Kentucky was a long week, and there is so much to tell I had to put it into three parts (honestly it could go even longer). If you missed it check out Ammies at AECs…Part 1 as well as Ammies at AECs…Part 2. This week I wrap up with some of our touristy experience and the final days of our trip.
Our experience in Kentucky was amazing. Despite the competition itself not going as planned and the dominating heat we were really enjoying the trip. Since Sunday was no longer a competition day the five of us had some time to be tourists.
We first walked down the Memorial Walk of Champions and through the Hall of Champions, it was conveniently next to our barn. The Memorial Walk is the final resting place of several high-earning horses over the past few decades. The horses inside the Hall of Champions were resting so we did not disturb them (I’m sure they get it all day long from well-intending guests).
From the Hall of Champions we walked to the Big Barn. This barn was only half filled (if that) as part of it is used to showcase horse drawn carriages. This gigantic structure is home to some massive drafts. We met some American Cream Drafts, Suffolk Punch, Belgian, Percheron, Shire. I’m convinced I need to have a 19-hand Percheron in my field someday. The original 2/3 of this barn was built in 1897 as Ashland Wilkes Farm and soon after changed hands to Walnut Hall Farm. In the 1920s it was enlarged to its current size…463ft long and 74 feet wide, one of the largest barns in America. Since then renovations have been made to reinforce the structure so it will stand for many more years.
After making friends with the draft horses we swung over to the breeds barn. This was a beautifully designed open-concept barn centered around a small riding ring. The stalls opened to either side and everything was uniform and aesthetically pleasing. But it also looked like the flow of this barn worked well too. At different times each day, a handful of the horses in this barn are presented at the breeds showcase. They change which horses do each show so they have time to relax in their stalls. We saw a Chincoteague pony, dales pony, mustang, thoroughbred, Dutch Warmblood, highland pony, gypsy vanner and lots more.
After the barns we walked downhill and my eyes fell upon Sergent Reckless. This amazing mare carried men and ammo throughout the Korean War. She made trips solo many times amidst enemy fire and made it back to the United States with the Marines to retire and mother a couple foals. She makes you realize what soft lives our horses have today. You can read a little more about her on my post from years ago: Memorial Day For Equines. It was great to see her statue in person.
We walked through a cute Kids Museum. This was a small barn with different stations inside each “stall.” There were TVs with a helmet cam of racing, eventing, reining, and more. In front of the TVs were models of horses or barrels you could sit on for an immersive experience. It was a great idea to engage children, and I even got in the jockey saddle! One of the stalls had a life-sized horse doll made of nightmares. The eyes were placed on the front of its head and looked very worried about its predicament.
We made our way to the Museum of the Horse. It was under heavy renovations, so we entered a different entrance. Upon our arrival we were swept into Arabian everything. We were in the Al Marah Arabian Horse Galleries. It was overwhelming how much information they had on Arabians alone.
As it happens the museum only had four of its ten exhibits on display. The first was the Arabian gallery which dominated the museum upstairs and downstairs.
The next gallery was Calumet Farm. The collection contained over 560 trophies and paintings of their many horses.
We then passed through a gallery dedicated to Affirmed. Affirmed became only the thrid triple crown winner in 1978 and he held that title until 2015 when American Pharoah finally won the triple crown.
We also saw some very very old horse-drawn carriages.
Perhaps my favorite part of the museum was seeing the skeleton of Lexington. Lexington was another famous racehorse I had not known much about until I read Horse by Geraldine Brooks. You might recall my review in The Book Club, if not here’s a link: The Sunday Review: Horse By Geraldine Brooks.
To be honest, I was underwhelmed by the museum, but perhaps because we saw only 40% of it and mostly about Arabians. I’m also not a huge museum fan but when it’s a subject I enjoy I am a little more captivated.
Outside the museum, my eye was drawn to two large chairs. These two chairs were among the 8 that surrounded fence 10 at America’s first hosting of the World Three-Day Event Championships in 1978.
