2016 Miniature Horse WORLD Issues Feb/March 2016 | Page 15

This trip was originally planned around the
Breeder’s Cup being held at Keeneland racetrack. Unfortunately our participation to visit
with race fans on Friday was cancelled due to
the track and Breeder’s Cup organizers not
being able to manage us with the crowds. We
did not know that until the Saturday before
we were to ship. It was fine in the long run
as the Horse Park and CP National Horse
show kept us plenty busy with their activities.
We did manage to head over the Keeneland
for works and were able to tour through the
beautiful facilities there.
The Kentucky Horse Park holds two Breed
Presentations each day. Our horses put forth
their biggest smiles and best behavior as they strutted around the ring. Taz
and Lola taking turns demonstrating Classic Pleasure Driving and Roadster,
and Leo and Kiwi earned their fair share of “oh my gosh, they are so tiny and
cute“ comments as we shared the world of animal assisted therapy with onlookers. After each demo, we greeted the crowd and answered questions. I may be
partial, but the minis definitely seemed to draw a lot of admirers. Stampede of
Love shared the wonderful world of Miniature horses in seven demos during
our stay, highlighted by the Hallowhinny presentations on Saturday October
31st. Kiwi and Leo dressed as Minions and Taz and Lola as characters Harry
and Hermoine from Harry Potter. What a tremendous amount of fun it was to
see the various creative costumes that each horse and handler paraded in.
Friday night found us joining Sarah Schaaf’s Miniature horse Patrick as we
visited with attendees at the CP National Horse. All dressed up with lots of
people to see, we paraded our horses around the concourse area of the Altec

arena. They were a big hit and posed for
more photos than I can count. Later that
night Patrick and Taz had a little jumping
competition on the arena floor to demonstrate how the Costume Accumulator
class would be held amongst their full size
counterparts. I think the crowd really got
a kick out of seeing what these little horses
can do.
Before we headed home on Saturday
night, we visited the Horse Park museum
and walked the horses around the grounds.
What a truly magical place it is. Being
able to see so much
equine history is something we will keep in
our hearts forever. We
cannot thank the Kentucky Horse Park and
National Horse Show
staff enough for this
opportunity and for
being such an incredible group of people to
work with. Of course,
long before we left, we
were already thinking
about another trip to
beautiful Kentucky.

F E B R UA R Y / M A R C H 2016

Miniature Horse World 13