Friday, June 3, 2011

More about horses

Oh, can you believe it? I am talking about horses again.

No visit to my mom's cousin in Virginia would be complete without a visit to the horses. I don't remember if I told you in a much earlier blog, but this particular cousin raises horses. Not just any horses, but horses who will, hopefully, go on to harness race.

I think that everybody in this country knows about the Kentucky Derby for thoroughbreds, and most people have heard of the Preakness and the Belmont, which round out the Triple Crown. But how many non-horse people know about the Hambletonian Stakes? Or that the race is named after Hambletonian, the horse who would become the father of all Standardbred horses in America? Or that some harness races are for trotters and some for pacers? And do you know the difference between a horse trotting and pacing?

I will not bore you with all of that. You can look it up on Wikipedia, or where ever else you get your odd facts and interesting trivia. Me? Sorry, I looked it up just to be sure, but yes, the girl from Wisconsin who never had much of a life already knew all of this stuff about harness racing. Is it because I have a relative who raises them or just because I was horse-crazy at an adolescent, I am not sure.


No comments: