These are just a few of the adoptable horses available through the Kentucky Equine Humane Center this week:

The Kentucky Horse Park Education Staff offers several balanced seat / English riding courses during the summer months for youths ranging in ages from 10 – 17 years old.  The courses are designed to introduce youth to riding but are also limited in size to accommodate and challenge more advanced riders as well.  Students will learn the basics of stable management and balanced seat riding as well as how to catch, lead, groom and saddle horses. Sessions are limited to 10 students each. Please contact Laurie Mays, 859-233-4305 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 6, 2012) - The Kentucky Horse Park will welcome 900 first-graders to the park April 10 at 10:15 a.m. to watch a re-enactment of the famous 1938 Seabiscuit - War Admiral match race in the Pimlico Special.  Live Thoroughbreds, period costumes, music from the era, antique cars, and real jockeys - including Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron - will add to the experience.

The event will be the highlight of a reading program created by the Kentucky Horse Park Literacy Program. The students have been participating in the program since earlier this year when a live horse from the Kentucky Horse Park delivered Seabiscuit books to area schools.  When the students received their books, they also got to try on real jockey silks and goggles, put their heads through photo boards and pretended to be jockeys on the home stretch.

Last Chance to See World-Class Exhibition Before it Leaves

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 1, 2012)  The Kentucky Horse Park is pleased to invite the public to see it's current blockbuster exhibition, "The Horse" free of charge on Thursday, April 5.  The last day for the public to view it will be April 6, afterwhich it will move to San Diego.

Kentucky Department of Agriculture
James R. Comer
Commissioner of Agriculture
111 Corporate Drive
Frankfort, KY  40601
Phone: (502) 573-0450
FAX: (502) 573-0046
www.kyagr.com
  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
For more information contact:
Holly VonLuehrte
(502) 573-0450

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Today, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer issued a warning that weather conditions are ripe for an outbreak of West Nile Virus and cited State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Stout’s advice that Kentucky equine owners should consult their veterinarians about vaccinating their horses against the disease.

“While we do not wish to cause unnecessary alarm, we are concerned about the equine population’s vulnerability to this potentially deadly disease,” said Commissioner Comer. “I am confident that Kentucky’s equine owners will act in the best interests of their horses and seek guidance on vaccinations.”

West Nile is spread by mosquitoes, and mosquitoes thrive in the warm, wet conditions Kentucky has experienced in the last few weeks. No horse in Kentucky that has undergone a full West Nile vaccination regimen is known to have contracted the virus since 2003, according to Dr. Stout. West Nile was first discovered in Kentucky in 2001, and Kentucky experienced 513 equine cases of the disease in 2002 and 102 cases in 2003. Kentucky recorded one equine case in 2011, in Fleming County. 

West Nile Virus causes encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, in horses, humans, birds, and other warm-blooded animals. It is transmitted by mosquitoes that acquire it from infected birds. Humans and equine cannot transmit the disease. It was first discovered in the United States in 1999 in New York.

Meet the adoptable horse of the week: Grayball (Noble Causeway-Mizlala by Unbridled Song).  He's a 3-year-old, 16-hand, unraced Thoroughbred who is looking like a good show hunter prospect. 

He's currently in the retraining program at the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center here at the park, and they say he "has the ease and grace of Tiger Woods' swing in his stride," which you can see from the video of his first ride at the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 23, 2012) - The Kentucky Horse Park will welcome 4,800 fourth-graders to the Alltech Arena on March 29 to watch an original, live equine show, written and choreographed exclusively for them. The show is a highlight of a reading program created by the Kentucky Horse Park Literacy Program, which the students have been participating in since last year.   

Coming to the park during Spring Break?