Sanity Check: I wanna be a thoroughbred

Being the Kentuckian I am, I take pride in the beautiful horse country for which my home state is known. What's really sad, however, is the fact that I'd never really appreciated the horse business and knew virtually nothing about it. I can now say that has changed since our recent trip home to visit family.

My dad was able to get us on a couple of tours, one at Keeneland Thoroughbred Race Track in Lexington and the other at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway. We went to Keeneland first, and although they weren't currently racing while we were visiting, we did get to go to the track and watch the horses work out and train.

We were so impressed by the horses' beauty and strength! Check out these magnificent animals...

Before leaving Keeneland, we had breakfast at the track kitchen, which was a real treat, and then we headed over to Three Chimneys Farm in Midway. This horse farm is quite the place!

Three Chimneys is basically a thoroughbred breeding farm. It's absolutely gorgeous and the horses residing there are treated like royalty! The winner of the 2008 Kentucky Derby, Big Brown, will be residing at Three Chimneys and there are lots of other well-known horses also on the premises, including Dynaformer and Smarty Jones. These horses no longer race, but are bred with hopes of siring future successful racehorses.

Here are a couple of pictures of the grounds at Three Chimneys...

Here's Smarty Jones, the resident hot shot. He's the undefeated Kentucky Derby winner and has retired as the fifth richest American Thoroughbred of all time. He's ALL THAT and more...

And here's Dynaformer, the big stud of the farm. He's been the Top Five sire for five of the last six years and sired 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. You too can have Dynaformer bred with your mare for $150,000. He's got some seriously strong swimmers!

We toured the farm and learned LOTS about how horses are bred. We were shown the "reception room" where the mares are brought to the farm to be prepared for breeding. The reception room is where they meet "the teaser," who... ahem... flirts with them and gets them ready to "receive" the stallion. Is this a horse farm or a horse brothel? TMI already! I almost wanted to cover the ears of my boys!

Here are a few more shots of the beautiful countryside surrounding the farm...