The Great Mill Reef

Yes, it's been awhile. Diving into the activities, my parents made a successful journey over to England to visit me during Easter Break. Among other things we visited Winterbourne Botanical Gardens (earlier I posted about them), the Museum of the Jewellry Quarter (earlier I posted about this too), campus w/the Barber Institute of Fine Art--some really cool Swedish light painters were on exhibit, and then this brings us to the new stuff. Mainly, this brings us to the home of the Bard, Shakespeare. Stratford-upon-Avon was recommended in our guide we were following. I can now say I've been there and I do not care to go back. For those of you familiar with Wyoming, think Jackson Hole. For those of you not familiar, think of the nearest tourist trap and apply to this situation. Stratford-upon-Avon is touristy up the wahzoo. It's pretty enough, but just not my kind of place to go visit. (Then again, my family and I aren't your average tourists anyway.)

The next spot on our journey was visiting Newmarket, a tiny town, and I have decided my favorite place in England. A bit of background, it's easy to see why it is my favorite--it is the home of Thoroughbred racing and breeding in England. THIS ladies and gentlemen, friends and relatives, advisors etc, this is the main reason I came over here. To say I was wired during the time I spent there would be an understatement. Newmarket has the best gallops in the world (or so our guide told us.) I was not about to dispute him because in America, we don't have gallops.(lol) The Irish however, might take exception with his statement. A gallop is a grassy heath or field, basically, that horses train over, i.e. gallop over for example.

We visited the National Horse Racing Museum, took a tour around Newmarket, the gallops, a training yard (the European term for training stable), and drove past several major studs. To help with terminology, all the time I was saying, "this fellow is a stud", stud refers to studfarms, OR it can refer to a stallion who is the premier stallion standing on a studfarm. (Clarification.) That afternoon, we visited the National Stud at Newmarket. For an explanation of pictures, the colt in the picture, is 4-6 weeks old at the time I shot the photo. I wish I had known his dam's (mother's) name because I feel he will become a quality horse. For one thing, he is very well grown, for a foal this young. For another thing, his temperment was exemplary, which surprised me quite a bit. He was a bit of a ham and loved the attention, being smart enough to know that if he walked over and stood by the fence, he'd get loved on. He didn't give a hoot he was over 25 yards from his dam, whereas another foal in the field, was glued to her mother's side. Smart horse, wish I had a name.

A statue of Mill Reef on top of the stone at the National Stud, where he stood for many years. The next photo is of the inscription on the back of the stone of the second photo. This was taken from Mill Reef's owners speech in 1970. It makes me teary eyed every time I read it. (D'oh.) Thoroughbreds are bred for many different qualities, but one of them is for their heart, and I'm not talking the organ that beats in their ribcage, but instead it's their desire to win, and to fight when another horse comes at them in a race. Some horses have brilliant talent but no heart and lose in races that if they'd had just a little heart they would have won. Some horses lack talent, and are the equivalent of a three-legged cat forced to swim in an olympic size pool the 1600 meter. This later class of horses sometimes pull off a victory on their heart. Mill Reef was a greatly talented racehorse, who after being put to stud was a success there as well.

Until I post the rest of my "Parents trip to England" these were the highlights so far.

Cheers,
The Flying Sunshine