World Equestrian Games

The World Equestrian Games were recently held at the Kentucky Horse Park, outside of Lexington, Kentucky.  This was the first time that these games had been held outside of Europe, although there have been various equestrian games held at the Kentucky Horse Park since it first opened. Specifically, the ROLEX Three Day Equestrian event that is held annually in the late Spring.

Holding the games at the Kentucky Horse Park shows that Kentucky offers more than just Thoroughbred racing, although the horse racing is a foundation of the Lexington economy.

The Lexington, Kentucky area is one of the places around the world where horse barns and carriage houses are still used primarily to house horses rather than having been converted to garages or apartments.  In many areas of the world, the old fashioned stable and carriage house have been wired for electricity and the stable door is now a garage door, complete with automatic garage door opener.

But Kentucky is rightfully proud of its equine industry and heritage.  Man of War is buried at the Kentucky Horse Park.  It is from the horse farms and breeders around Lexington that many of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown winners were born.  Fabled farms such as Calumet are sprinkled along the roads around Lexington, complete with the storybook white fences.  Keeneland race track offers Spring and Fall racing as well as the auctions of horses, where the next Kentucky Derby winner may only be a few million dollars away for the speculative horseman.

But having the Horse Park also allows Kentucky to display its heritage with all the other equestrian games such as dressage, show jumping, and vaulting among other events.  Because of the nature of the contestants who appear at events like the World Equestrian Games, the folks around Lexington are often visited by royalty, European and Middle Eastern, Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses.

The next time someone visits a place where a stable or carriage house has been converted into a garage or an apartment, the next time they open what was formerly the carriage door that was converted to a garage door, that person should pause for a bit and think about the connection between the present day garage door and the past life as a carriage house door.  They should think about how the horse, although not a working animal today, is still so much a part of the everyday life.  Even though cars and garages have replaced the horse and carriage and stable, folks still talk about “horsepower” as the ultimate measure of the power of the vehicle.  When they open the garage door, they should think about the days when the work was just starting when the horse had entered the stable and the carriage had been stowed.