Sandi's Journey...: Just Horsen' Around Today...

Today Claude, Katelyn and I all had a day when we could do something together. We tossed out all kinds of ideas for a possible day trip. Then we settled on one...a trip to the Kentucky Horse Park.

We had all been before. Claude and I have been several times. Katelyn was there once when we had a Christensen Family Reunion here. She missed a lot and wanted to see it again. She also knew she could ride horses at the Horse Park.

We started our visit by hurrying to the Parade of Breeds. Usually this begins with a horse and rider carrying the Stars & Stripes into the arena for the National Anthem. Today a horse road around while they played "My Old Kentucky Home" (Kentucky's state song).

Next they usually have riders in costumes ride into the arena one at a time on a horse that their costume represents. They parade their horse around the arena while the narrator tells about the history and linage of that breed of horse. They end the show by having all 6 riders come back in at once and form a line of 6 different breeds of horses all together. Very impressive.

However, today they changed things up a bit. In about 2 months Lexington will host the 2010 Alltech World Equestrian Games. This is the first time they will ever have been held in the United States. It is a real honor and has caused a lot of heavy duty prep work to get ready for these games. These games are to the equine world as the Olympics are to the human world. A REALLY BIG DEAL!! So to prepare us for this event, the Parade of Breeds show this morning was a lesson in how they judge these horses in their disciplines.

The first horse was a Fresian. My these are gorgeous horses. They are very sturdy and large like the Clydesdale's with which we are so familiar. They are usually totally black with a long flowing tail and mane. The knights rode them many years ago.

The Fresian they showed us today was more brown in color but it was still a magnificient animal. The discipline the showed us with him was 'dressage'. My, I hope I spelled that correctly. This is almost like a dance done with rider and horse. The object is to get the horse to fluidly do all the moves it is told to do without it looking like the rider is giving any instruction. In fact, they really only use the slightest movement of their legs and maybe hand to accomplish this. They even usually wear white gloves to draw the judges eyes to the riders hands so they can track how little movement is shown. The horse has to change gaits on command by gently moving to the next gait. Katelyn took these pictures and she got this really great one.

Next we watched and Arabian go through it's paces. The discipline discussed with this horse was its stamina in those long endurance races. We were shown how they pace themselves for these really, really, really long races in the sand and hot sun. The riders wear bright clothing so they can be spotted if they get lost on the course and need to be rescued. We all wanted to come home and watch 'Hidalgo' after watching this pretty Arabian go through its paces. An item of note is the way their tail stays up in the air. This is done by some type of surgery to make the tail stay up like this. We were told this on a previous visit to the Horse Park. I alway marvel that the Arabian is a little smaller than a lot of the other breeds. I love the tail up in the air. These horses also seem to me to have a little different shape to the neck and head.

Now, I must plead a little ignorance. I do not know the breed of the next horse. I kept hearing something about Surrey but when I tried to research before doing this blog entry and I only find Surrey, England or Canada or some places in the United States named Surrey. They sell horses in each of these places. So I can't tell you the specific name for this breed. The discipline however I can remember. This horse showed the only American discipline to be used in competitions overseas. It is 'reining'. It comes of our old West heritage. The judges are watching to be sure the rider holds the reins loosely and how well the horse obeys commands given ever so gently with these reins. This was great fun to watch and the horse was perfectly beautiful in color and shape.

Next we were treated to 'something completely different' as they say on Monty Python. Often the Kentucky Horse Park is host to a visiting breed or group of horses or even a rider of a specific kind of show horse. When these guests are at the Horse Park they will sometimes perform at the Parade of Breeds. Today we happened to run into the cart and carriage driving group. Now, I'm sure that is not their real name, however it identifies what they are all about. They are from all over and they have several types of horses and they have a cart or a carriage (some are even antiques) that their animals pull them in. They dress in their finery and parade around or compete. We were treated to these carts or carriages and pulled by horses that ranged from the tiny miniatures to the standard size horse.

