Cheryl and I spent the last three days in Ocala at our farm there, visited Darren each day at his nearby Independence Farm. He has been there nearly a week now, and is making rapid and very noticeable progress each day. His comment upon our first seeing him, with huge smile: "I'm BACK!". From his point of view, he has been in a semi-daze, lying in a hospital bed for about forty days and then about ten days ago suddenly "woke up" all at once. To others it did not appear so much "on-off", but from his side of things it did. The trouble he had with walking, balance, coordination, and left-sided weakness are all rapidly clearing and are nearly undetectable to the casual observer. His speech is perfect. Well, let me restate that: his speech is precisely like it has always been - a bit quick, a tad naughty, and mostly incredibly passionate and infectiously cheerful. There have been a few mild short-term memory faults, but his overall memory is 98% intact and the rest is in there, it just takes some time to "access" it sometimes. Watching him recover all the intricate and subtle details of sport, politics, and his horse business is actually fascinating, especially since it is obvious that it is all still there and coming back to his conscious mind at light speed.

He is working out every day, going to rehab of one sort or another daily, visiting with friends most of the day, on and off the phone and text messaging all day in between.

Three days ago a young Trakehner mare he owns foaled a black Windfall colt, with his sire's exact markings (a few white hairs on left hind heel), and he is so thrilled with it that every visitor must be taken over to the nearby Live Oak Stud, where they are being tended. Darren is not driving vehicles yet, but that safety precaution may get lifted sooner than we like. Keeping him off horses a while longer is an even bigger struggle, and not going real well.

Darren is eager to reassume full control over his life and affairs, but he will need a little continued help from his very good and capable friend, Chester Weber, who just keeps on giving - his time, effort, and everything else, to keep Darren's farm operating. And after Rolex, it just so happened that the airplane flight that Gina Miles arranged for returning her McKinlaigh to the West Coast passed through Ocala Airport, so she hopped aboard, disembarked at Ocala, and stayed for awhile, riding some of the horses on Darren's farm, helping with driving, and many other things that Darren needs to begin tending to. Gina is an amazing woman, with great abilities, and an intense desire to help Darren get back to full speed. They are working together on the very important safety issues their co-chaired committees have been charged with, and although Darren is not ready to lead, he is DEFINITELY "advising" in his old persuasive way.

The bottom line is: everyone should know that Darren is most assuredly "back" and will soon be totally recovered. His sincerity in appreciation of all the help and support he and his family have received from the horse community is evident and expressed many times each day.