While visiting a thoroughbred barn one of the workers told me the story about this cat. Her name is Skunky and she was the eldest barn cat at the facility. However, her exact age wasn’t known since she was found years ago at an abandoned barn somewhere else. She was rescued and found a home at this barn and had been there ever since.

Her age did show as she moved a bit slower than all the other cats and normally had a tired expression on her face. Most of the time I was there she was either sleeping or sun bathing along the edge of the barn.

Later in the day I was at the end of the barn when Skunky was walking by. Behind me something skittered away, perhaps a mouse or a small bird, I'm not sure. Whatever it was caught her attention and she froze just like this, revealing for the first and only time to me that day her beautiful gold eyes. I had just enough time to grab this single picture before she calmed down and curled up on a nearby chair to rest.

She may have been the oldest cat in the barn, but she hadn’t lost her touch or her beauty.


Taken at Philadelphia Park racetrack.