By: Marcia Abramson
I understand that it is the only park of its kind in the world with a working horse farm and an educational theme park. It encompasses more than 1,200 acres in the heart of the Bluegrass region. The park's goal is to provide a learning experience for the novice and a continuing source of knowledge for the equine expert. This spring, the months of May, June, July through August 24, the park will celebrate its 25th anniversary with the International Museum of the Horse's exclusive exhibition of "All the Queen's Horses: The Role of the Horse in British History." It represents what the horse has meant to the British people over the past 12,000 years from the Iron Age settler's first contact with horses to the pageantry of today's monarchy. "All the Queen's Horses" is represented by many of the British monarchs, including Edward IV, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Charles I, Charles II, George III, Queen Victoria and the current royal family. It is no mere coincidence that Queen Elizabeth II has horses in Kentucky at Lane's End Farm and has been known to visit here on many occasions. The queen's love of horses goes back to her third birthday more than seven decades ago when her grandfather George V gave her a Shetland pony. She has been known to say that she is happiest when riding on the back of a horse. She simply adores horse racing as well and has had more than 650 winners over the years. Her husband, Prince Philip, is also a devotee of the equine sports. He played polo until after his 50th birthday when he became a competitive carriage driver. Her daughter, Princess Anne, competed in the Olympics and performed as a jockey, a steeplechase jumper and a flat racer. The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, is known to have a handicap of five in Polo. The horse has been an integral part of British history for more than two millennia. In 55 BC Celtic warriors used cavalry and horse-drawn chariots to oppose Caesar's invasion. As a result, horses were essential cargo for the second successful Roman invasion in 45 A.D., and remained important for four centuries of occupation. In the 9th century, the Vikings raiders stole horses for mobility to plunder. And so it went through the reigns of the early Anglo-Saxon rulers, William the Conqueror and his Norman Knights, Edward III, Henry VIII, and Charles II, that varied horse sizes had meaningful roles for the successful defense of their kingdoms. "All The Queen's Horses" was assembled from 70 public and private collections, including the royal collections, British Museum, British Library, Royal Armories, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Museums of Scotland and Wales with a value of more than $100 million. The artifacts include the earliest example of human art ever found in Britain - a flat bone with a detailed incised horse's head (circa 10,000 B.C.), a 3rd century BC Scottish pony head armor, a gilded bronze Roman cavalry helmet with mask, 12th century Lewis chessmen, Henry VIII's Burgundian horse armor, Elizabeth I's side saddle, and miniature carriages that belonged to Queen Victoria's children. Additionally, there are 60 noteworthy paintings that further enhance this collection of royal artifacts. The Kentucky Horse Park is also the place to see the Parade of the Breeds featuring more than 50 horse breeds, horse and pony rides, horse-drawn carriage tours and many horse shows. I certainly do recommend a visit to Bluegrass Country where the grass is not the color blue, but a deep green. Just three weeks before the world famous Kentucky Derby, I was at the Keeneland Race track in Lexington for the Blue Grass Stakes Race. This is the preamble to the first leg of Thoroughbred Racing's Triple Crown before the derby on the first Saturday in May. I found the atmosphere very exciting, reminiscent of the Ascot Race scene in "My Fair Lady." The women in the grand stands were clad in the appropriate fancy spring chapeaux and matching pastel colored ensembles. This was what I anticipated of a day at the races in Kentucky. Kentucky is also well-known for its champion college basketball teams, Jim Beam's Bourbon Distillery in nearby Clermont, white-fenced horse farms, black tobacco storage barns and for Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home." Incidentally, Foster never lived in Kentucky, he was just visiting a relative in Bardstown when inspiration for the song came to him. You too can visit that house when you're in Lexington.For Lexington travel, you can visit "http://www.visitlex.com," www.visitlex.com or call 1-800-848-1224. For information about the Kentucky Horse Park, visit "http://www.kyhorsepark.com," www.kyhorsepark.com or call 1-800 678-8813.
Copyright by Marcia AbramsonE-mail: mascribe@aol.com
