Off to the Races!

I'm a good photographer! :) 

So I live approximately 30 minutes from Saratoga Springs Race Track, in Saratoga, NY. Have I ever seen the races there during late July/early August? Nope. Sooo my first horse race happened to be this past Sunday, June 26th at historic Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. I had no idea what I was doing but was there to cheer on Big Flirt. Big Flirt is a five year old Grey Gelding ridden by jockey Matthew Straight from  East Greenbush, NY. Gotta cheer on the hometown kid! It was an awesome experience, there is SO much history there and makes me wish I got to come down a week earlier than I did so I could have experienced the madness that is the Kentucky Derby (stupid finals, lol).

Louisville was approximately an hour and 15 minute drive from Lexington, scenic of course.  So I made it to the track with about 30 minutes to spare before Big Flirt's race, he was racing in the first race of the day! Next stop, wagering window! Good thing I called my brother-in-law Jeff who informed me about how to place a bet. You can do the following:

• Bet to Win: obvious- you only make $$ if the horse wins
• Bet to Place: Win $$ if the horse comes in 1st or 2nd
• Bet to Show: Win $$ if the horse is in the top 3
• Unsure who to bid on? I recommend choosing by name or the color/design of the jockey's silks. LOL the program definitely has other information they recommend but it's way too complicated for me. 

I bet that Big Flirt would Place and he came in 2nd!! Ready's Rocket, the horse that beat him set a record 10 wins at Churchill Downs with the win. Wooo!! I'm up $14 and done betting for the day! I could see how quickly people lose money at a track. Please note the SWEET Syracuse colors!

GO BIG FLIRT! 

About Churchill Downs:

• Horse racing in Kentucky is rich in history, dating back to 1789 when the first race course was laid out in Lexington. However, it was almost 100 years later, in 1875, that Churchill Downs officially opened and began its tradition as "Home of the Kentucky Derby."
• In 1787, The Commons, a park-like block near Lexington's Race Street was used by horsemen for racing. By 1789, complaints by "safety minded" citizens led to the formal development of a race meet at The Commons. The men who organized this race meet, including Kentucky Statesman Henry Clay, also formed the Commonwealth's first Jockey Club. The organization later was named the Kentucky Jockey Club in 1809.
• For his inaugural race meet, Clark designed his three major stakes races, the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks and Clark Handicap, after the three premier races in England, the Epsom Derby, Epsom Oaks and St. Leger Stakes, respectively. These events have each been held continuosly at Churchill since their debut in 1875.
• Has hosted the Kentucky Derby continuously since 1875
• First winner: Aristides 
• 2011 winner (137th Derby): Animal Kingdom 
• Recent History: Tornado at Churchill Downs on June 23rd, lots of debris but no humans or horses were injured, approximately 75-100 horses were displaced as a result of the storm! 
• Official Drink of the Derby: (I have yet to have one...time is running out!) 
• Mint Julep: 
• 4 Mint Sprigs
• 2.5 oz Bourbon
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 2 tsp water
• Serve over ice! 

Monday at Clinical:
I got a chance to get out to the horse park this afternoon while UK PT students had an elective Hippotherapy class (1 of 5 sessions). It was great! I got to show off some of my new horse knowledge and groom and help tack up the horses. Following the class I got to long-line two of the horses, Lincoln & Chico. The horses need exercise too! I took Lincoln outside and we did hills for some exercise, I think we were both sweaty messes by the end of it. Long-lining is when you "drive" (not sure if that's the right word for it) the horse by 2 long lines (go figure) and you stand at the horses back hip. It was kinda like steering a boat lol! It was awesome to work with the horses outside of a hippotherapy session. Lincoln definitely tested me, seeing how much he could get away with...needless to say by the end he knew who was boss. Longggg but great day!

OHHHHH- HI- O

Roadtrip!! A view of Cincinnati from KY! 

So you will have to forgive me, this post is not about Kentucky but a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio! It is just a hop, skip and a jump over the Ohio River from Lexington. I went to visit fellow QU PT James who is doing a rotation at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. He was kind enough to give me a tour of the city and University of Cincinnati, Reds and Bengals stadiums, and then we went to the......drumroll please.... ZOOO! It was SOOO fun! We made sure we saw every inch of the Zoo and didn't miss any animals! It was great to chat and catch up while observing some of the most fascinating creatures God created, I mean seriously He's pretty creative with all those zebra's, tigers, and manatees to name a few.

About the Zoo: 

• The Zoological Society of Cincinnati was founded in 1873 and officially opened its doors in 1875, making the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden the second oldest Zoo in the United States (Philadelphia Zoo is the oldest) 
• The zoo conducts breeding programs, and was the first to successfully breed California Sea Lions. The zoo also has other breeding programs including cheetahs, Sumatran rhinoceros, Malayan tigers, Western Lowland Gorilla, Pottos, and Masai giraffes. 
• Three Bonobos were born at the zoo last year, two in March and one in May, along with another birth in December 2003. 
• The Cincinnati Zoo was the home of Martha, the last living passenger pigeon, which died there in 1914. It was also home to the last living Carolina parakeet in 1918.

