New Exhibition at Kentucky Horse Park

The Kentucky Horse Park is one of those places I want to go visit (if time and money allow!) sooner rather than later. They have announced a new exhibition that will be displayed there May thru October which will feature the Arabian Horse called A Gift from the Desert: The Art, History, and Culture of the Arabian Horse.

For those of you unfamiliar, the Arabian horse is one of the most ancient of horse breeds, and is the foundation for most of the horse breeds we have today. Even today, the Arabian horse is nearly worshiped in the Middle East, considered honored members of the family of wealthy sheikhs and unarguably treated much better than many people in the world. The horse is valued for its elegance, endurance and speed.

Going down a tangent, many of you may remember perhaps the most famous Arabian to many Americans, Cass Ole, the stallion that starred in the 1979 movie based on Walter Farley's book, "The Black Stallion." That is a movie certainly worth watching if you never have, and rewatching if its been awhile. A large part of the movie is spent with the characters of Alec and "The Black" learning to trust each other after becoming stranded on an uninhabited island. It is a series of some of the most beautiful cinematography featuring a horse you are ever going to see. And, naturally, the book is a must-read for any young reader. There are many books in the Black Stallion series, and they were largely responsible for fostering my own love of reading at an early age.