Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Susan*: Kentucky Horse Park Reception

Sunday evening, the NASBO opening reception was held at the Kentucky Horse Park. This is a 1,200 acre working horse farm owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and open to the public. The farm is surrounded by 30 miles of white plank fencing - very impressive. While there, we got to go on a hayride around the grounds,

we ate a great dinner, which included oven fried chicken (tasted just like the Colonel's Original Recipe - yum), got to hear a Bluegrass Band, and were treated to the "Parade of Breeds".

In this demonstration, we got to see 6 or 7 different, and some very rare, breeds of horses. The biggest one they showed was a Trakehner, which is generally 16 - 17 hands (I'm such a horse person now). Ok, for those of you who aren't as knowledgeable as me, that's a little under 6 feet at the withers (tallest point of the back). This particular horse was 18 hands, which is exactly 6 feet at the withers. Man, that thing was huge! After the parade, they brought the horses to the fence of the corral, and we got to get a close-up look. As Ternisa and I stood next to the Trakehner to have our picture taken, I said, "I sure hope this thing doesn't kick me!" The next thing I knew, I was slapped in the face by it's tail - and it stung! Etta was taking our picture, and she snapped it just as the tail started coming around. Needless to say, I didn't go visit any of the other breeds up close and personal.