Kisses takes the WIN: Fun times at Vernon Downs

OK...so I am a little Kisses obsessed on here, but even though the horses are not my thing, (They are Mark's horses) I have to admit, I am kind of feeling like his wins are my proud momma moments. This year I have been to the track more then any year Mark had owned the horses, and I feel like Vernon Downs is like my second home. Of course a win is always the best nights, but I am thankful that Vernon keeps the allure of bringing the whole family to the track with their own added events. 

Previous years have been corn eating contests, free items, of course the pony toss (little soft horses thrown to win prizes) and the intermission of the dancing horse in tune with the Star Spangle banner (These are most nights), this year they had Corgi races. Corgi like the DOGS.....

There must have been 100-200 little corgi pups running all over the place. Who would have even thunk there were that many corgi owners in the Central NY area. It was absolutely insane. They are adorable however, and the races were fun to watch. 

 One evening they had a reptile rescue to visit. We were even encouraged to hold some of these scaly critters. 

I choose to only hold the cute little tortoise. Those scales and slithering creatures can stay on someone else's arms on kept safely in their cage. 

The hosts were very well informed and eager to provide us with answers to any questions. Did you know that there is a difference between a turtle and a tortoise? Tortoise live on land, they are not great swimmers, (I think you can tell by their feet, but I'm not sure, I thought this women said that turtles have more webbed like feet, but google did not credit this as a feature differentiating the two.) Turtles are the swimmers. 

She also informed they can live to be 80-150 years old.  The size also matters about their lifespan, but even she seemed confused about this so I'm not sure. Will this bigger guy live longer or is he older? That wasn't clear.

These animals are all rescues. They are not wildlife rescues but pet rescues. They were mostly donated by families that couldn't care for them any longer, and they actually found one of the snakes wondering the halls of an apartment building...ah YIKES. 

The guy below....looks like an advertisement for that show Is it cake? I am almost sure I saw a picture of a cake that looked like this guy. 

This Albino Burmese Python was actually bred to be this color. Although it does happen in the wild, it is rare and they do not often survive as they lack the ability to camouflage himself. This guy below is also a bred species of snake. You can see his white colorization. I didn't get much information about him as he was being passed around by people. Yep....you can keep them both. 

During the week of the fourth of July although Kisses didn't win that night. He came in 4th, but it was super super close. They had a fireworks show and a carnival.