06.30.13
Posted in Attractions, Discussion, Kentucky Horse Park, Schooling Day at 7:19 pm by Thomas
I am sure most of you who go out to the Kentucky Horse Park for the Cross Country Schooling days have already seen the notice that next Sunday’s (July 7th) Schooling Day has been cancelled. I recently finished my first Dressage Show with my new horse Di’s Dr. Schumocker(TJ Monty) and was hoping to get out there next weekend just to hack around a bit and see how how he did. So now we are left with a single remaining date, Saturday September 7th, so expecting the turn out to be pretty good based on what I hear from others as I have not had to opportunity to make one of these in the past. So I am planning on getting out there for that last date, because it should be fun and this would be a great event to ask those of you who do these both your thoughts on what is more important for Kentucky as Horse Capital of the World, getting the World Equestrian Games back at some future date, say 2022 or 2026 or focusing on these kind of smaller fun uses of our equine facilities and really promoting Kentucky as a State that horse people come for a vacation with their horses. I know many of you will say why don’t we do both, and I think that question comes down to utilizing a finite amount of resources to their maximum potential and that is usually best served by a focused goal of what you want to accomplish. I will put a survey together with questions that more clearly ask the specific questions related to that base question.
Kentucky Colonel
Thomas P. Demond
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10.02.10
Posted in 2010 Games, Discussion, Kentucky, Logistics, My Thoughts, My Volunteering, Position Statements, World Equestrian Games at 11:42 pm by Thomas
The attendance totals for today are over 50,000 bringing the total for the Games after 8 days to just over 234,000 which is impressive when you figure at the start of September the ticket sales were not much more then that. This is an indication of what a lot of us thought, that because of the current economic recession(NBER be damned) that everyone is not wanting to lay down their hard earned cash until they are walking in the door.
This also shows the strength of the silent majority in Kentucky that are horse people in comparison to a very negative and vocal minority that wanted to say these Games would be a failure. Now before I get accused of putting the cart before the horse (excuse the pun) , we are only at the halfway point, so I will not pronounce these Games a success from the financial point of view, that will take many months to say whether a number of the short term goals that were given in that regard were met, but from the stand point of Kentucky being able to put on these Games in a manner where everyone is having a great time, and that word is getting out, and the city is not being crippled while the Games are going on, I think we all can say these Games are going better at this point then any of us could of hoped.
Now again, before anyone says I am just focusing on the things that are going well and I am not giving the total picture, I will say I have been out to the park 7 of the first 8 days and I have seen some situations were the planning did come up short. In one case I ended up right smack in the middle of a 30 minute oversight. I say 30 minute because that was the time difference between when an event was expected to end and when it really did but I can also tell you, that within an hour the negative impact caused by that had been eliminated because the staff and volunteers at the Games are a very flexible and resourceful group. So as I have said for a very long time, there is a magic with these Games that is very real and a lot of good will come out of these Games for Kentucky for a long time to come.
Kentucky Colonel
Thomas Demond
KyWEGO
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05.15.08
Posted in Discussion, Rolex Kentucky 3 Day Event, Thoroughbred Racing, Uncategorized at 11:22 pm by Thomas
Today marks the 14th anniversary of Mr. Jones coming into my life and had Mr. Jones survived he would of turned 18 yesterday. Thinking about his loss has got me to thinking a lot about the tragedies of recent and the agenda a certain organization is pushing. Mr. Jones was a Thoroughbred and when his life began that was going to be his life’s work but that was not to be and he found his way to me. Ultimately the agenda that this unnamed organization is pushing would basicly remove horses from our lifes, of course they may try to argue that, but ultimately that is what their agenda would lead to.
For me, it comes down to a simple question, is it better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all. For non horse people the point I am going to make next probably will be hard to understand, but if the world had been different when I was born and horses had been removed from our lives so Mr. Jones never came into my life would I or he been better off. Losing him was very hard and I still feel that loss to this day and I believe that he fought the fight to survive as long as he did because he was happy in this life. So would he or I been better off if he had never existed, I think you can guess my answer? So for those of you who think that horses do what they do because we mear humans command them to, you are sadly mistaken.
I will end on a more upbeat note. I heard that Laine Ashker was released from the hospital on Tuesday and by now should be home sleeping in her own bed which is great news though she still has much in front of her both physically and emotionally. I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you ride at another Rolex in the future.
Thomas Demond
Founder
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05.31.07
Posted in Combined Driving, Discussion, Georgetown, Kentucky, Thoroughbred Racing, Updates at 10:16 pm by Thomas
Its the end of May and wanted to give a quick update.
In Kentucky April really kicks off the horse season with the Kentucky Rolex 3-Day Event at the end of the month and then things kick in to overdrive in May with the Kentucky Derby the first Saturday in the month. Of course we should say congratulations to Street Sense and his whole crew and to Curlin for running a great race in the Preakness. Hopefully we will get to see these two again in the Breeders Cup Classic.
As most people have probably realized by now, I am an all around horse person. If it involves horses I have an interest in it, which makes this time of year very busy.
On Preakness day I was actually out watching a Combined Driving Event at the Gala Driving Center in Georgetown, Kentucky. There are not a lot of Combined Driving Centers in the U.S. unlike Europe and the Gala Driving Center is certainly amongst the top.
As for the funding for the Kentucky Horse Park we have taken a wait and see attitude as we wait to see if the Governor calls a Special Session in June. We continue to promote the Games by talking to people where ever we meet them and the response has been largely positive. The real concern always comes back to the money that is going to be spent for the Games as most know if Government tells you one number it is always going to cost more. Our primary goal then has to be to make the Games more successful then what people are expecting so that the State reaps benefits in 2010 and beyond.
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