1 May Frankfort - Georgetown

We visited “Old Friends” today, a retirement home for thoroughbreds. Started in 2003 in response to the news that Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand had died in a slaughterhouse, Old Friends is a not for profit that houses over 175 retired and rescued racehorses. The walk around the farm was enlightening and it was very special to see all the old timers being cared for and loved in their old age.

Collectively, the horses have earned more than $163 million on the track and we saw one paddock dubbed the $10 million club (the two fellows sharing the paddock had over $10M in winnings between them). We toured the Stallions area of the farm, so most of the boys were kept by themselves so they don’t fight.

Some of the notable residents we visited were:

War Emblem – repatriated from Japan. Big attitude and nicknamed Hannibal Lector… he is known for only doing things he thinks are his own idea. He had to retire from racing when he decided one day that he wasn’t going to run anymore. His stud career ended the same way. He decided that he didn’t want to, and nobody could make him.

Alphabet Soup – Won nearly $3M over 24 starts and is now so old he eats his carrots grated. He had a sweet mini donkey as his paddock friend, they are inseparable.

Game on Dude – retired with nearly $6.5M in winnings.

Little Silver Charm – a mini pony who likes to be in the spotlight

Popcorn Deelights – one of eight horses who played Seabiscuit in the movie.  He did the starting gate scenes, as fast breaks are his specialty.

Silver Charm – Darby and Preakness winner and nearly $7M in winnings. Repatriated from Japan after his stud career finished.

Touch Gold – Pipped Silver Charm at the post in the Belmont Stakes so preventing him winning the Triple Crown.

Almost all of the boys were up for carrots and pats. They are all genuinely retired, no riding, just lolling about in their paddocks enjoying old age.

30 April – Frankfort – Lexington – Frankfort

We went back to the Kentucky Horse Park to see the Parade of Breeds again. They rotate the horses around and yesterday we missed seeing a Tennessee Walking Horse in action, and we were assured he would be on today. In addition to the Morgan and Chincoteague from yesterday, there was the Tennessee Walking Horse and an Akhal Teke – a rare breed from Turkmenistan, known for their metallic sheen on their coats. 

The Tennessee Walking Horse was demonstrating their natural three gaits, a walk, a running walk and the canter. The running walk was a very fast walk but looked amazingly smooth. The secret is an overstride with the rear legs, that propels the horse forward much further with each step.

On the way out we stopped to look at the monument to the famous racehorse Man o War. He and a number of his progeny are buried here.  Some interesting facts: he won one of his races by an estimated at least 100 lengths. He only lost one race, from being boxed in at the rail and held there by the riding of the jockeys around him. He had a stride length of 28 feet, compared to an average thoroughbred stride of 20 feet – so he was travelling 8 feet further than his rivals with every stride he took. He only raced until he was three and then retired because the handicapping weights assigned to him would have caused him to break down.

After the Horse Park we drove to Pin Oak stud for a tour of the facilities. It is truly beautiful. Manicured grass along side post and rail fencing, spotless barns, mares and foals basking in the sun.

First stop on the tour was the stallion barn. It was pretty impressive, with fly screens, a rubber floor and all the mod cons a horse could need. 

The groom brought out Alternation for viewing. We all got photos and a pat. 

The older stallion, Broken Vow, was in his stall and we had a chat to him too. They stand at stud for $10,000 and $25,000 respectively.

The group then took to the road around the estate. First stop the mares and foals. All the horses were keen to come to the fence for a scratch and a nibble. Nancy talked through the breaking in and training process they go through before they are either prepped for sale as yearlings or moved into racing training. They are all obviously well cared for and handled as every horse we met was calm and loving toward people. They are handled from birth and treated with love and respect, and it shows.

The last stop was the yearling fillies, and again they came over for scratches and cuddles. Ros got a heap of kisses from a little brown filly; she was super friendly and wanted to snuggle.

The tour took in some of the rest of the 900 plus acres, we saw the barns, the training tracks, the round yards, and even a glimpse of the owner’s home through the trees. She is 93 years old and still actively involved in the stud.

Leaving the stud, we drove a couple of miles down the road to Woodford Reserve Distillery. Distilling began on site in 1812, and the operation is now a Brown Foreman brand. We took the tour of the impressive old stone buildings. 

We saw the mash fermenting and had a taste. Like slightly sour sweetcorn. Interesting how much heat comes off the ferment.