This was an unexpected treat and proof again that you can go to the Horse Park repeatedly and learn and experience something new each time...sort of like the Smithsonians' in Washington, DC.

They concluded their program like all other times with all those horses and riders returning to the arena. They line the fence around the arena and everyone can go and pet the horses over the fence and ask the riders questions.

The Mare & Foal show was to be next. We went to the Big Barn which the map told us was where it should be. No one was there. The horses and carriages were parked there but no Mare & Foal Show. We found a worker in the Big Barn and they told us the show was moved over to the Breed Arena. We just came from there. Before we headed back we did a photo-op with Katelyn to see how many hands tall she would be if she were a horse. Had to be done!!

Then we headed our happy bodies to a special exhibit at the Kentucky Horse Park. It is all about Arabian horses. This exhibit is located in the basement of the International Museum of the Horse and also on it's top floors. It was included in the price of the Horse Park ticket. I could have actually spent all day there. There were lots of artifacts and lots of posters with explanations of history in Arabia and Iraq areas.

I did learn something new. I thought a mule was the pairing in any combination of a horse and a donkey. I learned today that really a 'mule' is the pairing of a Jack (male donkey) and mare (female horse). Then a 'henny' is the pairing of a stallion (male horse) and a jenny (female donkey). Now, both and you, the reader, and me, the tourist, are more enlightened.

There were some absolutely beautiful originals of the Qu'ran. I read the Qu'ran last year. It was a copy Jake owns. It had the English translation but the Arabic writing was also included. I find that Arabic alphabet interesting to look at. I wonder if they see English as interesting to look at. Anyway, the books were beautifully written and were full of elegant calligraphy and drawings in bright colors. Just beautiful. You really wanted to turn the pages to see what the next page looked like but they had them in glass cases that made that very impossible.

Some of the clothing was beautifully embroidered. Some of the fabric was sheer with embroidery. They even had some of T.S. Lawrence's clothing (Lawrence of Arabia) on display. Even the horses jewelry was on display. Unbelievably elegant.

Then it was time to hoof it over to the stable for Katelyn to ride her horse. She really wanted to ride a horse while in Kentucky this time. Her ride was discounted by purchasing it with her admission ticket. She was one happy camper getting to ride her horse. Everyone under 18 must wear a helmet and everyone over 18 can wear one if they so choose. Took a bit of time to get all these riders in helmets and matched up to the appropriate sized horse.

Here is Katelyn in line to ride:

Here is Katelyn turning in her paperwork to ride:

Here is Katelyn waiting her turn to get on a horse:

Here is Katelyn on her horse waiting for the horses to line up for their ride. Her horses name is 'Flash'. This horse had only one little, tiny, eensy, bit of flash in him when he went down a hill on the trail they took. Other than that...not so much flash in 'Flash'.

This is Katelyn leaving the stables and riding on 'Eclipse' street. Now she loves the book 'Eclipse', the movie 'Eclipse' and is very much a 'Team Jacob' fan. She was very happy her ride left on 'Eclipse'.

This is Katelyn crossing the bridge to begin her ride:

This is Katelyn returning back to the stables after her ride:

This is happy Katelyn after her ride and with her Grampa:

We had just enough time to hurry back across the Horse Park to the Hall of Champions building. This is where they have some of the prize winning horses. It's a round building and the horses that reside in the small stable by this building have been there for a while. They were champion show horses, race horses, and harness racing horses. It is nice to see them have a purpose in their waning years. We saw video clips of their races or competitions. The horses are brought out one-by-one and walked around the circle so we can see them closely. I took pictures here but only with my cell phone. These I sent to Andie for Bailey who is going through a major horse loving phase.

We walked through the Draft Horse Barn on our way to the gift shop. Most of the horses were gone on their final rides of the day. But there were two Clydesdale horses, a matched pair, in their stalls eating. Their names...Thunder and Lightening.