We walked over to the Man o War statue. The sculpture dates back to 1948 by Herbert Haseltine and honors the great racehorse Man O War. Our friend loves the story of this horse and I learned a lot about him that day, including what a bond he and Will Harbut were. They died less than a month apart from each other. I will certainly be picking up a few books on him because what a story!
We also saw the Secretariat statue, erected in 2004 by Edwin Bogucki standing in front of the main entrance of the park. There’s another statue in the Secretariat Center. We didn’t visit this building because it appeared to be private property.
Also outside the welcome center is Frisky Filly and the Promise, hiding within the garden bed and constructed in 2002 by Gwen Reardon.
Inside the welcome center we visited the gift shop so I could get a green KHP t- shirt, a bottle of bourbon (when in Rome), and a pink KHP tumbler.
We sat in one of the theaters showing some equine history, and we took a group photo in a huge picture frame. It came out so realistic!
Behind the center stands another statue “The Spirit of the American Morgan” another work of art by Gwen Reardon and made in 1988.
We passed through the mounted police barn on our way to check in at the barn. The entire park is so lovely. Truly a horseman’s dream come true.
After being tourists for most of the day Tiger was due for some attention and we helped get our friend Nancy ready for her stadium round. The pair were 3rd in beginner novice going into the last phase of the competition. We didn’t catch their XC but the dressage was LOVELY!
Over by Rolex we took a moment to appreciate the statue of the legendary Bruce Davidson (Sr) aboard Eagle Lion, sculpted by Jean Clagett. Buck won the Kentucky Three Day Event 6 times and was the first American to win Badminton in 1995. He was USEA’s rider of the year in 1975 and 14 consecutive years from 1982-1995. He was a Pan-Am medalist many times and represented the US in the Olympics 5 times. He’s one of, if not THE most prolific eventers in American history…a legend. We see his son Bruce Davidson Jr at shows (Suzanne and him warmed up in the same ring at Millbrook HT and he photobombed her) and it’s thrilling to be in the same vicinity.
Back to Nancy!
I stood by the grandstands as Suzanne assisted Nancy during warmup. I waited for a few shots of them as they descended the iconic ramp leading into Rolex Stadium.
When it was their turn they entered, cool and collected, and began their stadium round. Unfortunately, the pair took a rail halfway through causing them to fall to 12th place…BUT STILL IN THE RIBBONS. At American Eventing Championships it is an honor just to get there, it’s exceptional to finish, and it’s icing on the cake to get a victory lap in the ribbon ceremony. I teared up as I watched the pinning ceremony and final laps. All of these riders have come from across the country and sacrificed a lot. I may not have been showing recognized shows myself but I know what goes into it all…and I was bursting with pride for ALL of them. It’s inspiring to be surrounded by great horse-people.
In part 1 I had mentioned that we shared a tack stall with 3 other riders. Although we didn’t get to see Sam much nor did we see her ride I was able to catch Kathryn’s Novice rides for dressage and cross country. Her horse Borky is a gem. He loves napping and sour patch kids and had a personality that made me think of Stanley. They lovely pair finished their competition on their dressage score.
We returned to our barn after Nancy’s victory lap and our other friend was beginning to pack up to get on the road. Around 7pm we started to see a crew of people with shovels and a gigantic machine with a plow blade.
They began clearing out stalls and throwing shavings into the aisle. We put the dots together that the giant machine would be scraping the center of the aisle shortly after and they would be moving to our aisle.
Suzanne took Tiger for a walk before it could go any farther. We were completely confused about why this was happening at 7pm with horses still present and in stalls…some in the aisle being tacked or untacked and ridden on the pavement. Our friend had already pulled her truck and trailer down the aisle to assist with loading and packing, with the intent of leaving for their overnight roadtrip.
The crew piled shavings 3 feet high less than 5 feet away from her trailer door…and piled shavings in front of her rig, too. We were trying to stop them and they stared at us blankly and kept going like robots. The man in the big machinery came over to talk with us and put the blame on the Kentucky Horse Park. He “was just doing what he was told” instead of using common sense.
Horses in the stalls were panicking and rearing as he drove the machine down the aisle and scraped the pavement. I was so glad that Tiger was out for a walk.