The copper stills have the wow factor, three of them take the sour mash through to the spirits phase, where is is cut with water, barrelled and stored in the warehouse.

The bottling plant was working, and we saw the process from empty bottle to boxes of 6.

Following the tour, we tasted 2 bourbons and a rye whiskey. All very nice, but we resisted the temptation to buy a bottle to bring home. We already have a few. Steve is restraining himself, but with many more distilleries, he can’t promise that he won’t weaken!

29 April Frankfort – Lexington – Frankfort

We spent the day at the Kentucky Horse Park. We had intended to camp at their RV park, but they were fully booked with a three-day event over the weekend. For non-horse people, a three-day event is 1 day of dressage, 1day of cross country jumping, and 1day of show jumping. The Americans call it stadium jumping.

By the time we arrived, the event was over and the park was quiet, except for all the packing up happening. We collected a park map and a list of things to see and headed off. We walked around the massive arena space to the Big Barn to see the draft horses. 

Their pride attraction is Jace – a 19.1hh big guy. We stood next to him in his stable, he is a very tall horse! Well over our heads. As well as strolling around the barn and meeting the draft horses, they had a demo of harnessing one up. The lass doing the narrating kept telling us the horses were up to 18,000 pounds weight, not 1800 pounds. Made the audience laugh. The harnessing demo was interesting to watch, its been a while since we have seen a harness horse tacked up.

We then went up to the Hall of Champions to see some of their famous horses. It didn’t mean anything to us Aussies, as we don’t follow the American racing, but we had introductions to a champion pacer, a champion trotter and a champion quarter horse. The quarter horses are raced in the US, over a quarter mile (hence the name) as they are actually faster than a thoroughbred over that distance, clocking in at around 50mph (t-breds at 45mph). The thoroughbred will pick them off once they get over the quarter mile, as they are built to maintain the speed over greater distances.  

We they saw the Parade of Breeds. It was light on today – we saw a Morgan, a Chincoteague, a Gypsy Vanner, and a Friesian. The riders were in costume, and they circled the arena showing the different paces.

The little Morgan was hyped up and worked himself into a bit of a sweat. The Morgan horse breed started with one little stallion called Figure, who was stronger than a draft horse, faster than all the local horses, and had an amazing temperament.

Next was the Chincoteague, another American breed of pony from Assateague and Chincoteague Islands. They are reportedly descended from shipwrecked horses and every year they are rounded up on Assateague Island, swum to Chincoteague, and sold at auction.

Then the Gypsy Vanner, a distinctive pinto breed, smaller than a draft horse but with the feathering of the fetlocks.

The Friesian was a lovely horse, bred for knights to ride and now used in period movies for their striking looks.

After all the demos were done, we went to the Horse Museum. Lots of exhibits were closed, it looked like they had some problems with the roof. But we saw a historical timeline of horses, a carriage display, a big exhibit devoted to the Arabian horse, horses in sport and a few other bits and pieces.

Driving back to the RV park was interesting. The old GPS was specifically for RVs so it avoided narrow roads, tight turns etc. The new one is a standard car one, so it took us down some pretty narrow roads again today.  Bit squeezy when big horse trucks come the other way. The upside is that we got to see some stunning country. The road wound through bright green paddocks with post and rail fencing. The paddocks had sleepy foals flat out in the grass with mums hanging over them dozing on their feet.

In the distance white barns, and stone houses dotted the green fields, and trees overhung the roadways and stone walls. Just picture perfect!

28 April Frankfort – Louisville – Bardstown – Frankfort

Fairly big day today. We headed out to Churchill Downs in Louisville, home of the famous Kentucky Derby (next weekend). It was around 90 minutes away on the interstate highway, so easy driving. When we arrived at Churchill Downs to see the Kentucky Derby Museum, we were stopped at the gate by security and they explained that the facilities were closed for a dedication service. He told us some guy died and they are dedicating something to him (he was sketchy on the details) so only family and invited guests were allowed in. Would have been useful for the website to have said that - yes we looked it up before we drove the distance!

Nothing else was going on in Louisville, so we headed south to Bardstown, the Bourbon Capital of the World. We visited the Oscar Getz Whiskey Museum, in a lovely old building that had many uses, primarily as a boy’s school, but it was also a hospital during the Civil War. 

