Anna's Awesome Adventures!!!: Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event -- Day 5!

Sorry this is late to be posted! I got home and was very busy unpacking, organizing, and getting back into the swing of life. Hope you enjoyed reading about my Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event trip!

After one amazing weekend packed full of the top equine athletes in the world of eventing, it was all over -- just like that. When we woke up at 7:45, it was a bittersweet feeling that we wouldn't be heading back to the Kentucky Horse Park for another incredible day. After breakfast of a sausage, biscuit, muffin, fruit, cereal, and orange juice, we checked out, loaded the car, and headed to Claiborne Farm for a morning tour. This historic, huge breeding farm for Thoroughbred racehorses has been around for over 100 years and was where Secretariat was bred and stood as a stallion. We got to see the breeding shed, stallion row, and cemetery over the course of our hour-plus tour. Our guide, a stallion handler/groom, was a knowledgeable, funny, and personable young man who obviously adores his job. He pulled out two of the 10 stallions standing at stud for all of the guests to take photos with -- Orb and War Front. I got to pet each of them, as well as feed a peppermint to Blame. That was a wonderful opportunity! Claiborne's breeding program runs from February 1 to June 5 each year, and they allow no more than 150 mares bred to each stallion during that time period, which is far lower than most surrounding farms. All 10 stallions are assigned their own groom, who makes sure their counterpart gets his daily bath, peppermints galore (they run through about 7 pounds per week for all of the stallions), lots of grazing time, food, water, and everything a horse could want. The level of professionalism and attention to detail is very evident anywhere you look.

Ending in the cemetery was a fitting way to close out a great tour -- we walked around, looking at the gravestones and taking pictures of many of the well-known racehorses like Princequillo, Riva Ridge, Gallant Fox, and of course Secretariat. He was fully embalmed, placed in a specially-ordered casket, and buried with his legs arranged in mid-stride and his chin tucked down into his chest. It was a very special experience to stand where one of the greatest racehorses of all time is now in his final resting place. For a record side note, his heart truly was about three times that of an average horse.

Finally, we started toward home, stopping briefly at the Thoroughbred Center to find out a little more about its huge training complex, then on to Indiana. We stopped at the first rest stop o enjoy a nice lunch of leftovers, tapioca pudding, avocados, fruit, trail mix, and water, then drove on (one stop for fuel in Mt. Vernon, Illinoins) until arriving in beautiful St. Louis just before 6 p.m. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend and a sweeter friend to spend it with than my amazing godmother, Val, and I really hope to go back some day and experience it all over again. If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Kentucky Horse Park and/or Claiborne Farm, I highly recommend it. It truly made this weekend the "BEST WEEKEND ALL YEAR!" Thanks to my parents for taking great care of my horses while I was gone, Val for being a super-generous travel buddy, everyone who helped us out, and my Lord Jesus Christ for protecting our travels and giving me a fantastic end to my last year of high school. On to new adventures!