Okay, so it’s not the ideal time of year to spend a day touring the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, but it’s never too early to start blogging about it in anticipation for the World Equestrian Games! This will be “Part I” of the Horse Park, filling you in on what attractions are open during the off season. But first, a bit of history, courtesy of Patti Nickell’s Horse Lover’s Guide to Kentucky:

“He stands there, forever frozen in bronze Ñ the most gallant Thoroughbred in the history of racing Ñ welcoming all to his kingdom. He is Man o’ War, and his statue towers above the cemetery where he is buried, along with his most famous offspring, Triple Crown winner War Admiral. His kingdom is the 1,200 acres of rolling bluegrass that make up the Kentucky Horse Park, the only park of its kind in the world.
If the commonwealth has an ambassador to the world, it is surely the horse, and here the world can visit him on his own turf. On land that was once part of Walnut Hall Standardbred farm, the Horse Park has emerged as one of the world’s most unique attractions Ñ a working horse farm, educational theme park, and equine competition facility dedicated to man’s 50-million-yearlong love affair with the horse.
The idea of the Horse Park, however, almost soured before it began. If Alaska was once derogatorily referred to as “Seward’s Folly,” the Horse Park was considered to be “Brown’s Folly” (referring to then-Governor John Y. Brown, who lobbied for the park in the 1970s at the behest of Thoroughbred breeder and visionary John R. Gaines). Many spoke out against the project from the beginning, saying that it would be an expensive flop and a waste of taxpayers’ money…Yet today the Horse Park attracts in the neighborhood of one million visitors annually.”

Although the horse park got off to a rocky start in the Ô70s and Ô80s, if you visit it today you will notice two new multimillion-dollar horse show stadiums, refurbished roads and fencelines, new construction and additions to the museums and the National Horse Center. Also in the workings are a renovation of the historic Big Barn to make it the horse-drawn transportation hub of the park; a biomass gasification plan to reduce the horse park’s carbon footprint by burning its muck and manure and, as a result, produce electricity for the park; and, according to inside sources, a future resort on Horse Park grounds