Sports Illustrated Longform Piece on Jeff Lukas

I'm a little late pointing this one out, but Sports Illustrated ran a really interesting longform piece about Jeff Lukas by Tim Layden. Here is the way you get into a story; Layden writes, "It’s a very different life from the one he once lived, when some of the wealthiest and most powerful men in America gave his father their money to buy and race thoroughbreds, and his father entrusted him with much of the work involved in developing those horses into wildly profitable running and breeding machines. But that was before the accident that almost killed him." Click here to read the rest.

Bill Hyers: A pretty good horse-picker

Today's Washington Post has an article about a campaign manager named Bill Hyers. As they do for many people, horses (these are Thoroughbreds) provide him with something outside the norm of his hectic and pressure-filled life. Beautiful photos, fascinating subject--a man who calls himself a pretty good horse-picker--and a great read.

Mt. Furball

By Kitson

A chilly day at the barn had me admiring the winter coats that Chico and Taff have been growing...

A peachy haflinger mountain of warm horse hair against a brilliant, cold Midatlantic sky today.

Taff is registered as black but...

My fingers were so cold I couldn't keep my iPhone steady, which resulted in Chico gaining and extra leg and some weird fur patterns in his hair.

Horse wandering on Tulsa highway rescued

This story reminds us how important it is to go the extra mile to help. In this case, some people helped a horse in Oklahoma get off the highway. (How scary is it to imagine your horse breaking free? Terrifying.) At least this has a happy ending. . .check those fences!

Time warp!

Very classic, beautiful photograph that looks like it could have been taken a hundred years ago. Look at the way the handler is standing, the building in the background. . .

Horses in The Washington Post

By Kitson

I've noticed that The Washington Post has done a really nice job covering horse topics recently, like the lead photo in this beautiful essay about Virginia written by my neighbor Mike Ruane. My story about a young rider with Cavalia's "Odysseo" and three other young riders was in the paper today. I had originally pitched my editor on a bunch of kids hoping she'd pick one, but instead we did all four of them with a focus on the theme of how much work is (happily) involved with horses.

The rescue horse girl (Emily Benton) will also be featured in stories I'm doing for upcoming issues of Horse Illustrated and Young Rider magazines. It has been fun to highlight the story of Chino's rescue and his connection with his girl. Here's the awesome video that compelled me to share their story with as many people as I could. It was also really great to highlight the super work of Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Woodbine, MD.

Behind the Scenes with Cavalia in DC

By Kitson

This morning I had the chance to step into the world of Cavalia before the show opens on October 9. I interviewed a young rider (more on that later) and got to watch the horses' first workout since arriving in DC after two weeks of vacation after their Boston show. Check it out:

The tents have a special suspension system and stand 125 feet tall (the size of a 10-story building).

Coming off a two-week vacation can be tough.

The first day back to work involved 100 percent ground work.

The show has 64 horses representing 11 different breeds including paints, quarter horses, Arabians, Appaloosas, and Pura Raza Espanol.

Cute buckskin wanted to stop and chat.

Change of direction... adorable horse on the left who caught my eye every time he came around (that's him below, also).

The 60+ horses of the show are all geldings and stallions from come from Spain, Portugal, France, The Netherlands, Germany, the U.S. and Canada.