Blue Skies -- Early morning greets the horseman in these times of change. Uploaded to Vimeo

In 1893 a financial panic gripped the United States. As a result many horse breeders left the business. Horseman were unable to pay fees at the tracks. Harness racing and horse breeding had entered difficult times. Many tracks closed. Later with the introduction of the automobile, the times were changing. Hod Nelson, who gained his fame through his champion trotting stallion Nelson, owned Sunnyside Stock Farm. The seventy acre farm was located on the Oakland Road in Waterville, Maine (now Kennedy Memorial Drive) with the Kennebec River to the East. This song perhaps reflects some of the emotions thought by horsemen during this time period. The horse was our worker in the field, our transportation to the marketplace, a key contributor to our economy, our warrior in the battlefield, and our entertainment at fairgrounds and trotting tracks throughout Maine. At one time trotting tracks were built in more than 100 Maine communities. Maine's harness horsemen, standardbred horses, horse breeding and harness racing have long been a Maine tradition -- a way of life.

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Blue Skies -- Copyright 2011 -- Stephen D. Thompson