Limerick update, a mention in Sports Illustrated, and upcoming plans

Lim before her health exam--I love her fall dapples.

Limerick had her annual health exam a couple weeks ago--she passed. The vet also took x-rays of her front feet and the sole depth is better than last year. Based upon this information, a week later my farrier and I decided to skip the Perfect Hoof Wear after that day's trim session. So far, so good.

I long-lined Lim again a couple nights ago. This time I did it on my own without Christine there to supervise. I have a lot of practice to do before I can get this down! In a way, it's harder than riding because what my hands communicate to Lim doesn't translate through the long lines the way it does through riding reins. I also need to run behind Lim when she trots, which is fun but tiring.

When Cigar died a couple weeks ago, I wrote a post about how much he meant to me. To my surprise, the post got more attention than I thought it would. Way more. It ended up on Richard Deitsch's Media Circus column on Sports Illustrated. (Skip to item 4.) It means so much to me to know that I played a small role in getting the name of the great Cigar out there.

As for upcoming plans--I'm working on my second Shadwell Turf Mile Day post for Horse Racing Nation. It's a bit slow coming but life has been getting in the way. The Breeder's Cup is October 31 - November 1 and although I don't plan to cover it, I will of course be watching. The next race I'm covering--and the last of the year--is the Hawthorne Gold Cup on Thanksgiving weekend.

I am still thinking about plans for next year but in the meantime I am considering starting a self-portrait project. Self portraits were a key assignment in my high school and college photography courses and I will freely admit that I hated them. I'm not the sort that photographs well (in my opinion) and I prefer to stay behind the camera, not in front of it. This project will be my way of facing my anxieties and (hopefully) creating a series of self portraits that I like. I will share some of the resulting images on here.