James- figuring out our next stop! 

Adorable!

Sampling of some of the pictures I took! Enjoy!! 

Dan's Visit!!

So Dan came to visit me this weekend. Wanting to be a good girlfriend I had plans for Friday, Saturday and Sunday so he could get the FULL Kentucky experience. Well, Mother Nature thought otherwise because clearly all of my plans revolved around having nice weather. Here were the supposed-to be plans and what we actually did:

Moonbow (Planned Friday Night) 
At Cumberland Falls ("the Niagara of the South" located about an hour and a half from Lexington) there is a phenomenon called a Moonbow that only happens in 2 places in the World, here and New Zealand. What happens is when there is a Full Moon, on a clear night the Moon's light creates a rainbow in the mist. Pretty Cool huh? I think it would have made for a sweet Friday night. The storms did not allow for this trip to happen :(

Instead, we went to the Horse Park and walked around for awhile, there was a show going on and also Polo Practice. So we watched a lil Polo (I don't understand the rules but hey, that might make a good blog post in a few days...)

It's like field hockey on horses!!

                                               

Saturday- Original Game Plan Kayak Red River Gorge 

Red River Gorge is famous for it's Limestone cliffs and awesome rock climbing, which Dan totally would have been into. However being afraid of heights and having terrible grip strength, I opted for Kayaking the gorge for an 8 mile trek of gorgeous scenery. Again, strike #2 with Mother Nature, the company that operates the kayaking was not renting on Saturday due to the storms. 

Instead: Farmer's Market,  Raven's Run & Scenic Drive 

Raven's Run is a Nature Sanctuary that has 350 acres of trails through forests, creeks, meadows, wildflowers and historic geological landmarks. We managed to get there during the only sunshine of the day and had a lil trail run/walk (me being super cautious of my wobbly ankle). It was beautiful and we were the only ones there. We alternated who led the way because we kept getting spiderwebs in our faces. We had a great view of the Kentucky River from one of the Overlook spots!

On the way home, I put away Frank the GPS and just took a drive. The houses and horse farms are soo beautiful. We discussed how nice it is to see that there is still undeveloped land left in this country. 

Kentucky River! 

Somebody forgot what a Razor and Clippers are while their girlfriend is in KY!!  Mountain man...

He blends in... and moves awfully fast too. 

I was faster than this turtle on the run!! 

Sunday: Real Polo Games (Cancelled due to Rain) so CrossFit instead!  

Lazy Sunday. Lots of Thunderstorms and watching the US Open (Golf). We managed to make it to CrossFit Maximus so Dan could check out their "box". Needless to say he was impressed. We did a quick workout (4 rounds of400m run, 10 pull-ups, 20 sit ups, and 30 air squats) and chatted with one of the trainers. Then it was home to get Dan ready to go to the airport. 

The weekend FLEW by... but it was definitely nice to be able to show him around my small world here in Lexington. I drove him by Cardinal Hill, went to the airport and CrossFit which is pretty much my M-F here. Only 3 weekends left here, where does time go?! Plenty of adventures to come!

Thanks for visiting!!

Halfway?! Week #4 Recap.

You know the sayin'...time flies when your havin fun! This week was week #4 and that means midterm. I should be completing my CPI at the moment but I enjoyed a bit of sun today at Cave Run Lake and Finding Nemo is on and I haven't updated this in a week, sooo the CPI can wait another day. And Shelby- if you ever end up reading this I didn't just BS it, it's almost done.

Lunch Break at the horse park on Friday...watching a horse competition! 

Thursday Night Live

Downtown Lexington holds a Thursday Night Live downtown with live music and beer, similiar to Alive at Five for the 518 (ironic though because I have never been to the one in Albany). PT Kids enjoyed the late afternoon drinks and then dinner at Ramsey's (homecooked southern food).

 The hometown KY kids filled us in on the correct use of "Bless your heart" and "noodling". Apparently there is no other phrase out there that can replace "bless your heart", can you think of one? 

Noodling apparently is a method of catching catfish by sticking your arm down a hole in the muck and pulling out a catfish that latches on to your arm. (GROSS and OW!). Click Me For a Video on Noodling

Cave Run Lake

My impressive photo skills...haha 

The lake is located within the scenic Eastern Highlands Region of Kentucky and is almost completely surrounded by the northern-most section of the Daniel Boone National Forest. An earth and rockfill dam built across the Licking River created Cave Run Lake. The dam is located near the small community of Farmers, Ky., 10 miles west of Morehead and 60 miles east of Lexington. It was primarily created to reduce flood damage in the Ohio River Basin. The lake is almost 48 miles long and covers 8,270 acres. -Info courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Mary and I had a splendid day! We found a spot near the water and the place was empty when we got there! It was awesome. Mary's Golden Retriever Madison came along too and swam her little heart out. Funny though that as the day went on, the shoreline started to fill up, but not near us... maybe it was Mary's Duke sticker on her car? We smelled funny? Who knows, we do have another theory but that is a story for another day.  I also had a chance to finally swim some laps to get ready for 2 upcoming triathlons later this summer. I <3 the water. KY is too land-locked for me.

Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere

Got the blue sky breeze and it don't seem fair

Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair

Sunrise there's a fire in the sky

Never been so happy 

Never felt so high

And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

This is what a torrential downpour looks like, 25 feet later, no rain. Crazy! Good thing it was at 5PM! 

Bourbon Trail- Part 1

Made it to the Bourbon Trail today! James (fellow QU PT student) and I visited Four Roses, Wild Turkey, and Woodford Reserve. I'm not gonna lie I was pretty impressed with my tour guide abilities today. I managed to make a schedule of which distilleries to go to and which tours we would make and we managed to stick to it, without getting lost mind you and with the help of Frank (my handy GPS). The scenic drive was beautiful with a ton of horse farms. There was a ton of history and facts throughout the day but instead of boring you with all the details here are some of the highlights of the day:

What is Bourbon? (In a nutshell)

I had no idea but apparently in order to be called "bourbon" the alcohol must comply to Federal Regulations including:

1. Grain mixture must contain no less that 51% corn, but no more than 73%
2. Bottled at more than 80 proof. 
3. Only aged in NEW White Oak barrels 
• Old Bourbon barrels are then turned into planters or sent overseas to make Scotch and Irish whiskey that are often aged in old bourbon barrels. 
• Oak wood gives it the distinct mellow flavor and amber color.
4. Has to be aged for more than 2 years
5. NO artificial coloring, flavor, or preservatives
• There bourbon contains: Corn, Rye, Barley, Yeast, and water. Nothing else. 
6. Only Bourbon that meets the above standards is considered Straight Bourbon. Everything else is whiskey. 

Four Roses: 
  This distillery had gorgeous Spanish Mission Architecture. The story behind the name was really cute too. Apparently the founder Paul Jones, Jr had fallen in love with a southern belle. He proposed to her and she replied that if her answer was yes, she would wear a corsage with four roses, if no only three roses. Well, I suppose you know how the story ends...

Wild Turkey
Wild Turkey. Quite a different setting, only 8 miles down the road from Four Roses. Here we actually got to see the giant fermenter's and Bourbon that will be ready to drink in a few years after it sits in the barrel. We also got to meet Jimmy Russell, the Master Distiller at Wild Turkey. He's quite old and not usually there on Saturdays so it was pretty cool. He is in charge of deciding what is fit for bottling and how long barrels age.

Woodford Reserve
This distillery is the smallest of the three but owns the largest distillery in the world, I think you may have heard of it....Jack Daniels (but Jack is whiskey so that's another story for another day). This location had gorgeous stone buildings and only produces 160 barrels per week compared to the thousands produced at the others. This was the only location that has the entire Bourbon production process on-site, from fermenting, to distilling, to barreling, to bottling.

98% of all the world's Bourbon is produced in Kentucky. The seasons work well here for the expansion and collapsing of the barrels for proper aging and the limestone spring water that is used in the bourbon.

Keep your eyes out for Part 2 of the Bourbon Trail to complete the passport! :)

Average Friday at Clinical...

Clinical Week 3.  Is this real life?!

I rode 3 horses today. I rode Lincoln, Wanda, and Sage. They all have different strides, girths, and movement patterns. I actually really understood how the movement of the horse mimics the gait cycle of the human. The hips and shoulders (well once you get them to relax) move just like when you walk! I know I have mentioned this before one here but honestly, until you feel it and put together the pieces it finally makes sense. It also gave me the appreciation of what some of these kids do for an hour on top of the horse...its tough work! Especially when the mean PT student makes the horse start and stop every 5-10 feet and really engages those abs and pelvic tilt!

DJ (fellow PT Student) and I also got the chance to walk a trail outside that Kentucky Riding for Hope has plans for a Sensory Trail. Kids would ride the horses over hills, through water, weave in and out of trees, smell different plants, and follow directions to engage ALL of the senses! It seems like a really cool project that I may have to come back to KY to visit!

DJ, Hangin out on Sage 

Scenic drive to clinical... sweet life. 

Hello Misty! 

Kate! 

Make the World Your Playground!

Sorry it's been a week since I last updated... but let's be real, that last post was pretty hard to follow! Today the weather was bearable enough to go for a run since the 5K I did last Saturday to benefit the Kentucky Children's Hospital. So run I did. But downtown Lexington? No thanks. I ventured over to UK's campus to run through the Arboretum. Funny word. If you are from the 518, it's like a smaller version of the Crossings. However the Arboretum is the State of Kentucky's official botanical garden. The trail represents the seven physiographic regions of Kentucky:

• The Bluegrass
• The Knob
• The Pennyrile
• The Appalachian Plateau
• The Cumberland Mountain
• The Shawnee Hills
• The Mississippi Embayment

It was pretty cool. I will certainly return! More information can be found here: The Arboretum