“The Kentucky Horse Park will be the host of the 2010 Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Equestrian Games (WEG),” announced Ernie Fletcher, Governor of Kentucky, today (Dec. 6) at the Kentucky Horse Park.


John Nicholson, executive director of the park, said, “This a most extraordinary, historic day, as this is the first time the World Equestrian Games will be held outside of Europe.” Nicholson spoke via phone from Bahrain (where he’s meeting with the FEI board) to a group of enthusiastic horse industry members gathered at the park.


United States Equestrian Federation, Inc. president and 2000 Olympic Gold medalist eventer David O’Connor, said this is an opportunity for the United States to show its enthusiasm for horses and equestrian events. “There is no park in the world like the Kentucky Horse Park,” he said, adding that because this event will host all seven different world championship events in one location (show jumping, dressage, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting, and reining), “It will be a true celebration of the horse, and it will be an opportunity to recognize the horse as the number one partner with humans.”


Horses are a major part of the United States’ economy. According to the American Horse Council, the horse industry represents $112.1 billion of the U.S. gross domestic product. The WEG are estimated to bring $100 million into Kentucky

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