Join us for the USEF/AVA National Championships Aug 2-5 at the Kentucky Horse Park!

Vaulting competition will be in the Alltech Arena Thursday through Sunday.  They have more than 350 competitors from 20 states across the country (CA, WA, IO,NM, TX, UT, WI, MI, IL, MN, TN, GA, NJ, VA, CT, NH, CO, NY, NC and OR).

Inexperenced Vaulters range in age from 6 to mid- thirties.  Average age range of vaulters is 12-20.  The youngest inexperienced will compete in the unrecognized classes on our "Festival Day" on Thursday.

They have vaulters at levels in trot and canter.  They compete in different divisions:  Individual, Pas de Deux (2 on the horse) and Team (a group of 6 vaulters, with a maximum of three on the horse at one time.)

Detailed schedule:  http://vaulting.swcp.com/orderofgo/acorn27/NATOOG12.pdf

Summary of classes by day:  http://www.americanvaulting.org/Nationals2012/schedule2012.pdf

Included with park admission!

You don't have to be here to bid!!

Hats Off to Kentucky’s Horse Industry Day and the Rood and Riddle $50,000 Kentucky Grand Prix will take place on Saturday, August 4th here at the Kentucky
Horse Park. This event includes both live and silent auctions and donates 100%
of its proceeds to two very worthwhile charities, the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation and the Kentucky Equine Humane Center.

This year, for the first time, all live auction items and some silent auction items
will be offered through proxy bidding for those who cannot attend the event.

There are some very exciting and unique items available, including a Zenyatta package, so check out this partial list and fill out your proxy bid form!: http://www.hatsoffky.com/images/files/ProxyBidSheet.pdf

We hope you'll attend the Rood & Riddle Kentucky Grand Prix in person to also bid on a great selection of silent auction items!  For more information go to:

As a special treat for our guests this weekend, we have the Warm Beach Vaulters here to perform, Friday through Sunday, Jul 27-29 in our Horses of the World show. 

They are the third largest vaulting club in America and we guarantee that you will be impressed! 

Come and see them - it's included with park admission. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&;v=VzDdx1P84yk#at=154

Hats Off to Kentucky's Horse Industry Day is a celebration of the horse and its impact on the state of Kentucky. The day offers fun family activities including arts and crafts for children,  pony rides, interactive educational booths, thrilling equestrian competition, and it's all free! Hats Off Day is the only day of the year an entire family can enjoy the Kentucky Horse Park and all it has to offer, at no cost!

The horse industry in Kentucky generates 80,000 - 100,000 in direct and indirect jobs, and impacts our economy by an estimated 8 billion dollars!

In celebration of the horse, Kentuckians flock to the Kentucky Horse Park on Hats Off Day  for a free day of family fun and an opportunity to learn more about horses and the amazing things they do for our great state.

Events include children’s activities, free pony rides, educational booths, interactive equine stations, $50,000 Grand Prix Show Jumping, and much more!

The Rood & Riddle Kentucky Grand Prix, a challenging show jumping competition between top international horses and riders, is the featured evening entertainment of Hats Off Day and is taking place in the beautiful outdoor Rolex Stadium. A silent and live auction will benefit the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation and the Kentucky Equine Humane Center.

2012 promises to be very exciting!  There’s something for everyone -- competition, great amenities and fantastic entertainment for the whole family. See the schedule of events

Lexington, KY  (July 17, 2012) - The 2012 Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North (NAJYRC) is proud to welcome all of the 261 young athletes that will compete in five disciplines over the next five days. The NAJYRC is held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. Today, the NAJYRC hosted the athletes, trainers, friends, and family at the Opening Ceremonies.
 
Five disciplines (a total of 9 championships for juniors and young riders) will take part in the only FEI Championship to be held annually in North America. The NAJYRC is the premier equestrian competition in North America for junior and young riders, ages 14-21. This year, young equestrians have come from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, and Guatemala to vie for team and individual FEI medals in the three Olympic equestrian disciplines of show jumping, dressage, eventing and the FEI World Equestrian Games disciplines of reining and endurance.
 
The competition is run under rules of the FEI (Federation Equestre Internationale), the international governing body for equestrian sport. Many of North America's best equestrians who now regularly represent their country on Olympic, World Championship and Nations Cup teams got their first taste of International experience at NAJYRC. These include show jumpers Greg Best, Chris Kappler and McLain Ward, five-time Olympian and three-day eventer Karen O'Connor, and dressage rider Todd Flettrich.
 
The NAJYRC began in 1974 as an eventing challenge between the United States and Canada. A dressage championship was added in 1981, and show jumping was added in 1982. The first complete Young Riders championship was held in British Columbia, Canada, in 1982. The Championships were expanded to officially include a championship division for juniors in 2006. The discipline of reining was added to the official schedule in 2008; endurance joined the championship for the first time in 2011. Vaulting competition is held at the NAJYRC, but is not officially part of the championship.
 
The opening ceremonies featured all of the teams from the six disciplines in a parade to honor the members and their Chefs d'Equipe. The teams posed for photos before leaving on a golf cart parade to sponsor Spy Coast Farm for an exhibitor barbeque. The golf cart parade featured many brightly decorated carts all vying for the win as "Best Dressed."
 
