Harses, Harses, Harses

Our family is taking a two-week road trip in July (will it be our last adventure together???) to California, so we skipped taking the niece and nephew on a Spring Break trip. But, we did do a few local things just for the heck of it. Both things centered around horses.

On April 2, I took my niece to see WarHorse at the Aronoff Center for the Arts. We both loved it! While the story is a bit thin, the staging more than makes up for it. The puppetry was just exquisite, and I totally forgot these beings weren’t real. The story is a bit heartbreaking, and the reminder that war is so brutal really is depressing, but the love between man and horse was beautiful and made this show worth seeing.

On April 3, the horse theme continued as we took the niece and nephew to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Our main purpose for this jaunt was to get my niece on a horse. She has her heart set on taking a trail ride in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on our big July trip. So, this was a test to see if she even liked horseback riding. She loved it!

It was a wee bit chilly, but we had a fun day. The trail ride at the Kentucky Horse Park basically winds around the pastures where other horses are hanging around mocking the ones being ridden. It is a gorgeous ride. I didn’t snap any photos because I was making sure I kept both hands on the reins, as instructed. It was a slow, meander, perfect for a first-timer. Of course, she had the excitingly-named horse, Laredo. My horse’s name was…Greg. Greg. Who names a horse Greg? I expected him to be wearing slacks.

We entered the park at around 9:15 and the first ride of the day was sold out (this is during a busy time—Spring Break), so if you plan to do this activity in the summer or other busy times, it is probably best to get to the park early.

We ate lunch at the Farmhouse restaurant, which wasn’t on the park map and was way over by the new arena on the property. I knew about it only because it was listed on the park’s website. We had to ask directions, but we were rewarded with being practically the only ones in the place. We had a nice view of some pastures and paddocks of horses while we ate delicious sandwiches.

We rounded out the day with the Horses around the World show (I think this used to be the Parade of Breeds or something like that), a long morning perusing the museum, a trolley ride, and just wandering around enjoying the sculptures and the daffodils.

I was excited to read that there was a new movie showing at the park as the one where the walls noisily open to reveal screens was really outdated. Sadly, the new movie was quite lame and of poor quality. But, it was. Narrated. By. William. Shatner. So, there’s that!

We had a great day.

From the KY Horse Park museum. I bought a postcard of this in like 1979.

Horse looking quite thrilled about another trail ride.

Colorful participant in the Horses around the World show. I believe she represented Spain. Ole!

My nephew getting some face time with a draft horse. And some random little girl.