Kentucky at last!

We finally made our way to Lexington. Lexington is the home to horse country in the US. The Woman had planned well – we were staying at a public campground known as the Kentucky Horse Park. All the while we were in the Smoky Mountain, when folk would as where we were heading next, we would say Lexington. The first words out of each of their mouths were “are you going to the Kentucky Horse Park?” And I am not even kidding – I bet we talked to well over a dozen people, and each one asked that first. So, the Woman obviously did good.

We actually spent most of two days in the park, because there is that much to do here. The first thing we found out was that some of the most famous thoroughbreds in history are buried here. Although never actually a Triple Crown winner (only because his owner didn’t like racing in Kentucky for some reason and refused to enter him in the Kentucky Derby), Man o’War, set world record in both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, winning the Stakes by 20 lengths in 1920. In fact, 1920 turned out to be a season when he won all 11 races he was entered in – a year undefeated! Over his two year racing career, he won 20 of the 21 races he was entered in. Because of this impressive record, many believe him to be the greatest thoroughbred racehorse ever. Man o’War is buried here under a massive memorial. Apparently it is not customary to embalm horses when they die – Man o’War is the first horse in history to be embalmed prior to burial.

The customary burial for horses is to bury their head, their heart and their hooves, and then cremate the rest of the horse – the head because of their smarts, their heart because the heart of a horse is revered, and their hooves because they fly like the wind. We visited the traditional burial site for Triple Crown winner Secretariat and a former Kentucky Derby winner, Cigar, who lived at the Park up until last year. At the Kentucky Horse Park, when a traditional horse burial occurs, the cremated remains of the rest of the horse are spread around the entire grounds of the Park in memorial.

Near the memorials we learned about the distinctive walls that, combined with the split rail fencing, create the distinctive and picturesque look of the Kentucky horse country. Apparently all over this part of Kentucky the topsoil lies on vast bed of limestone. It was so plentiful, easy to get at and came up easily in slabs, the locals built miles and miles of walls from it. The slabs were such perfect form that they developed a no mortar style of wall brought to the colonies by Irish stone masons, just stacking the limestone in a way that its own weight would keep it in place. Today a nonprofit organization works to preserve these artifacts dating back to the 1700’s.
 

We also got some insight into why we often see double layers of the split rail fencing around the horse pastures, the rows being maybe 6 or so feet apart. Because the thoroughbred horses are so valuable, the double fencing keeps onlookers from being able to touch the horses. Also, because the stallions are not generally gelded, they are type A and prone to biting, so keeping the onlookers away from the horses keeps liability costs in line. Also, some say that due to the high value of the thoroughbreds, a car that leaves the road and careens into the horse pasture will likely stop after hitting the first fence and not penetrate the second, thereby protecting the owner’s investment.
 

The Woman couldn’t stand being around all these horses without mounting one. But when she finally got on one, she was going so fast I couldn’t get a good focus for the shot!
 

There are two museums within the park dedicated to horses. The International Horse Museum is impressive. The museum contains equestrian artifacts that date back to several centuries BC. Some of the Roman and early Syrian artifacts were particularly interesting, including decorative stonework as well as horse armor. Artifacts through the centuries were fun to stroll through. Items from the earliest settlement in the United States were particularly interesting. As time moved on, the artifacts became more current. Those from the early days of competitive horse racing were quite fun.
 

Eventually we got to the trophy area, where the trophies from some of the most celebrated thoroughbreds in history were on display. We saw trophies from wins by Man-O-War, Affirmed, Secretariat, and even the Belmont Stakes Trophy awarded to Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew in 1977.

The live shows were by far the best, and the part of the Park the Woman really enjoyed. First in the Hall of Champions, they brought out 4 horses for us to meet who had been winners of prestigious races. Two of the horses were thoroughbreds and Kentucky Derby winners, Go for Gin and Funny Cide. The others two were harness racing champions, Western Dreamer and Da Hoss. It apparently common if horses are raised in the area that if they have retired and can no longer be used for breeding, they may live out the rest of their lives giving demonstrations at the Park – not a bad life!

The next show was a display of all different types of horses that have been popular in recent times, along with their riders wearing historically accurate garb. The horses ranged from formal English dressage horses, to Celtic draft horses, to the typical horse that the Norse warriors would ride, to an absolutely gorgeous dark Arabian steed.

The Woman liked this show the best. First of all, the horses and riders were both dressed up elegantly and brought back images we all have grown up with. Each new horse and rider combination took you to a different memory and internal vision.

But the real reason it was her favorite was because after the show, the horses and riders come back out and spend as much time at the rails as the show participants wanted. You could touch and interact with the horses, and you could chat with the riders as well. While the Woman did enjoy chatting with the riders, she was really all about whispering to the steeds themselves. I am sure we could have hung around for a few hours and the Woman would not have noticed, but we eventually decided to scope out all the parts of the Park that we had not yet taken advantage of.

We spent most of the day at the Park, so we just headed back to Colectiva. We cracked out the bikes and were going to try to find the Legacy Trail we had read about. It is a 14 mile paved bike trail that leads from the Kentucky Horse Park to downtown Lexington. But we didn’t make it that far. We had been hearing distant sounds of PA announcements that sounded a bit like some kind of event. Well, as we drove around the back areas of the Kentucky Horse Park, we stumbled upon the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show, part of the 2015 Kentucky Horse Show Series, and it was in full glory.

The 2015 USHJA International Hunter Rider Derby Championship was in progress at the Rolex Stadium. The USHJA (US Hunter/Jumper Association) is the official US Equestrian Federation regulating show jumping. We stumbled upon a tent based pub that had two chairs and a small table right along the rail of one of the competition rings. so we parked the bikes, the Woman grabbed a Chardonnay and I grabbed a Bourbon Barrel Ale (brewed at the historic Town Branch Distillery in Lexington) and we watched the best horse jumping event we had ever seen. And we were literally sitting just arms reach from the competitors!

It turned out that we had selected the exactly the right kind of transportation for this event. The Park in the competition area is really tight, and so cars are precluded. But everything is set up for folk having golf carts. So there are golf cart paths winding through everything, and of course bikes are welcome as well. We spent a couple hours just chilling, sipping, and watching world class show jumping. What a great time!

Then we learned that this weekend the Kentucky Horse Park is holding the 2015 Park Equine International Polo Cup Championship. Polo teams from all over the world converge on Lexington. Well, it turns out that because the International Show Jumping event is running now on the grounds that will be used for the Polo Championships this weekend, the teams were using the huge field directly behind Colectiva to practice. So as we had our daily campfire, we sat and watched a South American team (couldn’t figure exactly which team though) practice, and it was great fun – bonus!

 

Talk to you soon!