Fundraising Campaign Begins For Morgan Exhibit At The Kentucky Horse Park
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Sherry Cole and Mark Staehnke, Presidents of the AMHA and AMHI respectively announced the kickoff for fundraising efforts to secure the necessary funding needed to make a Morgan exhibit at the Kentucky Horse Park a reality. The Kentucky Horse Park has suggested enlarging the current presence the Morgan horse occupies in their Museum area by adding two display cases that would house both historical and contemporary competition memorabilia. These cases would be located in two different areas of the Museum giving the estimated 800,000 visiting horse enthusiasts more exposure to the Morgan horse.
The most exciting suggestion from the Kentucky Horse Park is the development of our own space in the breed building, which is directly adjacent to the Parade of Breeds arena and faces the last third of the arena. This space would allocate approximately 500 square feet to specifically acknowledge the Morgan horse and it would be a featured attraction. The KHP also suggested the installation of two virtual horses, modified to look like Morgans. One horse would have western tack, providing the walk/trot experience, and the other would have English tack and provide the walk/trot/canter experience. These virtual horses are similar to the ones used for training and close-ups in the recently released Universal Pictures movie, "Seabiscuit."
The AMHA through its newly created Educational Trust, and the AMHI both 501c 3 charitable organizations have joined hands to insure the success of this fundraising effort. Additional committee members Ed Creighton, Tony Lee, Georgie Green, Sherry Cole, Susan Fu and Bob Morgan (Ohio) will be making site visits to both the Kentucky Horse Park as well as the National Museum of the Morgan Horse, in Shelburne to assist Horse Park officials in their plan to bring a formal presentation to the AMHA Board meeting in November. Additionally, the Committee is planning to have an "artists rendering" of the exhibit space housing the two virtual horses available for viewing at this years Grand National along with collateral material and donation cards. Initially, promotional literature will be funded by the excess money raised during the 2000 Stallion Service Auction in Atlanta that was specifically earmarked for efforts to improve our visibility at the Park.
"If ever there was a cause worth donating to, making this Exhibit at the Kentucky Horse Park a Reality would have to be at the lop of the list for Morgan lovers!", said Darwin Olson, past president of the AMHI and current Show Chair for the 2003 Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse [email protected].
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