About Me

Welcome to Colour Outside The Lines on Trot Blogs.

My name is Kelly Spencer. If I were a racehorse (or in a gang) my name would be KSPENCE (kay-spence). Don’t kid yourelf – every happy little harness dork has their own horse name ready for the next life …

I’m the Marketing & Communications Mgr. and host of the Tarmac Show at Grand River Raceway in Elora, ON.

I also own & operate Iron Horse Photo Inc., which specializes in equine imagery, serving as the track photographer at four Ontario racetracks. I also write on a freelance basis for various trade publications.

Apparently, I was a Russian circus performer in a past life, and met a ghastly death at the hooves of my circus steed. I suppose this explains my complete lack of horsemanship in this life.

Most people on the front lines of the racing industry have an innate understanding of horses. You’ve seen it a zillion times: that truly wondrous, unspoken connection, evident in all extraordinary achievements and every mundane moment of the horse’s everyday routine. Horse and horseperson: they just get each other. Like an old, married couple: Natural. Comfortable. Intuitive. They pass gas in front of one another and neither one blinks. A beautiful thing, indeed.

I love to observe, photograph and promote that connection, but I don’t share it. I think horsemanship is a gift - like the ability to sing opera, play pro sports or wear high heels. Either you’ve got it, or you don’t. And I, uh, don’t.

So, Colour Outside The Lines is a blog about harness racing, by someone who couldn’t harness a horse if her life depended on it. Luckily, that’s not a prerequisite for understanding, respecting, or loving it.