Arcadia, CA – Santa Anita Park

Last Updated on August 10, 2015 by

Growing up, my family owned a 10 acre ranch complete with chicks, chickens, pigs, wild donkeys, llamas (we’re Peruvian), goats, a giant Christmas tree farm, and last but not least, 25 Thoroughbreds we would raise and train for racing. You would think I would have a love for horses and great memories of riding my horse for miles and miles in a romanticized manor. But unfortunately, my experience with our horses was cleaning their pens, balling hay, feeding, and washing them. I once rode a five year old mare bare back for about 10 minutes. I was suppose to be warming her up but she gave me a look while I was putting her bridle on that said “Hey… you gonna get on today? I won’t tell,” and then I swear she smiled at me. I ran her around the corral a couple of times, then I grabbed her my the mane (that I hadn’t yet braided) and hopped on. It was a great 10 minutes, yet kind of painful – bare back riding is not as fun as it sounds. 🙂

Although I didn’t really get to ride them, I did get to go to the race track to see them run and man did I love it, I still go now any chance I get. My favorite part would be in the winner’s circle waiting for our picture to be taken. The horses would still be cooling down from the race and I would place my hand right above one of the front legs and I could feel their hearts pumping so hard still. I could literally feel my hand being pushed away from the force of the heart beat.

A few weeks ago I went out to Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, CA to watch the races. It was a great day of betting, popcorn coma, and the coldest beers ever. 🙂 I walked around for a couple hours, camera in hand and shot everything that caught my eye. Here are a few of my favorite shots. Can’t wait for next month’s live races!