"Horses, horses, horses, crazy over horses, horses, horses..."So went the refrain of a song my mother used to sing to me. She never understood my fixation on equines but she learned to accept... and sing about it. Mom's gone but my horse addiction remains. Dad's gone, too, he who shared my love of horses. We watched every Kentucky Derby together. I waited to watch it this year until after the fact, on the computer, where I could see the video that follows the horse that ultimately wins, as well as the leaders throughout. Super Saver it was, this May 1st, with Calvin Borel aboard.
Calvin Borel is on top of his game in U.S. Thoroughbred horse racing with his third Kentucky Derby win in the last four years. Steffen Peters is on top of his game in U.S. dressage with yet another win this weekend at the Del Mar National after an incredible year of wins in both the U.S. and Europe. Steffen, however, accomplishes his wins without a whip. As exciting as horse racing is, I prefer dressage.
This past weekend, while my daughter-in-law's horses were posting their own good showings at Del Mar (each earning higher scores at each succeeding day of the show), I watched yet another horse event of a quite different nature. Dad would have loved it. As much as he admired and supported Jessica's dressage horses, he readily admitted he didn't understand dressage. What he knew, and worked with as a young man, was work horses.
Every year the Oregon Draft Horse Association holds a plowing contest at Champoeg Park. The following day, which is the day Johnny and I went, the horses harrow the field that they plowed the day before. Then oats are planted. The horses will be back later in the season to harvest them the old fashioned way. I love watching these big... and some not so big... horses doing their thing.
Horses, horses, horses, crazy over horses...
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I share your fascination for horses, but you, my dear, have gone way beyond my pubescent love for riding... Some of my fondest disasters were on horseback, like the time I nearly died from riding bareback after getting stung by a bee - got infected, started toward my heart. At the dinner theatre that night, they gave me a shot of benadryl, and said dryly as only a Marylandite could do, "Two more hours and you would have been dead."
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