This weekend, we decided to take a trip to the Kentucky Horse Park. Since we're only a month away from what would have been the event had it have taken place, I wanted to see the park for myself without the crowds and (as much) heat. It was still pretty humid, but we went in the morning before it got too bad. I hadn't been on a horseback ride in the park since 2011 when we stopped by while we were on our way back from our honeymoon. I remember I was on a fleabitten grey that was a nurse mare foal. This time my partner was a beautiful palomino Quarter Horse named Charlie, who kept his head down the entire time and walked with a side-to-side rock typical of a Western pleasure horse. Really reminded me of Zippo Pine Bar. As an English rider and Thoroughbred owner, I'm not used to how smooth Quarter Horses are. The Kentucky Horse Park is a wonderful place. To a horse lover, it's as close to Heaven as you can get. However, it was bittersweet how empty it was. Not only because of the lack of any events, but COVID made it even more empty than it was when we came on our honeymoon years ago. There were only six other people on our trail ride with us. As a racing fan, one of my favorite areas of the park is the Calumet collection of racing trophies. There is nothing in the world like it, and if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it, as it's free with your admission when you go to Breyerfest. It's in the History of the Horse museum. Also in there are the silks and memorabilia of Seattle Slew and Secretariat, both horses in my OTTBs pedigree and whom were made into Breyers. Their triple crown trophies are on display at the KHP. They even have a lock of Secretariat's hair and his extracted wolf tooth. I have yet to visit Claiborne Farm to see his grave but I plan to one day. I always stop in the KHP gift shop whenever we're there (they donate monies from gift shop purchases to the horses so even during Breyerfest I would go in there to buy any regular runs rather than buying them from the Breyerfest store for this reason) and ended up finding a Bisbee. I wasn't a dealer yet when Bisbee came out and my local dealer never got her in, so I missed out on her. Since Forever Siege is one of my favorite molds, I had to have her. I'm also big on blue horses and love her golden overo pattern. The Kentucky Horse Park is a very magical place, for horse lovers it's as close to Heaven as you can get. I highly recommend visiting outside of the craziness of Breyerfest if you haven't.
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