One of the reasons why I don't watch horse races, despite the beauty of the animals...via Laura Anne Gilman and Ellen Datlow, here's a really good NY Times article on thoroughbred rescue organizations, why they're so desperately needed, and why, no matter how hard they try, they still can't meet the existing demand. Patrick temped at a horse rescue organization down near Bristol several years ago, which was my first real introduction to the issue. The article is very good and makes me wish I had extra money to donate to the various organizations it highlights.

Meanwhile, the horses in our neighborhood have been trotting up and down the street all day - Sunday is the day that the local riding school really turns out in force, so we sometimes have 12 or 13 horses in a row clattering past our house. Even on weekdays, horse sounds like neighs and hoofbeats are normal background noises if we leave our windows open. It's a big change from the kind of neighborhood I grew up in in East Lansing, a relatively urban college town with no horses in sight except the occasional police horse, usually brought out when the cops wanted to intimidate groups of frat guys hanging out downtown. It used to be a big treat for me as a kid to take a full hour's drive out to the countryside, maybe once a year, maybe less, to ride a horse for an hour at the closest riding stable (which unfortunately closed down when I was only 10). I do miss having coffee shops and bookstores within walking distance - growing up in a college town left me really spoiled that way - but I like sitting outside our house and watching lines of horses pass, or walking down the street with Maya to watch the baby horses gallop, with knobby-kneed and clumsy joy, around their field.