The Kentucky Horse Park, a fabulous 1200 acre theme park dedicated to our equine friends, is just down the road in Lexington. It contains the International Museum of the Horse, an impressive depiction of the history of the horse's interaction with humans through the centuries. It reminded us that until the industrial revolution, pretty much all long-distance powered human travel was horse-based. Horses were used in warfare, in farm work, and as beasts of burden and pullers of wagons and sleds. Thus they have been extremely important in human endeavors - although nowadays they aren't needed nearly as critically as before, especially in developed countries, and serve today mostly for our entertainment and aesthetic pleasures.
The horse park also is a working farm in some respects. There are various demonstrations and shows throughout the day. A number of rather famous horses reside at the park, and the Hall of Champions displays some of them to the paying customers. Here is Nancy with her new best friend, Point Given, the winner of the Preakness and Belmont Stakes in 2001, the year he was named American Horse of the Year. And he's a nice horse - not stuck up at all.
Another event is the Parade of Breeds, where we were shown some of the rich variations that have resulted from selective breeding. This one is called a Gypsy Vanner, and it gets its name because this was the horse that pulled Gypsy wagons across Europe.
The following day we signed up for an afternoon with Unique Horse Farm Tours. Our tour guide and driver was Shawn, a long-timer in the industry who has worked for and knows many of the horse farm owners. We stopped at a field containing mares and their beautiful and impossibly long-legged young colts.
Then we dropped by a gorgeous farm where Seattle Slew, the triple crown winner in 1977 and one of the greatest studs in history, was buried whole, a great honor, with his favorite blanket and a bag of peppermints (which he loved to eat). A statue was erected on the site.
At another beautiful farm its billionaire owner, who according to Shawn came from nothing, and his wife dropped by to welcome us. Inside the barn we got up close and personal with a son (not yet named) of the last triple crown winner, in 2015, American Pharaoh.
We're really enjoying this area, with its rolling green hills, massive horse farms, the unique and beautiful architecture of their barns and stables, and those magnificent animals. And we have tickets for the thoroughbred races at Keeneland next Wednesday.
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