Off to the Races!!!

Since I was a girl, I've always had a certain fondness, as many girls do, for horses. It started with the "Blaze" series in children's books. It lead to Black Stallion and subsequent books. I remember begging and pleading for a horse as a kid and my pleas falling on deaf ears. Then my close friend at the time got a Shetland pony and we went riding together. After she moved away, the whole horse subject matter was temporarily moved to a side burner, but the desire never died.

There's something about horses, 1,000+ pound creatures that move fluidly and gracefully in every manner of their being. Creatures that could trample us if they so desired. Yet somehow, we manage to tame them and they accept us as passengers on their backs. There is absolutely nothing on God's great earth that is more beautiful to watch than a horse running.

Living in small-town Great Falls, Montana, we just so happened to have a race track. I went to watch the races every year during the fair. Being a small town, I was able to get right up front, close enough to taste the dirt as the horses went flying by. I love the horse races and everything about them. The crowds, the anxiety of the horses coming onto the field, the trumpet announcing the loading of the horses into the gate, the quiet just before the starting bell and the gates flying open and then the fun begins!

 The horses leap into action! The ground shakes as the horses thunder down the track. Dirt flies into the air behind them.

Having seen Secretariat when it came out in the theater, I told Beosig to get it for me for my birthday. The movie appealed to my desire to see horses run, and it is shot from an angle unlike other horse race movies I have seen previously; from that of the back of the horse. Well Beosig delivered.

If I had all the free time in the world that I would like then I would have watched it about 20 times by now. Sadly that is not the case and my 3 year old does not completely agree with my own desire to watch the movie over and over. Perhaps I can change his mind by taking him with me to a race or two while visiting my hometown later this year... It could offer a great opportunity for some photography work too!