The museum was interesting, with the history of bourbon making and lots of rare whiskey artefacts dating from pre-colonial days to post-Prohibition days. They had displays of unopened rare bottles from the 1920s and 30s, lots of novelty bottles, moonshine stills, and relics from the many distilleries that operated in the area from pre-prohibition. Some counties in Kentucky are still dry.

There was a display dedicated to Carry Nation, a dear old biddy who believed that God wanted her to take up arms in the fight against the evil of liquor. She used to burst into taverns singing hymns and wielding a hatchet to smash the bottles of filthy alcohol. The temperance movement eventually became prohibition and the local district lost around 6000 jobs from the distilleries.

27 April Frankfort

We had a quiet morning – laundry and RV maintenance tasks. The bathroom sink was cracked so Steve pulled off the surround and siliconed it up. He also discovered that under the sink is where the fresh water tanks are. Learning something new about the RV every trip!  

In the afternoon we got the scooter off and headed into Frankfort to look around. They’ve got a quaint historic district and we parked at the State Capitol Building. The tours had finished for the day, but we walked around the outside and took a look at Frankfort’s famous floral clock. Frankfort is the state capital, but only has around 27,000 people.

We also stopped in at the Governor’s residence, also closed to tours, but has a very pretty garden.

The rain started so we headed back to the RV park where we had a great chat to the ladies on the reception desk. They loved our accents and wanted to keep chatting. 😊

We’ve decided to base here for a few days and go out on day trips. It seems all the accommodation is booked up because of the Kentucky Derby festival so we figured we should stay put, even if it is a bit of a drive to the attractions we want to see. The park is quiet (except for the resident geese in the morning) and the people here are lovely.

Evening spent reading and listening to the rain falling gently on the roof.

26 April Corbin – Frankfort

After heading out from Corbin we drove to White Hall historic site. 

It is the stunning and beautifully preserved home of Cassius Clay, Kentucky legislator and champion of the anti-slavery movement. He became the ambassador to Russia, and brought back artwork and furnishings from his stay. 

His wife remained in America and managed the farm and business, while extending and renovating the home, including flushing toilets, central heating and indoor plumbing. Sadly on his return things didn’t work our between him and his wife and they eventually divorced. He died in 1903 and the house was used as a farm shed, then sat vacant for years until restoration began in the 70s. 

Interestingly they were able to recover much of the original furniture and fittings, despite them being sold off in a public auction in 1903, people were willing to return them to the house.

Then we moved on to Fort Boonesborough. The fort is a reconstruction of what a typical fort of the era would have looked like. It was fun to poke around and look at the exhibits.

Leaving Boonsborough we had a bit of trouble finding an RV park and had to drive a bit out of Lexington to find a little place by a river. Although it is a bit out of the way we will base here for a few days and drive out to the places we want to visit. Apparently its every booked up because of the Kentucky Derby next weekend.

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/16nkNs/38.21014N/84.80371W

25 April Elkmont – Corbin

We headed out of the National Park and through Pigeon Forge, Dolly Parton’s home town. Now days it is far from the dirt-poor beginnings that she describes. The main street is miles of theme park rides, mini golf, go-karts, water parks, and all things flashy. A small childs’ wonderland. The main road continues right into the next town before the lights and the rides finally gave way to shops. We saw this sign and couldn’t resist a photo (spot the typo).

We headed on the interstate towards Kentucky. On the way, as we were looking to pull over for lunch, we saw signs for the Museum of Appalachia, so we dropped in. As we drove up the long curving driveway, we saw goats at pasture, and passed log cabins, and barns.

The museum was really good. The tour was self-guided and took in three buildings of general artifacts and then multiple houses, huts, farm buildings, sheds, a school, and a church. All have been reclaimed and moved to the site, and the history described.

There was a musical instruments section, with all kinds of stringed instruments made from gourds, boxes and even a bedpan… It was amazing what people can make when they get inventive. 

We thoroughly enjoyed walking around the property and meeting the resident guinea fowl, peacocks, squirrels and the cat – Cat Stevens. He is apparently a bit of a celebrity.

We drove on, and the countryside changed. The trees were now more colours, reds, oranges and pinks scattered in among the greens. The hills were more rocky and the highway undulated through cuttings in the red rocks. We pulled over in a town called Corbin, which we have found out is where Colonel Sanders first started serving KFC at his roadhouse / fuel stop. His flavour became famous and the rest is history!

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/16l4y-/36.97249N/84.11548W