I love the way the internet and social networks are making equestrian events accessible to people across the globe, connecting horse people, and spreading awareness of all kinds of disciplines.I watched every minute of the 2008 Olympic dressage, jumping, and eventing through live online streaming. I watched Rolex Kentucky 3-day online while blogging it and live chatting with other viewers. I’ve made friends through this blog that I can go to to share our horsey lives and for sound advice. The internet is an amazing medium that I think more …

The 2009 Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing may just be the most memorable since Affirmed beat out rival Alydar to take the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes 31 years ago. Since, no horse has won all three of these coveted races.
Big Brown came close last year, the ninth horse in three decades to win the first two races but fail miserably at the long and grueling Belmont. But as exciting as it was to have Triple Crown hopes last year, I think Mine That Bird, Rachel Alexandra, and …

It seems like just yesterday we were all a-buzz about Big Brown, who had the potential to be the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years. But his impressive performances in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes did little to overshadow an incredibly poor and disappointing run in the Belmont. He became another in a long line of also-rans who conquered two but not all three of thoroughbred racing’s biggest events.
Unless a horse wins the first two races, the most hyped leg of the Triple Crown is the Kentucky Derby. …

It’s 17 days until the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby and the internet is afflutter with discussion on which horses will be in the field, who the favorite will be, and who is going home with the roses. There are videos galore, contradictory predictions, and Twittering horses and jockeys. It’s a whole new world of research material for choosing which of the 20 Derby contenders to support.
But for me, nothing beats the post parade for finding the horse I like best.
I can read win histories, look at bloodlines, and …

Thoroughbred racing is an incredibly high-risk sport.
A crowd of young, energetic, flighty, half-ton animals careen around an oval at speeds sometimes in excess of 40 miles an hour with lightweight humans perched precariously on their backs. The impact contained each time a hoof hits the ground at that speed carrying that much weight is unfathomable. They run next to each other with barely inches to spare, making it all to easy to trip one another up. The accidents that can happen if one horse stumbles can cause pile-ups of horses …

Two chestnut colts made history in 1978. Affirmed, the last horse to win thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown, and his arch-rival Alydar whose unmatched feat was to run second in all three Triple Crown races.
I wasn’t around yet in 1978, so I had never heard of Alydar until I got Ace last summer and checked out his pedigree. Others who knew better than me were thrilled to discover that Alydar was Ace’s paternal grand-sire, so I’ve been researching ever since.
Affirmed, owned by Harbor View Farm, and Alydar, owned by Calumet Farm, …

After the 2003 blockbuster film, Seabiscuit, these two horses grew to be house-hold names nearly 70 years after their time. Most of you have probably seen the cinematic version of this race. But it can’t hold a candle to watching the real thing.
War Admiral was a 15.2 brown thoroughbred, son of the legendary Man O’ War, who won thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown in 1937 and also capturing the Eclipse Horse of the Year award. He won 21 of his 26 lifetime starts.
Seabiscuit, on the other hand, was a relative nobody …