Aiken, South Carolina

I'm driving up to Aiken, South Carolina this weekend to check out the growing horse community. It's my understanding that the polo, hunter/jumper, eventing, dressage and driving genres are flocking to Aiken. Great weather, affordable real estate and open space are just a few reasons for these relocating horse people. Visiting a gallery/gift shop which has a few of my pieces on consignment is on my list of things to do. "Equine Divine" is owned and operated by Lydia DelRossi who I've not yet had the pleasure of meeting even though we've conversed via e-mail and phone conversation.

The talented journalist Ben Baugh now calls Aiken his home. We met back in the day of Wire to Wire when I was working in production and he was a free-lance writer. He's become quite the writer extrodinaire at the Aiken Standard local newspaper, covering equine events, features and the like. I'm looking forward to seeing him. When I described to Ben our new Florida Horse Park and it's cool cross-country course he informed me that Aiken has five (5!) in the surrounding area.

Here's the race call of Howie's (a.k.a. Howdy Pardner) race yesterday at Calder. He finished second to a buzzsaw. The world of horse racing is fraught with the bittersweet emotions of expectation and disappointment. He ran his best and we're proud of him. That's me urging him on in the background.