The ground shakes with the sound of thundering hooves before you even glimpse the impressive six-horse hitch. As the dust clears, the award-winning Priefert Percherons charge into the arena driven by the talented Jason Goodman. Performing for more than six million people a year at expos and fairs across the country, the Priefert Hitch presents a show that is remembered long after the dust settles.

From a simulated “docking” of the freight wagon to the team’s signature “spin the top” with the horses emerging from the spin at the “stagecoach run,” impressive maneuvers are their specialty. While the hitch must work as a team to complete a maneuver, each horse has a distinct position and role to ensure success.

The mighty Kong has a unique responsibility as a wheel horse. Wheelers, as they are sometimes called, are always the largest horses in the hitch and are positioned closest to the wagon. They are also the only horses that have a special piece of harness called breeching, a wide strap that wraps around the horse’s rump and acts as a breaking system. This means that the wheel horses are the only horses in the hitch that have the ability to stop and/or back-up the wagon and because of this, wheel horses need to be big and strong.

Standing 19 hands tall, Kong is certainly big and strong. According to his handlers, he has a “Kong-sized” appetite and will eat just about anything! He is the leader of the pack, no matter how many other horses are with him or who is sharing his paddock.

True celebrities of the equine world, Kong and the Priefert Percherons have appeared at the National Finals Rodeo, the San Antonio Stock Show, the Calgary Stampede, the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, Cheyenne Frontier Days, Bishop Mule Days and dozens of other PRCA rodeos.

Watch a video that we shot of Kong on July 15, then meet him in person at BreyerFest this weekend, July 15-17 at the Kentucky Horse Park!

Mighty, magnificent and an outstanding athlete, Andalusian stallion Kripton-Seni II embodies all the stellar characteristics of his breed and then some!

Since he was imported from Spain in 2004 by Californians Joe and Nancy Latta, Kripton- Seni II has won 12 national championships and eight national reserve championships. He has also won 14 regional championships and four regional reserve championships. In 2009, he was a United States Equestrian Federation Horse of Honor and was one of five USEF finalists for Horse of the Year. In 2008, the show committee of the International Andalusian and Lusitano Horse Association named him Horse of the Year. Those honors reflect the versatility of this 16.3-hand bay.

Kripton has been victorious in Halter, Hunt Seat Pleasure, Western Pleasure and in Dressage Suitability and Hack with the Latta family members as well as their trainer Sandy Shields. Kripton also performs out of the show ring.He’s participated in California’s Fiesta of the Spanish Horse and has joined the marchers in the Tournament of the Roses parade where he carried Shields with grace and aplomb.

Meet Krypton this weekend at BreyerFest, July 15-17 at the Kentucky Horse Park!

This weekend, July 15-17, you can meet Sato, a Thoroughbred who is an extremely rare palomino pinto sabino.

This 16-hand stallion is registered with The Jockey Club and the American Paint Horse Association.

He has the flashy coloration of a Paint and the sleek, elegant conformation of a Thoroughbred, making him one show-stopping piece of equine eye candy. Sato will be appearing courtesy of BreyerFest so come out and see him!

Watch a video of him, shot at the Kentucky Horse Park on July 14, 2011:

TOSS A BALE OF HAY to a starving horse for Christmas.

This would be a great gift for the people on your Christmas list -- make a donation to the "Save Our Horses" fund in their honor!

Due to the drought last summer and the record low temperatures now, many horses across Kentucky will not have adequate food this winter.... YOU can help them! The Ky Horse Council's "Save Our Horses" fund offers emergency food and veterinary care for horses of all breeds and disciplines when their owners cannot/will not provide for them. Your tax-deductible donation has no overhead, so every dollar you give will help Kentucky's horses.

Please send donations to Save Our Horses, c/o Kentucky Horse Council, 1500 Bull Lea Rd, Suite 214C, Lexington, KY 40511. http://www.kentuckyhorse.org/soho/ or you can call them at 859-367-0509 to make your donation over the phone.