Yesterday was Valentine's Day and today is one of my favorite days of the year, February 15, the official beginning of thoroughbred breeding season. You don't have to be in the horse business to appreciate the significance of today. What the start of breeding season means here in central Kentucky is the unofficial start of spring. A time of new hope, a time to put away the past and look to the rejuvenation of life.
I didn't mean to get all philosophical on you, but its been a long cold winter, and the promise of spring is one of those things that brings a smile to everyone. Oh sure, we will have to put up with the multitude of horse vans and trailers that crowd the narrow lanes of the back roads of horse country, carrying their precious loads of amorous mares. The gleam in a stallions eye awaits their arrival. Eleven months from this mating, a potential foal could stand on wobbly legs and find its way to glory, down the road.
There is promise in this ritual, taking place every year at this time, inside the plank and stone fences, that make this a magical land. Many Kentuckians hurry through the country side and never know that love is in the air, just up each and every lane. That's what this day means to me. The promise of spring time and the promise of something new.
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