Kentucky Horse Park Day Trip - August 19

I've been wanting to visit the Kentucky Horse Park for a number of years but this is the first time that I could go when we had a Young@Heart trip. I will admit that I was a bit concerned about the amount of walking for this one. I assumed it was something like a county or state fair. Perhaps this is the closest someone like me could come to describing the park layout. There were a lot of barns and other buildings, but no rides or outside vendors.

The park is really beautiful and is a great place to visit with your family, sometime. But - - - there is a lot of walking, if you want to really see the park. Of course, there are always places to sit and rest a spell, too.

This is the view at the main entrance and gift shop

As we entered the park the first thing to see is the main building where they sell the passes and have a gift shop. There is a huge mechanical horse. It seems to gallop on some kind of schedule but isn't working all the time. I guess even mechanical horses want a rest, now and then!

The first event that we did was to go to "The Big Barn" for a demonstration on harnessing the work horses. A young lady handled the harness parts very well and I was surprised about the weight. It was over 70 pounds. Remember, these work horses are for pulling things such as carriages and plows. They aren't normally ridden but harnessed to pull other things. The horse is the motor that pulls and also the brakes to stop the forward motion. The harness and collar are put on in a way that they can effectively allow the horse to stop.

Of course, the horses can pull a variety of wagons, carriages and farm implements.

There were other demonstrations and even various performance events to see. There is also a very nice museum about horses over the centuries. I didn't realize there is so much history concerning horses. Of course, they are mentioned in the Bible and were created at the beginning of our world. One could easily spend several hours in this very well laid out museum.

Following the tours and museum we had an opportunity to eat in their restaurant. They also have a smaller cafe. I was pleasantly surprised that the food and service were actually very good.

It's always good to tour with our people. One thing that makes is special is that so many of our people have talents that far exceed mine. Bill Speyer with Darlene were part of this group and Bill took an excellent video of the tour which he posted on YouTube to share. So, now you can see it, too! Just click below! Be sure to expand it to full-screen and turn on your sound.

Now. off we go to the gift shop. I like their taffy and Nancy likes the cups.

I'm tempted to call this, "Nancy Rides Off Into the Sunset"

Maybe that is because she enjoyed shopping in the gift shop. They have the normal things like model horses, carriages, candy and for Nancy and I, COFFEE CUPS!