Held at the site of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG), the NAJYRC brings together a multitude of disciplines similar to the WEG. Show jumping and dressage had their jogs today, where horses were tested for soundness before the officials and veterinarians. This is a key part of FEI level competition, and the junior and young riders of all disciplines here at NAJYRC are learning valuable information about international rules and regulations that will serve them well when they go to represent their country at senior-level events.
 
Dressage kicks off the competition tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. with the junior and young rider team tests. There are 80 dressage riders slated to ride at the NAJYRC this year. In the afternoon, medals will be awarded to the junior and young rider dressage teams, with the winning team honored with their national anthem. On Friday, the individual tests are held, and riders return on Saturday for their freestyle tests. Both days' competition will award medals to the top three finishers.
 
Show jumping will hold their first individual qualifiers on Wednesday afternoon with 58 starters and will return on Thursday morning to compete in their team finals. Medals will be awarded for the junior teams, followed by the young rider teams. The individual finals will be held on Saturday.
 
Three-Day Eventing starts on Thursday with dressage tests for both the CCI 2* and CCI 1* riders (which total 59 in all), and the always exciting cross country will take place on Saturday. The eventers wrap up their competition on Sunday morning with the stadium jumping phase and receive their individual and team medals.
 
Reining composes 20 riders, and they will start with a welcome competition on Wednesday afternoon in the Alltech Arena. Their team championship is held on Thursday where they will receive medals in a podium presentation, while individual medals will be contested on Saturday.
 
Seventeen Endurance riders will travel on a 120 kilometer course around the Kentucky Horse Park bright and early on Friday morning at 6:30 a.m. Awards for the Best Conditioned Horse and the team and individual medals will be awarded on Saturday morning.
 
Vaulting competition will be featured in the Mary Murphy Ring on Thursday morning. The 26 vaulters will return on Friday morning for their final competition.
 
More exciting news and results will be forthcoming as the week progresses. To learn more about the Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North, please visit www.youngriders.org.
 
NAJYRC showcases the best young rider and junior horse/rider combinations in dressage, eventing, jumping, reining, and endurance. Young equestrians from across the continent will descend on the Kentucky Horse Park to vie for FEI medals at these Championships.

For sponsorship information visit www.youngriders.org/Sponsors.aspx.

Patrick Smithwick, author of "Racing My Father" will be here to sign his new book,
"Flying Change: A year of racing and family and steeplechasing" 
Saturday, July 21, 11am to 1pm 
Kentucky Horse Park Gift Shop 

Don't miss this chance to meet the author and pick up his book, which is described as, "This memoir of dueling ambitions is the tale of a man who decides in mid-life to call off all restraints, silence all naysayers, put his mind and body and courage to the test, and do what in his case-he has been away from the world of racing for twenty-five years-is the impossible: within a nine-month period get a horse to ride in the most difficult steeplechase race in the world, and then, ride that horse as if his life depends on it, which, literally, it does."

See you here!

Meet Montana, a 12-year-old Appaloosa gelding, who is looking for a good home. 

He is 14.3 hands, friendly, and gets along well with his pasture mates.  He is easy to catch and has good ground manners.  Montana has been ridden for pleasure and would be suitable for an advanced beginner to intermediate rider.

To find out more about Montana or schedule and appointment to meet him, contact the Kentucky Equine Humane Center, 859-881-5849, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . 

To see some of the other great horses who are available for adoption, go to www.KyEHC.org.

WHO:  Justin The Artistic Horse 

WHAT:  Painting Demonstration and Q & A with Justin The Artistic Horse and his Owner, Adonna Combs, in advance of the auction of one of his paintings. 

WHEN:  Thursday July 12, 10 am 

WHERE:  The American Saddlebred Museum’s Showplace For Saddlebreds, adjacent to the main Parking lot at the Kentucky Horse Park.  

WHY:  One of Justin’s original paintings will be selling at Noon on Saturday July 14 in the American Saddlebred Museum’s annual Equine Art, Antique and Rare Book Auction. 

Justin is a seven year old Friesian who has said “no” to the show ring and instead opts to pursue his passion for painting.  

The Equine Art, Antique and Rare Book Auction, now in its eighth year, is a consignment auction.  The auction is a fundraiser for the American Saddlebred Museum and will be held at its Showplace for Saddlebreds at the Kentucky Horse Park on Saturday July 14 at Noon.  Justin will give a painting demonstration for the general public and those interested in bidding on his painting immediately preceding Saturday’s auction at 11:00 am outside the Showplace for Saddlebreds. 

Great photo and video ops will be available at the press conference, as Justin will demonstrate the many skills he has developed in his quest to become the nation’s foremost equine artist.  He opens his containers of paint, grabs the brushes in his mouth and paints on a canvas, either on an easel or on the ground.  His owner only selects the paint colors – Justin does the rest, including signing the painting with his hoof print.  Adonna will be available for interviews.

HOW:  Members of the media, please park in the Kentucky Horse Park’s main parking lot adjacent to the Showplace for Saddlebreds.

CONTACT: Tolley Graves, American Saddlebred Museum at the Kentucky Horse Park
4083 Iron Works Pkwy   Lexington, KY  40511   859-259-2746   www.asbmuseum.org
859-259-2746 Ext. 304; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.