Churchill Photoblog

It took me a while but here's the photoblog some of you have been waiting for since I went to Churchill last week.

I still haven't been able to set up the new camera properly with the new hand but I am slowly getting it done. Warning, there are a ton of pictures in this blog. I didn't expect the camera to do so well battery-wise when I was at the track.

The Batman theme song goes through my head every time I see a pic of this horse.

Photo bomb much?

I can't decide if I think classic dressage or classic Thoroughbred.

Because I have a bias towards paints, I had to take this picture.

I just love how powerful this horse looks in this picture.

NOSE!

The crowd staring at Mine That Bird.

Bird trying to get in the office.

Winston, the cutest mini ever.

I got to take a picture with Mine That Bird

The spires from the new seating area by the paddock.

I picked this horse to win race 6, I was wrong.

Derby jock Jon Court

This dude seemed like he had a lot of personality.

Breeders' Cup Classic winner Brian Hernandez Jr.

Lookn Mighty Fast, a Point Given son that won his race.

Kentucky Oaks winner Lemons Forever's little boy Forever Perfect.

Breaking from the pony.

The most famous jock around, Rosie Napravnik.

A storm rolled in about an hour and a half before first post. The track was obviously muddy.

This horse looked like a beast.

Orb has already joined the list at Churchill.

Miguel Mena sees how close he came to winning the race.

Apparently the outrider puts Baby... and his pony... in the corner.

If racing fails, she can be a hair model.

The PG son headed back to the winner's circle.

The beast looks happy to be headed back to the barn.

Even though he looked like a bug, this dude looked extremely happy to be there.

Above/below: An early Derby favorite last year, Mr. Prankster.

Three time Kentucky Derby winning jock Calvin Borel.

Beating the Mental Block

In my last blog, I didn't mention the "big news" that I had been given last week at physical therapy. 

We had hit the five week mark on my last surgery which meant some hand changes were about to happen. While my PT had been talking about putting me in another brace, instead he gave me the okay to go brace free nearly 24/7 (except for some heavy activities such as taking out the trash). This was major news because it allowed me to see that my hand isn't made of glass anymore.

The first few days were a little iffy because I was still afraid that if I even looked at my bare hand wrong, it would break. Plus, having my hand in a brace for the last 2 1/2 months made it extremely weak when left without support so there was a small transition period. I have used my brace for various things over the last week but have found myself using it less and less as time goes by.

My biggest mental test though came today when I decided to go back to the gym for the first time.

I've worked out a few times over the last few months but have always had a mental block that even though I had a brace on, I would do something to the tendons so I never stuck with it. But today without the brace, it felt like pre-injury back at the gym. I'm definitely not in as good of shape as when I left (totally a duh comment) but I completed the whole workout and found it easier than I thought it would be. Now my biggest challenge is going to be convincing myself to go daily. However, I think that after I complete a few days of constant training, I'll be good to go. Now that the mental block is gone (for today at least), everything should be much easier. I guess we'll see. Hopefully it isn't as hard to get myself back into pre-injury shape as it was the first time around.

By the way, I promise that a photo blog of last week's trip to see Mine That Bird and go to Churchill will be up in the next few days. The weekend was much to hectic to throw one together then.

Until next time,
Mel

A Confidence Boost

Every once in a while, my confidence in my professional life disappears. This being my first year being really involved with horse racing has really made me question myself at points. That is especially true when it comes to big races when I am in the office and I see others at the track. 

I often try to tell myself not to compare other peoples' lives with me but it is extremely hard. Seeing pictures of people my age doing what I aspire to do does push me harder but it also makes me question what I've done wrong and they've done right. While I love social media, this has been the biggest contributor to my "how the heck did I end up on this end of the job" thoughts. So it was only fitting that social media would boost my confidence.

I stopped by the Three Chimneys Facebook page today and imagine my surprise when I not only saw an article I did on Big Brown but also a few of my pictures taking over as their profile and cover photos.

Jen told me last week that she was "stealing" some of my pictures for the page but when I had stopped by last weekend, all that she had put up were pictures of the stallions making funny faces in a Friday Funnies album. So to see this was amazing. My confidence has been all over the place with the Preakness this week so this was exactly what I needed to keep my spirits somewhat up through the office grind. Now if I could only remind myself that I have a pretty posh job for being just a year out of college, I'd be set.

In other news, since my photoblog last week seemed to be pretty popular, I may do the same thing in the next few days I'm headed up to see Mine That Bird at Churchill Downs tomorrow so who knows, maybe I'll get a few nice pictures to share with everyone. If you like Mine That Bird or photoblogs, cross your fingers that I'll be back tomorrow.

Until next time,
Melissa

Firsts and Lasts

Happy one month anniversary.

No, this isn't a relationship anniversary or any other anniversary that most people celebrate. Instead, it's the one month anniversary of my third surgery (and the two month of my actual injury). That means that I haven't been in an operating room for a month and I haven't had any major setbacks in that same period of time (knock on wood).

Just to show the before and after....

Night of the accident

Four days after the first surgery

Today

I'm also exactly seven weeks from my second surgery so it's a goodish hand update all around. I go to the doctor on Monday and I'm thinking he's not going to be too happy with the limited movement in the tip of my index finger but we're really working on that in PT so I'm still optimistic.

In other news, today was sadly my last day at Three Chimneys. It involved a trip to Louisville to shadow Jen in one meeting before stopping off in Frankfort for another meeting. It was interesting to get to see that side of the job and even a little fun. I'm taking a break from internships for the summer to let my hand heal but I plan on returning to the farm side of things in the next few years (in my mind, by the time I'm 30 would be nice, haha). The more I did at Three Chimneys, the more I realized that ultimately I want to be on that side of the industry. The next step is planning the rest of the route I want to take to achieve that goal. That may be the hardest part.

After my internship was over today, I went out to the stallion paddocks with my cameras. I'm doing an article on Big Brown for ABR next week and needed some pictures of him. I also visited a few of the other boys and had fun snapping pictures of them. I've included some of them below.

The big man on campus... Big Brown.

Ice Box getting up close and comfortable with my camera.

My BFF Caleb's Posse. He's the love of my Three Chimneys' life.

One of the coolest feelings in the world is looking over at Caleb's pasture and having him watch me no matter where I am. I love this stallion.

The track where some of the stallions are exercised every morning.

War Chant, winner of the 2000 Breeders' Cup Mile

Brownie

Another shot of Caleb

Ice Box, winner of the Florida Derby

I got to enjoy a little spring storm while hanging with the boys.

World record holder Red Giant

Brilliant Speed, he's one of the many freshman stallions standing this year. If he doesn't make a good sire, I'll be surprised.

Flower Alley, sire of last year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner.

Brilliant Speed has quite the personality

Lewis Michael, one of last year's sneaky good freshman sires. 

War Chant

Ice Box

And to end the night, Caleb's Posse again.