My entire life my dad has worked 80 hours a week foaling thoroughbreds, and yesterday was no different other than the fact it was his 58th birthday. My husband, sister, niece and I decided to meet up at the farm armed with cupcakes and gift cards to celebrate the occasion.

The farms are always incredibly beautiful and there is always something unique to see. I wish it hadn't been dark and rainy when we got there, but I was able to catch some interesting things.

About 2 weeks ago or so the owners wife wanted to be driven around the farm in one of the many old stage coaches. I don't know the exact details, but from best I know she asked the driver if she could take over, and upon handing over the reigns the horse spooked and hit a branch which knocked the old lady over, then the coach hit a stump and threw her out, killing her. The coach had been moved a few hundred feet from the inital crash, but was still present on the farm as of yesterday.







I wish I had been able to capture better photographs of it, but I litterally had maybe 30 seconds to jump out and fire before I got ran off. It was also pitch dark and raining.

Around 10 my father notified us that most likely there would be a foaling soon, and sure enough at 11:40 a new colt emerged into the world. Except for the overhead florescent light all the other lights in the barn were off. For fear of my speedlight spooking or stressing the horse out I decided it would be best not to use it. Under the conditions I had to crank my ISO up to 1600, open up to f3.5 (which was wide open on my 10-22 wide angle) and 1/40th was about as fast as I could shoot. The shots are grainy and not as sharp as I would like, but with limited lighting and only about 2 feet in front of the stall door to move around in I feel like I got the best shots I could. WARNING BIRTH PICTURES AHEAD!
























The birth only took maybe 15 minutes max and went perfectly. If I ever see the little guy running in the derby I'll be sure to put my bets on him :-)

Happy birthday dad!