my first time commenting. Your blog was one of the ones that inspired me to attempt my own. Your photography is BREATHTAKING as are your horses! :) Good luck with the move, hope all goes GREAT!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words Summer! I'll be sure to check out your blog!
ReplyDeleteWendy, I am beyond impressed with your photography. That shot of Harmonious is INCREDIBLE - I can't believe they didn't publish that one! The fact that your photos are published at all is amazing, too. Guess Matt knew what he was doing when he took you on. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you found a great home for the boys. They are sure to love Lexington. Every time I visit it's very hard to leave... Finally, I didn't know you were friends with Alex Brown. He's quite the famous fellow these days! I'm sure it will be fun to have him around. (No cat advice, I'm strictly a dog person :-)
Ask your vet to double check but from what I know, cats like to have their own "safe space" so firstly make sure they each have their own litter box (or two), food bowls and water bowls
ReplyDeleteSecondly, don't force it. They'll most likely ignore each other for the most part and it'll be your cat that would make the first move in terms of playing because it's the older one. Matt's younger cat might TRY to initiate play but it'll all come from the older one :)
Thanks Nadine! I did check with my vet and she said just about the same as you did. Thankfully, Matt's cat is pretty much (90% of the time) an outdoor cat. So they each seem to have their space. Pita, in her old age, sure let's the young guy know who is in charge! It's funny!
ReplyDeleteSo far it's going fairly well and Pita has claimed the Kentucky house as her own which makes me feel better about her situation. I think she'll be less apt to try to run away.