Our Old Kentucky Home Trip--Abridged

Art by Andre Pater

The trip to the FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, KY that I recently won (sponsored by Neogen--thanks again!) was spectacular!! The final eventing jumping, then the start of the speed jumping were all beyond words (well, cold and wet comes to mind for the first day) and our hunt for all our childhood haunts went REALLY well. Can’t WAIT to sort through the pics. They’re almost all on Sarah's camera after my expensive one, once again, malfunctioned. None of the pictures in this post are from our cameras, FYI.


Cigar


Molly the Pony

So excited to meet 1995 Breeders' Cup Classic Cigar, who was getting a bath, and Molly the Pony, who let me kiss her muzzle as she waited for dinner. She was much smaller than I expected—but then I didn’t even know she was there—we just stumbled on her as we kept getting lost! The last time we were at the KY Horse Park was 1978, year of the first major eventing competition, now know as the Rolex. In 1978, American Bruce Davidson won. This time, we watched his son compete--though US came in 4th overall.


Lifesized Statue of Bruce Davidson, located right outside the main stadium now.

And the Kentucky Horse Park has gone from a handful of buildings to its own city. Even with maps posted everywhere, I had NO concept of direction once we got there, and we would frequently walk 20 minutes and then end up where we started. Quite the challenge!

Got some fun pics on some of the cross country jumps—gave me the heebie-jeebies just looking at them. I tried climbing/jumping one with middle sand trap and ate it—but didn’t get hurt. Sarah did the same later. You can’t resist climbing them!

For me one of the best parts was being in a totally international crowd. There was one rider representing Egypt and I jumped up and went nuts for him, yelling out Mabruk! (Congratulations!) when he did well. Many teams were staying at our hotel, including the United Arab Emirates, which I was too shy to approach because I was sure I wouldn't understand their dialect (very different from Egyptian), and team Canada. First two people we ran into upon our arrival said to us, "From Canada, I assume?" Um, no. So we decided to cheer for Canada at the eventing jumping, and they got the silver overall! Talked to a Canadian member later at the hotel and he said they didn't even think they'd finish in the medals, so we promised to keep cheering for them. David O'Connor was coaching them--famous American eventer; and his wife Karen competed for the US. Sadly, her jumping round went poorly and US dropped to 4th. Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand (another surprise) and then the US.


Karen and David O'Connor competing together a few years ago.

Tough course--VERY few clears. But really well-designed, as well as I could tell. Wasn't impossible, and many got out with 4 faults, but you had to be RIGHT on your game to conquer it completely. Only about 2 or 3 DQs in the speed jumping from refusals (or simply crashing through a fence) but no major injuries and no falls.

After we ran out of show tickets, we still had 24 hours to enjoy our own "Amazing Race" to find everything we wanted to find from our childhood. We rented a car and went non-stop on our quest. We did have the advantage of a Garmin--and of Dad scouting out the old homestead the day before, since we also ran into him there. THAT was hilarious. He lives a few miles from Sarah and we run into him passing through KY on his way home from a band event in GA... Anyway, it was often startling to find memories flooding back as we found certain places... memories we thought were gone forever. I'll let Sarah tell the story about the water pump station in Salvisa... She misbehaved but really enjoyed herself, so I guess it's okay. ;)


Fort Harrod--the first settlement in the KY region by James Harrod in 1774 (mostly reconstructed) was still there, though much smaller than we remembered.

And the tiny shack we lived in for a few years in the backwoods? Completely gone. I could not figure out where the foundation was (because there barely was one to start with, just rocks). About 20 years of forest growth all over the site. Sarah still managed to find an intact bird feeder dad had made some 34 years ago and brought it home—I found other smaller artifacts and brought those too, including small branches off the huge tree I climbed every day as a young girl to feel the wind and see the forest valley stretched out below… The tree's branches were way over my head now so couldn’t reach—really wanted to, but we did climb all over a tobacco barn that I remember thinking was dangerous as a KID—partially collapsed now, but great place for pictures.

Ragweed took its toll on me, though. Ragweed was always Sarah’s enemy as a kid with her terrible allergies and asthma so I wasn’t thinking about how she lost her allergies and I developed them as an adult. I was wading through weeds and burrs for hours looking for relics and perfect camera shots… Was up all night sneezing, etc. Still worth it.

Even found our most memorable school down there, an oppressive Catholic elementary school--is that redundant? It had been converted to a Baptist activity center but the second we drove by we KNEW that was it. Went in and confirmed it and got tour by daycare lady. She literally said the #1 KY saying as we left, “Ya’ll come back and see us again real soon, ya’ hear?” Felt like we'd slipped into a time warp.

Sarah’s a big fan of the Amazing Race (I’ve seen snippets) and the last 24 hours was just like it—only we had a Garmin, thank goodness. I still can’t believe we found everything—and more. Very positive emotional experience for both of us.

I know everyone says this, but it proved SO true: Everything we found looked like it had been left in the dryer too long. Buildings and distances were all SO much smaller and shorter than we remembered--to an almost ridiculous extent. I was almost surprised that the residents didn't resemble Lilliputians...


Building at Shaker Village. Dad used to do pen and ink drawings of these buildings all the time.


Craft shop at Shaker Village

We also spent a short time Wednesday morning at one of our family's favorite places, the Shaker Village. Known for its incredible architecture, crafts, and candy (hey, we were kids) I had a chance to pet some of the grey Percherons they use for the carriage drives (not on weekdays, sadly), some VERY pregnant goats, and to admire a big red bull resting in a field. We were taken hostage by the gift shops (two of them!) and incurred a great deal of financial damage from the encounter, but emerged otherwise unscathed. Looking for a restroom we wandered into the Dining Hall, where I was flooded by memories as I stood between the opposing male and female staircases, looking into the restaurant, right at the table where we used to sit and enjoy their delectable recipes. I was frozen in time, and Sarah had to drag me out. (We didn't have time to actually stop and eat, sadly.)


One of their many famous spiral staircases

Some things about the South never change. Now doubt we were back in the Bible Belt...


We saw this on billboards with a toll-free number. What, you have to make reservations for Judgment Day, now?