Kentucky Horse Park told us that we had until 7am the next morning to leave…so horses were still there until morning….so the men would have to come back and do this ALL OVER AGAIN once every horse was gone. I can’t be the only one to see how asinine this was and how unnecessary it was let alone how dangerous it could have been/was. The machine could easily have handled the few extra stalls the next morning without risking any horses or humans and without wasting all of that time doing it twice.
This whole ordeal truly put a tarnish on my entire view of the horse park. I understood they had another show coming in but there was no reason to go through and scrape stalls twice when there was other work around the park to do.
I didn’t sleep well overnight.
Back to positives!
As with most of our travels we ate well during our trip. For a couple of the nights we were enjoying food in the VIP tent but we did get a chance to explore a few restaurants while we were there. The three noteworthy restaurants:
Ramsey’s Diner (We were at the Masterson Station location 112 Lucille Drive Lexington, KY 40511): This was our first meal in Kentucky after a grueling day of driving we were craving some real food. I ordered a buffalo chicken salad and it was gigantic, affordable, and possibly the best chicken tender I have ever had. http://ramseysdiners.com/
Local Feed,214 S Water St. Georgetown, KY: https://www.localfeedky.com/: This farm to table restaurant was recommended on Heels Down Happy Hour and highly raved about by Doug and Jessica Payne. We were not disappointed. I had a Coulotte steak that was seasoned well and lemon maple carrots.
Red State BBQ 4020 Georgetown Rd, Lexington, KY https://www.redstatebbq.com/: This local place also came highly recommended by Heels Down Happy Hour and the brisket did not disappoint. I was disappointed by the pretzels and cheese; the pretzels had no flavor or salt and the cheese had a twist I wasn’t prepared for and wasn’t overly flavorful. The chicken was decent, a little dry and bland. The person behind the counter that took our order lacked sunshine and personality. The brisket however was good, we enjoyed it with some of their Texas Spicy sauce (it was not spicy). Our friends who cook often were not overly impressed/they can do better. I guess we’re pretty spoiled with great BBQ at home!
I should also note that our friends visited a restaurant called Thoroughbred one of the days we were in the VIP tent. When we got back to the AirBnB they had so many good things to say about it, so we’ll add it to our list for when we return in 2025 (hopefully going to the 5*). Thoroughbred 1483 Leestown Rd, Lexington, KY, https://www.facebook.com/thoroughbredrestaurant/
And last but definitely not least, I want to take a moment to recognize Liz Halliday. Only weeks ago Liz was cruising around Paris representing the United States in the Olympics. On August 29th Liz and her horse had a terrible fall while riding the advanced cross country phase. I was occupied with Tiger and friends so I was not out on course to see the accident, but I saw the footage. I am surprised and relieved to say the horse was okay but unfortunately Liz was hurt quite badly. One of the volunteers saw that saw the fall is a nurse and called her hospital to alert her colleagues and they were able to have an operating room available immediately upon her arrival.
After a successful surgery to relieve the swelling in her brain she was in the ICU and we’ve been getting updates through her support team on her social media and website.
https://www.lizhallidayeventing.com/blog
The eventing community is unique. Fiercely competitive, bold, brave, a little crazy. But the eventing community is kind, courageous, and present. In a way fellow eventers become family. You cheer for each other even though you compete against one another. You offer help to others, and they have your back when you need it. You celebrate each other’s wins and rally in times of need. Events are run on the graciousness of volunteers.
The eventing community has been rallying around Liz. Rooting for her to get strong and get well. At the competitors party people were signing cards. #KeepFightingLiz and #LapForLiz has been circling social media. Our latest update was that Liz was moving out of ICU and into inpatient rehab. They’ve been reading her all of the get well wishes.
If this article makes its way to Liz or her family and friends I hope they know I think about her daily. I hug my horse and hope that she makes a full recovery and rides again someday.
And so, as our first morning at the Kentucky Horse Park began with the sunrise our last evening at the park ended with the sunset. We left in the early hours of the morning labor day morning. We made it home about 14 hours later and Tiger was happy to see his brother and get some quality turnout.
The Green Horseman 
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