I love days that include paging through the DRF archives

which I got to do for this blog post up at the Rail.  Map of Belmont, 100 years ago.  And a story of the 1913 Belmont Stakes.  It's Triple Crown season--be in the mood.

MIley Cyrus Against New York City Carriage Horses

Miley Cyrus has joined the fight to ban carriage horses in New York City, following the lead of her mom.  The actress and singer grew up with horses, and is an animal-lover in general.

Not horses, but corgis

I'm allowed.  Check out this SmartPark blog post about how to keep corgis healthy.

New post about horse books up at The Rail

You SweetFeed readers have already read about some of my favorite horse books, but here are some more, in a post up at the New York Times' Rail blog.  Josh Pons, Avalyn Hunter. . .they are all here.

Plow Horses Get a Plug in the NYT

By Kitson

Here's a great photo essay in the New York Times about Cedar Mountain Farm in Vermont still using horses to plow. Check it out -- beautiful, happy animals and what a nice, clean barn! I want to go there.

Rewilding Europe

By Kitson

Photo: Mark Hamblin / Wild Wonders of Europe

No matter what I'm doing, the path I'm on inevitably leads to horses. The particular path I've been on lately has been all about wolves, as I've been researching and drafting a non-fiction children's books for National Geographic. I recently learned about Rewilding Europe, a cool program through which government agencies and conservation groups are "rewilding" huge swaths of land starting in eastern Europe. Here's an interesting article about two wild foals born in Iberia. I can't wait to share more about another horse angle I've sniffed out on the wolf trail: wolf riders on horseback in the Western U.S. helping cattle ranchers and wolves to coexist. More on that later. Meanwhile, as work limits my time at the barn, I'm grateful for the beautiful horses (and the wolves) I come across long-distance.

Photo: Grzegorz Lesniewski / Wild Wonders of Europe

Horses and History at The Rail

I got to interview a very cool turf historian a while back--how much do you know about the pre-Civil War racing culture of New Orleans--and that interview is up on the New York Times' racing blog, The Rail, today.  Take a look.

How are there two painting horses in the world?

Here locally, the Maryland painting horse is making news.  But there is another one.  How many are there?  And at what point do you realize that your horse likes to paint?

Exterminator post in the NYT's racing blog

Please read this post I wrote for the New York Times' racing blog about my beloved Exterminator. . .