It's Derby Day! Have you picked your horse yet?

The horses are on their way to the paddock - everybody have your favorite selected?     My family, immediate and extended, always chooses a horse per person, and everyone antes a dollar.  I picked Union Rags earlier this week based on my usual system - I liked his face.  Turns out he's the favorite, which almost guarantees he won't win.  My track record is pretty unbroken in that regard!

I almost went with Daddy Long Legs, loved that book, but someone else picked him first. 

In the more ordinary horse world, not much has been going on the past week.  As directed, I've been doing stretching and bending exercises with Sunny daily.  It took him about 20 seconds to catch on to "touch" with the aid of the clicker, and now he'll stand planted, completely loose, and reach his neck around to touch his sides on request.  Both sides, too, which is an improvement.  And he's stepping across on both sides in back, as well.

On Thursday, in riding withdrawal, I couldn't resist and hopped on Thunder bareback with just a halter and lead and we tooled around the pasture for a bit.  Sunny watched and nickered at us, a bit baffled I think that he wasn't the one under me.

No lesson this week, as Eric headed for Minnesota's Sahara Sands Arabian show with a trailer load.

This morning I woke up to grey skies, ominous skies and shortly thereafter...

That was just the first wave - about half an hour later the sky delivered very enthusiastic reinforcements.

The rain gutters were overflowing.  Needless to say, the flowers I planted Thursday are flat, and since the flower bed I seeded last night looked like a baby river, I think it's safe to say if anything does come up it will all be at one end.

The windshields on both vehicles survived intact, thank goodness, although both hoods have some nice dings.  But the really important thing is the horses came through just fine.  From the looks of the trees as I drove out to check, I think the storm came through just far enough north that the worst of the hail missed them.

Looks like the riders are up, so I'm going to call this a post - Happy Racing, Everyone!