Kentucky Horse Park

Lexington, Kentucky is home to the University of Kentucky Wildcats and horses, horses, and more horses! This is one of the prettiest places you will find in the USA. It isn’t called the Bluegrass state for nothing…that is when there is enough rain to keep it green! Kentucky, like many of the southern states, has suffered this summer with a lack of the wet stuff. Coming earlier in the Spring, you will find lush green carpeting covering the rolling hills of Kentucky.

One of the main reasons we came to Lexington (besides it being on the way to Tennessee) was because we had heard many of our RVing friends talk about staying at the Kentucky Horse Park Campground and how nice it was. So we made the reservation. In the five days we have been here, we have discovered a different breed…a cult of sorts…the world of the equestrian.



The campground sits right in the middle of the equine theme park and competition facility. The park is home to 50 different breeds of horses, large and small. Here visitors can experience the sights and sounds of a real working horse farm while exploring the grounds and also view live presentations and special events.

Jumping Competition and Women's Polo

The weekends are the busiest; that’s when the place fills up with avid horse people coming in for competitions. Horses and riders are all about the park buzzing like bees with the excitement of getting those blue ribbons. The campsites across the road from our rig were filled with horse trailers designed with bunk sleeping, not the traditional camper or RV! It’s an interesting place!

Sunday, when the area was quieter, we went to the park and took the walking tour of the facility. Not only are there museums, but also several presentations. There was a Parade of Breeds show, Hall of Champions presentation, and a trolley ride pulled by the farm’s working draft horses.

Frank Makes Friends and A Pretty Lady Rides a Pretty Pony

The grounds are dotted with beautiful statues of legendary horses such as Man-O-War and Secretariat. Others depict young foals at play and a jockey riding the course of the steeplechase.






Just outside The Big Barn, a cemetery honoring many bygone champions and mares is dotted with marble headstones revealing information of the horse that lay buried there. The head, heart, and feet are buried in symbolic ceremonial fashion, but the body is cremated and the ashes strewn over the pastures in hopes of securing a good breeding season. We learned the first horse to be entirely embalmed was Man-O-War. Along with several of his sons, Man-O-War is buried inside the memorial where his statue stands.

Man-O-War's Memorial

The Big Barn and Inside the Big Barn

Most impressive was the presentation of the Champions. The park is now home to several horses that won big purses during their days of racing. These powerful racing thoroughbreds are shown daily while a video is played of the races that tell their stories. The stallions: Cigar, CH Gypsy Supreme, Kona Gold, Da Hoss, and Western Dreamer are now retired and will live their final days in peace and tranquility at the horse farm.
Taking rides through the back roads of the countryside surrounding the city of Lexington, we found horse farm after horse farm. Grand homes with large stable barns dot the land with white clap board double fences that would probably look like a giant patchwork quilt if we could view it from the air. Thoroughbreds graze lazily in the paddocks; often we heard that neighing whinny, blowing sound of horse calling to horse.

Lining the roads are handsome stone fences that we learned were called Dry Stone Fences. No mortar holds these stacked stones together. It is the mastery of the stonemason that gives them their stability. The fences are like a trademark of the area and have become a tradition of a bygone era worth saving and reconstructing.

We have enjoyed our stay here and would definitely return. It's a unique place nestled amid the park’s 1,200 acres of gently rolling hills. It’s a world of past Champions and those who aspire to become Champions…it’s a horse lover’s dream.

Tomorrow, September 10, we leave for Murfreesboro to visit with Mama Grace, family, and friends. We have almost come full circle to the beginning of where we started.