Kat's Eye: Foals of Woodspring Farm
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This morning I went to the wrong farm. It was embarrassing for me, but the folks who met me (and those who rescheduled my visit for tomorrow morning) were gracious and accommodating. While I don’t care to take advantage of this phenomenon, it’s something that I encounter over and over as I work with people in the Thoroughbred racing industry. It is a business, to be sure, but it’s a labor of love.
A PRETTY SCENE EN ROUTE TO KENTUCKY
When I started the day, my intention was to visit champion stallion Mucho Macho Man at Adena Springs Stallions. My audience had been graciously arranged by MMM’s owner, Patti Reeves, who I am fortunate to call my friend. When I contacted Patti to let her know I would be in Lexington, Ky. for the opening of Keeneland’s spring meet, she was happy to connect me with her prized bay’s caretakers, as well as those tending to his progeny. I mixed the two up, and instead of landing in Paris, Ky., I found myself on the road approaching Woodspring Farm, owned by Dr. and Mrs. Gary Priest.
The farm is home to Kathy Priest’s dressage training facility, as well as hosting the yearlings and new foals sired by Mucho Macho Man, among others. It is a breathtaking 400 acres, with picturesque barns perched atop rolling hills, dotted by mares and their babies.
My first stop was the barn that houses the yearlings (1-year-old horses born last spring), and the team of men who met me there were eager to show me their young charges. One by one, fillies and colts were led out to me on long legs, their big doe eyes taking in every new sight. A couple of the yearlings were terribly unsure of my camera, with one ombre-maned bay needing to put his nose on it to better determine what to think.
As we finished with the yearlings, the temperature seemed to be dropping as the wind picked up. My guide suggested, “Follow me to see the babies,” and we drove through the stunningly beautiful property to a large barn, flanked by luxurious pastures.
The foals, each less than a month old, were brought out with their mothers. While clearly taken by the grace of the mares and the unspeakable cuteness of their offspring, it was the obvious affection expressed by their handlers that most impressed me.
Each man took special care with the weeks-old fillies and colts, cradling a head or caressing a neck or flank as they led them through each new experience. There were smiles and laughs as every one of the foals shied at crossing the threshold of the barn - a deep, scary cavern to a baby horse, successfully and bravely traversed with the help of their mothers and their trusted humans.
At the completion of my tiny horse parade, it was time for turn-out, and I took up position along the fence line as mares and foals were released into the pasture. My remaining time at Woodspring was spent watching an equine ballet - foals matching step with their mothers on a lush carpet of green under blue-gray skies.
Perhaps one of the babies I met this morning will take the racing world by storm in two or three years. I’ll keep track of them as they grow, and hope to photograph their progress. But regardless of their eventual racing records, on this chilly and blustery April morning, as Keeneland’s spring meet prepares to open, they left me captivated.