Back by popular demand, the Horsemen of All Ages Sale, presented by Adequan, returns to Floral Hall Round Barn at The Red Mile Race Track.

This bachelor and bachelorette auction features a group of the most interesting single people in Lexington, willing to go on a date to benefit The Race For Education.

The Race For Education is a scholastic organization that provides career and college readiness programs for students in need of additional academic support, and college scholarships for young people with significant financial need.

Vote for our Kentucky Horse Park executive director, John Nicholson, in the Horsemen of All Ages Sale.  If he gets the most votes, our Kentucky Horse Park Foundation will win 2 UK Football Tickets and $1,000!   YOU could win a pair of tickets for the Meet and Greet sponsored by SKYBAR, dinner and Bachelor Auction on Friday, September 7, just for voting!

You can vote once a day from each of your email addresses.  Vote here daily through Sep 1.

For more information on the event, call The Race For Education at 859.252.8648 or visit them online at raceforeducation.org.

Take a 6-minute
video tour of the Alltech Arena, as the Kentucky Horse Park prepares to host the Alltech National Horse Show, Nov 2-6.  Narrated by John Nicholson, executive director of the park.  Brought to you by Ky Forward.

Photo by Craig Brown

WHO:  Richard and Jeannette McGrath of Hearts Up Ranch

WHAT:  Press conference with Public Safety Administrative Officer Rick Curtis, representing Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, Kentucky Horse Park executive director John Nicholson, and the McGraths. 

WHEN:  Wednesday, Sept 7, 4pm

WHERE:  Kentucky Horse Park's Alltech Arena

WHY:   Richard and Jeannette McGrath are 3,000 miles into a 4,000-mile coast-to-coast horseback journey to raise awareness and funds for Hearts Up Ranch, a serene, working ranch established in Jackson, Wyoming where "emotionally broken people can find peace with both God and themselves once again."  Their ride began on March 4, 2010.  They have traversed the deserts and mountains of the west, winter on the plains, and the flooding and storms of the spring on the same 4 horses (who will be resting and recuperating at the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center, located at the Kentucky Horse Park before finishing the last segment of the ride in Virginia Beach). www.HeartsUpRanch.com.  

HOW:  Members of the media should go to the Alltech Arena.  Past the parking booth, take the roundabout to Cigar Lane, then turn left on Alltech Way.  The press conference will be held outside the main entrance (signs will be posted for alternate rain location).  For more information please contact Equestrian Influence Media Department, www.equestrianinfluence.com, 615-830-1001, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Watch an interview with the McGraths from the Kentucky Horse Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfElmeNDETk

Watch a video from WTVQ-ABC36 from the press conference:  http://www.wtvq.com/news/9551-4000-miles-on-horseback-to-heal

Photos from the Lexington Herald-Leader from the press conference:
http://www.kentucky.com/2011/09/07/1873207/couple-rides-x-country-on-horses.html

LEXINGTON, Ky. (August 29, 2011)—The Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse (IMH), in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History, announced today that it will host the exhibition, The Horse, from October 22, 2011, through April 6, 2012. The IMH is a major lender to the exhibition.

"We are thrilled to be able to bring this world-class exhibition to Kentucky," said Bill Cooke, director of the Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse. "The American Museum of Natural History is truly one of the world’s great natural history museums, and they did a masterful job in developing an exhibition that not only illuminates the timeless union between humans and horses, but does so in an amazingly entertaining way. We are excited that this will be our first blockbuster-level exhibition while schools are in session. I have no doubt that both teachers and their students will love The Horse."

From the horse’s earliest ancestors grazing on the plains of what is now Nebraska, to a magnificent contemporary Deborah Butterfield horse sculpture, the eternal bond between horses and humans is explored in the largest equestrian traveling exhibition ever assembled. The Horse graphically portrays the horse’s impact on trade, transportation, labor, warfare, culture, and sports.  It showcases spectacular fossils, models, dioramas, and cultural objects from around the world, including many from the American Museum of Natural History’s world famous collections.

The New York Times called this exhibition "charming and illuminating" and "an uplifting example of how horses enrich our lives."  The New York Post said, "You absolutely must see it."

The Horse is divided into six major sections: The Evolution of Horses; Horses and Hunters; Domesticating Horses; The Nature of Horses; How We Shaped Horses and Horses Shaped Us; and, An Enduring Bond. These themes are illuminated by more than 140 artifacts and cultural objects from around the world including a complete Samurai saddle from Japan, a full suit of 15th-century German horse armor, and Native American horse accoutrements. Bringing the exhibit to life are a stunning 220-square foot diorama that depicts the horse’s ancestors, a high-definition video that captures in slow motion the rippling muscles of a Thoroughbred race horse, and an interactive video of a life-size horse where visitors can investigate a horse’s pulmonary and digestive systems and other biological traits.

"This extraordinary, entertaining and informative exhibition is a perfect fit for the Kentucky Horse Park, which exists to celebrate man’s relationship with the horse; a relationship that has endured through the millennia," said Kentucky Horse Park Executive Director John Nicholson.  "This amazing and most beautiful of creatures has never lost its ability to look for the good – and bring out the best – in mankind as a partner, teammate and friend.  That’s why we never lose our fascination with them, and why we are so excited to have this exhibition coming to our park."
 
The Horse is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, United Arab Emirates; the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau-Ottawa; The Field Museum, Chicago; and the San Diego Natural History Museum. Curator of the exhibition is Ross MacPhee.

"The human-horse relationship was almost predestined," MacPhee said. "Puny but clever, enterprising humans needed an animate energy source that was both mobile and controllable — hence the domestic horse. What no one could have foreseen was that, over the millennia, while we molded the horse to our ends, the horse also molded us by changing the scale and scope of what could be carried, traded, fought over, or used to make life better — in short, civilization as we know it."

For more information on The Horse, go to www.amnh.org/exhibitions/horse/, www.imh.org, or www.kyhorsepark.com.

Admission to The Horse is included with park admission, or a "museums only" ticket may be purchased for $8 for adults or $4 for children ages 7-12, which also includes admission to the entire International Museum of the Horse, the Al Marah Arabian Horse Galleries and the American Saddlebred Museum.

Park Hours and Rates: Through November 6, the park is open seven days a week.  Admission is $16 for adults, $8 for children 7-12. From November 7 to March 14, the park is open Wednesdays through Sundays.  Winter admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 7-12. Children age 6 and under are always admitted free of charge.  Admission includes the International Museum of the Horse – a Smithsonian Affiliate, and the American Saddlebred Museum.

Editor's Note:  High resolution images from the exhibition are available for use with this release by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  

Watch a video walk-through of the exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History.

Alltech National Horse Show Unveils Huge Prize Money for Debut at Kentucky Horse Park

Written by: Kenneth Kraus
Client: Alltech National Horse Show
Release Date: 2011-05-11

$250,000 Alltech National Horse Show Grand Prix to be featured on Saturday Night.