Unbridled excitement in Northern Virginia for new equine performance center

We're very, very spoiled and lucky to have such a world class facility right on our doorstep. We start in the YES Clinic, where we'll do a complete orthopedic examination. Can you square him up for me? The first part of examining an athlete who has a lameness problem is to do a very complete and thorough examination of all of their joints and muscles and tendons to determine, you know, if there's swelling, if there's pain on pressure, and if there's any conformational abnormalities. Oh, what a good boy. And then once we complete that examination, we need to see the horse in motion and put those two pieces together to determine, you know, what's the next step. Here we are in the arena, part of our sports medicine facility, where we have several different surfaces so that lameness clinicians can examine horses. Both on very hard footing, rubber footing that's softer, and also on the ideal footing for athletics. It's especially formulated footing made by Attwood. And it has fiber in it and it has a chemical in it that pulls water into it, so that it doesn't ever get dusty. The Attwood surface is certainly like riding on a cloud. It's pretty much the best that you can get. So it's really lovely to have that in there. You know, your horses feel really good on that surface. For this surface, it does look hard, but if you walk on it, it's quite different from the asphalt and this absorbs some of the concussion as horses are working. That helps us to see the difference between how a horse will move when they're on a highly concussive surface, such as asphalt, versus this softer footing that absorbs some of that concussion. And there's certain types of problems in horses that show up on that footing, certain problems that show up better on this footing. And then certain problems that show what better on the soft arena footing. Certainly, if I'm coming for a lameness exam in December, I'd much rather be cozied up in here than I would be outside on the sidewalk. I think, you know, it's giving them the best of the best to offer. Having an enclosed environment for me is most important for having the horse feel less distracted bringing them into an enclosed area where you don't have to worry about them. Getting distracted by other horses calling out to each other is huge. It makes a big difference in our ability to detect lameness and problems. He is nice, it's beautiful. I mean, every detail is right where it needs to be, right. The footing is great. They have everything they need to do. A full and complete evaluation of your horse on every surface looks great. I'm thrilled. I've been dreaming about something like this for the 17 years that I've worked here. And now that it's here, I have to pinch myself every day I come to work because this is amazing.