Kentucky

Nathan and I recently took a trip to Louisville and Lexington Kentucky. The original purpose for this trip was rather depressing but after we got that out of the way it turned out to be a great little vacation for my hard working husband and I. We got to walk around the Kentucky Horse Park, take a tour of the biggest Thoroughbred barns in the Lexington area, and tour Churchill Downs. I immediately fell in love with the Kentucky countryside. There are green pastures every where you look and they go on for miles. At one point we just took a drive through some back roads and there are barns and paddocks (that's what they call pastures) EVERYWHERE and I fell in love.

Super Saver, the 2010 Kentucky Derby Winner

On our tour of the Thoroughbred Race Horse barns was such a neat experience. We went to the Keeneland Race Track and got to watch some horses train on the track. That track started the Keeneland Horse Sales and that is what made Lexington the horse capitol of the world. People from all over the world would fly in on their private jets, go to the sales then fly the horses they bought home to their countries. We also got to tour the stallion barn at Winstar Farms. They have 10 stallions that they stand stud including $100,000,000 Distorted Humor. Yes folks, that eight 0's in that price tag. He is an actual corporation and the owners sell shares on him. His stud fee $100,000 and they breed about 140 mares a year to him. This is Tiznow, he has a $75,000 stud fee. The breed fees at that barn varied from $100,000 all the way to $6,000. Still, $6,000 is what the highest reining stallions go for. I was blown away. The Kentucky Horse Park was amazing with it's history of the horse museum and history of the Arabian Horse. The legend that is Man O' War was impressive and I even got a little emotional reading about his only loss.

I am definitely grateful I got see the horse capitol of the world.