While visiting Lexington Kentucky for an Equine Photography Workshop I did a ton of searching online for the best things to do and see while I was there. After researching and going back and forth about going on one of the Horse Farm Tours, I finally decided after reading all of the amazing reviews for Shaun’s Unique Horse Farm Tours that I was going to go on my last day in Lexington. I am so incredibly glad I did! It was the best thing I did my entire trip. Shaun was not only so incredibly knowledgable about the history of Lexington and the race horse heritage that surrounds the city, but he was also full of awesome stories. From tales of hanging out with the most elite race horse breeders and trainers, to taking tours to the horse sale and almost having someone buy a horse, and of course his never ending knowledge of race horses from bloodlines to who won races….and my favorite part about the entire tour was that the horses at the farms we visited absolutely adored this man and you could tell they looked forward to his visits with groups of people that would love on them.
One our tour we made 4 different stops. The first stop was KatieRich Farms. We started out up at the barn and after realizing most of the horses were out for the day, headed out to the pasture to visit the mares with their foals. A farm which was once a cattle farm, has transformed into a gorgeous state of the art equine facility. It was so great watching Shaun get out at the pasture with the mares and foals and watching him call them over to the fence. They were ever so excited to greet everyone, and even more so excited because Shaun had a couple of peppermints for them.
Our second stop was Hurricane Hall, where we got to visit with the 2 year olds in the barn. Shaun went to some of the stalls and told us all about the horses bloodlines and who they traced back to.
Our final farm stop for the day was Normandy Farms. Where we got to see more foals and these foals were some of my favorite of the day, there were two of them playing and I was able to capture some really great expressions. After a stop by the barn to visit the horses in the pastures, we headed up to the barn where Seabiscut was filmed. That was pretty awesome. This white and green trimmed barn where Seabiscuit was filmed was the epitome of a classic barn, complete with little animals all over the roof to keep away any bad spirits! There was also a great view up to the main barn from this barn.
Our last stop of the day was at the equine swimming pool that is located right behind The Thoroughbred Center. We were able to see a few horses swim while we were there and it was so interesting to see how they are able to float in the water, some of the horses seemed to glide through the water so effortlessly as they are used to swimming while others were just learning and getting the hang of things. Horses are often swam for exercise, to recover from injuries, or just to condition them for upcoming sales.
I can’t say enough good things about Unique Horse Farm Tours, it is at the top of my list of things to do while visiting Lexington.
Some of my other favorite things I did while visiting Lexington were visiting Keeneland Race Track for the morning workout, and visiting Kentucky Horse Park and watching the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show.
