That's just it. They don't appear to neglect the horses, it's just that they don't seem to care about the horses given they have the resources to do a whole lot better. They got plenty of dough, and it seems like they just have horses to play cowboy and say they have horses. It's not just the mud, they have lots of trees around that are supposedly toxic to horses. But I didn't know that about the barn thing. I just assumed since Wilber kept Mr. Ed in a barn he was happier in the barn. It looks like they have two pastures that look to be about an acre each but only see the horses in one of them. I'll tell you what really set me off with these people. It's not much evidence but it's enough to get happy-go-lucky Quirky to detest these people. Their house is about 3 times the size of other homes in the area and they have a dog kennel where they keep their dog in the farthest corner of the yard, nowhere near the house. They put the dog in there and rarely have I seen him outside of that kennel. At meal times the dog barks, someone brings him food and then goes away. These people went away for a week or so recently and left the dog in there all alone in the dark, pitch black, and someone came in a car to feed the dog and the horses. The whole time, the dog was howling and crying 24/7 and I called animal control because I couldn't take it anymore. This dog is in that dog house in every weather extreme and I'm just waiting for the day when he digs out of there. That and that alone leads me to believe that these people just don't care. Once in a blue moon the lady will ride the horse but that's about all the quality time I've seen them spend with the horses. True, I don't watch them 24 hours a day but the dog kennel thing... can't get over that. You know, fine if you have to keep your dog outside but I'm talking about this is in the farthest part of the yard from the house, out of sight, out of mind. There is no possible reason to rationalize that. The dog would have to have leprocy to be an excuse. And these people are technically not my neighbors, the subdivision is bordered by a creek and they're on the other side of it. The trees block most of the view of their estate in the summer but in the winter I can see right in their house, I can see the horses from just about any room and I can see how they ignore their poor dog. And it's probably best that I don't get the opportunity to speak to them, since I often lose control over what words are coming from my mouth. When I drive around the area, the other pastures that I see are covered in grass and are dry with no mud. Maybe the mud thing is some therapuetic rich people thing. Maybe it's mud from the bottom of the dead sea and it's an exfoliant. I could be way off. The only thing I can tell you for sure is this is ga and we have red clay. That means mud is supposed to be orange. This mud is not orange, it is brown. And I can smell it from my yard. When I moved in here I thought how cool, I'll have a view of horses and it will look like they're in my own back yard. Now I can't stand to see the horses like that and can't wait until these pine trees grow big and shield me from that. As for the topic, I was under the impression, and it's probably because I watch so much Tv, but I thought these race horses were owned by the mafia.

We owned horses and ponies for twenty years---using them to help raise our sons in 4-H. I detest horse racing. Worse, however, is fox hunting/steeplechasing. 2 yaer old horses should be prohibited from racing. Their bones are still forming/growing and are damaged by the training regimin. But, raising/training/feeding a horse is so expensive that the breeders/trainers/owners have to get a return as quickly as possible---and many would race yearlings if they could. Breeders/owners often ruin a breed---horse/dog/cat/cow/whatever by concentrating on a small number of desirable traits and breeding for those traits. There is no way to prevent that. The best that can be done is for genuine animal lovers to ignore the 'bad' breeders and promote the 'good' breeders.

I luuuvve Mint Juleps; sadly I can't drink them because of diabetes. I enjoy making them and everyone raves so I suppose they're good. I make my own simple syrup and try to get home grown mint. I'm loving just thinking about them now. We're not "watching" anything, as such. Wes is in the garage, sanding the entry doors to the almost-completed office and sewing room. After that we're painting the two rooms closets' frames in anticipation of hanging the closet doors. New bifold, half-louvered half solid for the two closets in my sewing room. New 6-ft. sliders for the office closet. We decided the entry doors were of far better quality than anything we could easily find to replace them with, so they're getting a major facelift and going back up. I'm also hooking up a new printer, roasting a chicken, catching up on laundry, putting away winter blankets, hanging a blind on the sunporch side of the west bedroom window, packing Mother's Day boxes, and thoroughly enjoying my day.

Wow, you guys are a wealth of info on this! Thank you so much. I do remember now that last time we saw the horses up close, just by chance as we left. This time we will arrive early for that. I will still get seats as well, so we have a spot. We will probably dress up a bit. I recall last time DD wore a straw hat with a scarf, channelling her inner 1950's starlet. I think we have one or two around, I will have to smuggle it or she might guess our destination. I noticed today in NYC they sell them on streetcorners, the way they sell scarves in winter. As for dining, a lot of places are already booked so it's good to have suggestions, thx Jojoco. Beagles, We are staying at a place called the Brentwood right at the track, not the GP. Is it the GP that does the tours are the park itself, do you recall? As far as betting, I think ignorance is bliss. Last time my DD won big. She insisted on betting on a long shot "to win" even though I tried to explain odds and payouts, etc. Two more heavily favored horses dropped out and hers, (get this) "Shopaholic," won! Zalco, Maybe a fascinator, LOL? One of my DDs bought an enormous floppy hat when we were on vacation a few years ago, really comically large. She kept finding screenshots from Vogue and such to prove to us this was "in." Wonder where that hat is. We'd have to tie it to the roofrack.