For more information:
• Turfway Park

Producer/Editor: Tom Bickel
Videographer: Warren Mace

Dave Does It!—Turfway Park

In this segment of Dave Does It!, Dave visits Turfway Park in Boone County, where he learns the fundamentals of grooming by brushing a Thoroughbred racehorse after it has finished with its morning work. He meets jockey Ben Creed, who introduces him to the Equi-sizer, a mechanical "horse" that simulates the demands of racing. Dave also meets with the track starter prior to a race, and as track announcer, announces the winner of a race as the horse enters the winner's circle. This Dave Does It! segment at Turfway offers a microcosm of track life that ranges from the early morning training to the extreme physical demands on jockeys to the rare glory of the winner's circle.

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• photo, Bashford Manor main house
• photo, memorial plaque by Bob Lockhart

Historical Marker 2040—Bashford Manor Farm

At the end of the 1800s, George James Long presided over Bashford Manor, an estate which housed a racing and breeding stable that operated within what are now Louisville’s city limits, then a pastoral and bucolic farm setting.

Bashford Manor Stable bred and raced two Kentucky Derby winners: Azra (1892) and Sir Huon (1906); and bred Manuel (1899). Thoroughbreds continued to be bred and raced by Long in Louisville’s growing shadow until 1922, and Long’s family owned the estate until its sale in 1951. Demolition of the stables and French Renaissance mansion, built by James Bennett Wilder, who owned the farm before Long, occurred in the 1970s, when a newly developed shopping mall, with a horse and Kentucky Derby theme, assumed Bashford Manor’s name. The mall thrived during the '70s and '80s, but later suffered from decline and was eventually demolished. A historical marker sits in front of the site for the old mall, which is now occupied by Lowe’s and Walmart.

Churchill Downs honors the stable’s achievements with the running of the Bashford Manor Stakes during its spring meet. The six-furlong race for two-year-olds has been run 110 times.

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• Lexington Mounted Police Unit
• Friends of the Lexington Mounted Police

Lexington Mounted Police Unit

Lexington’s mounted police horse unit is a valuable symbol of the Bluegrass region's rich heritage and involvement in riding and equestrian life. The unit also demonstrates, in the face of tightening budgets for law enforcement, how mounted police units can be cost-effective and successful elements of a law enforcement agency. Fittingly, in the home of the horse, the Lexington Mounted Police is one of the most respected units in North America, performing important duties such as controlling crowds from an elevated vantage point and policing special events in Lexington and surrounding areas. The unit was first housed at the Kentucky Horse Park, but now makes its home downtown, where the teams do much of their important work.

The unique bond between horse and rider teaches horse enthusiasts who participate in the unit's yearly Colloquium and Sensory Clinic a great deal about partnerships and trust. The Colloquium, held at the Kentucky Horse Park, brings together law enforcement equestrians from all over the world. In past years, this three-day training event and competition has featured expert instructors, including members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and London Metropolitan Police. The hands-on training develops tactical police skills, equitation, and trust, all of which strengthen the horse and rider. The Sensory Clinic is a one-day affair that teaches civilians similar skills.

Lexington’s horse-and-rider teams have performed well at the North American Police Equestrian Championships, with Officer Lisa Rakes and her 17.2 hand Thoroughbred-Percheron cross Jake for the first time taking home both the equitation and obstacle championship title in 2009. Rakes also brought home ribbons in 2010 and 2011, and other members of the unit have brought home ribbons as well.

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• New Beginnings Therapeutic Riding, 306 Matlok Old Union Rd., Bowling Green, Ky., 42104

Producer/Editor: Jessica Gibbs
Videographer: Kyle McCafferty
Production Assistant: Quinn Haste

New Beginnings Therapeutic Riding

After several years of growth, New Beginnings Therapeutic Riding is thriving, notching 100 students in recent years, up from a beginning roster of about only 10. The non-profit riding school, located in Bowling Green, helps riders who have mental, physical, behavioral, and emotional disabilities learn to ride and care for horses. Riding horses gives students myriad skills ranging from muscle training, anger management lessons, enhanced motor control, goal-setting, social skills, and confidence.

The unique nature of riding-as-therapy offers advantages to participants as well as the greater community of instructors, parents, relatives, friends, neighbors. Because the school relies heavily on volunteers for operation and instruction, it provides passive benefits to the volunteers, including leadership and teaching skills that allow them to positively interact with disabled members in the community, some of which many have disparate disabilities and needs.

Because riding is so liberating, it allows the rider to look beyond a personal disability to simply find sheer joy in the accomplishment of riding a horse. That freedom is the end goal New Beginnings aims to reach with each lesson and each rider.