My apologies for the paucity of posts this last week. I travelled to Eugene, Oregon to photograph the 50th Anniversary Interstate Championship Games, and the pics are finally ‘in the can’ so I can (briefly) relax and blog. The top 20 Washington patterned horse racing riders compete against the top 20 Oregon riders every year to see which state takes home the title.

There’s something about the people at the horse shows that I have always liked. I’ve met so many decent, friendly people there, and Interstate was no exception. Perhaps its that they have more horse-sense than I am used to dealing with in liberal Seattle. It was incredibly refreshing to have the colors presented at the beginning of the show, everyone standing, the Lee Greenwood song “I’m Proud to Be an American” playing, and nobody sneering at the flag.

These guys work hard.

But they also play hard and have fun.

God bless the USA.