My dad usually works weekends, but having known that we were coming to visit he took off Saturday morning. It was extremely nice of him, and it was great to relax with him. Before
We started talking about the race horses--which we breed, raise and run and which I have grown up with for most of my life. We had just taken one of our two-year olds down to our horse trainer to get broke so before we knew it we were in the car and on the road to watch as one of her employees gallops the horses around. Joan Petrowski is one of the most exceptional horse women and trainers around and her stables are about a 45 minute drive from our house.
When we arrived at the stables we said hi to Joan and then went directly out back to watch Bobby gallop one of the horses. He literally takes the two-year olds from just being halter broken to rideable. It is a very risky job as Thoroughbreds are very high-strung, but I can tell that he really enjoys it.
We said hello to eyelash—the two-year old which dad had taken down to get trained a few weeks earlier. She was not being galloped today as she had pulled a stifle and needed rest. Eyelash is gynormous for her age, 16 hands high…and according to Bobby has a temper. Actually, when she was getting trained she decided she wanted out of the round pen so tried to jump over it. She didn’t make it, but she did manage to completely wreck the pen itself. They now have a new post and planks in place of where the old section of the pen used to be. Yup…we raised that terror of a horse!
I’ve spent many hours at Viking Stables and at the race track in Edmonton so it was exciting for me to be able to show Alexander this part of my life. One day soon I hope to take him up to Edmonton when the races are going on, because it is an interesting thing to see.
We stopped in Innisfree to grab dad’s van, as he had brought my car home in the morning as it was diagnosed and fixed. When we got home we finished the second part of The Sculptress. Just like dad said, it will give you some crazy memories. We never found out if the Sculptress actually committed the murders or not, but she was found not guilty of her crimes, after being committed for months and was let out of jail.
Alexander had the fantastic idea of trying to get some silhouette shots of the horses out in the pasture. This worked out quite well as the sun was setting and we were waiting for my best friend Amber to meet us to take us to one of my other friends.
Alexander was out in the field playing with the horses and I was in search of the kittens. (We have four wild, wild kittens)!
I went out in the field to check on Alexander and before we knew it Amber had arrived. She went into the house, realized we weren’t there, then saw us in the field. She had seen our Thoroughbred baby when he was first born, so she wanted to see him quickly before we headed out. We trekked up to the corral, visited with the babies quickly then headed out.
Once at my friend Sharon’s place we went inside and literally chilled. Sharon had saved one of the kittens I had found at the farm and it was now one of the house dog/cats. Sharon has three pets. Timmy, Honey and Buddy (the cat she had saved from me).
We played with the cat, and cuddled with the dogs. Since we weren't doing much and all three of us girls were horsey girls, we sat and watched the Breeders Cup Classic and gah!!...was it exciting! Alexander seemed to enjoy the race too, so that was good to see.
I don't know how many of you have been following this big race, but it had special significance. The greatest racehorse of all time, Zenyatta, was running her 20th race. She has won all of her other 19 races. This makes her better than Secretariat and Seabiscuit. Anyways, this race brought her out of retirement and would leave her in retirement after. It was incredible! When the race started she was dead last. Sh was far, far behind the group. It was tragic to watch, the horses were running and running, and the crown favourite, Zenyatta was at the back. It was kind of like watching everyone's heart breaking. But, then, suddenly the jockey saw an opening. he pushed Zenyatta forwards and she broke into her famous sprint that has made her so incredible. From being behind the crowd she burst forwards and passed horse after horse. She was gaining on the leader, but running out of track. This was where everyone's heard broke. The excitement of watching Zenyatta burst through the crowd gave everyone high hopes that were shattered when Zenyatta lost the race...by a nose. Just a few inches and that was all. Her perfect record broke as she entered retirement forever. I don't think second is that bad, but I guess when you are on the cusp of history like that, maybe it is. I felt sad for the jockey, who blamed the entire loss of Zenyatta's race on himself. He was in tears, and kept saying it was his fault. It was devastating for everyone.
After the race we had an amazing supper cooked by Sharon’s boyfriend Donald, then we enjoyed a huge bonfire, got dropped off back at the farm by Amber and then headed to sleep.
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