August 2002

Kentucky's Bid For The 2006 World Equestrian Games

by Mary Hilton for HorsesDaily.com

Update: The following article was written for horsesdaily.com promoting the 2006 bid for the Kentucky World Equestrian Games. While the winning bid went to Aachen, it was announced December 6, 2005, the Kentucky has won the bid for the Kentucky 2010 World Equestrian Games, where for the first time in the history of the WEG, all seven WEG disciplines will be held at the same venue, the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park. Follow the road to the 2010 Kentucky World Equestrian Games on HorsesDaily.com. Read more....

Kentucky's Bid For The 2006 World Equestrian Games

"Kentucky is the horse capital of the world. That's what we say and that's what we believe. Certainly it is the horse capital of the United States," said John Nicholson, Executive Director of the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The US venue is one of only two sites that have submitted bids to the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) to host the 2006 World Equestrian Games. The contending bid was submitted by Aachen, Germany. The bid from the Kentucky Horse Park was delivered to the FEI on June 30th and the decision on which site will be awarded the 2006 WEG is expected to be announced in September 2002.

One of the primary points in Kentucky's bid for the games is the state's world-renowned reputation for its involvement with horses. "Certainly the close relationship the people of Kentucky have established with their horses is recognized around the world - that's part of Kentucky's heritage, and Lexington's heritage specifically," said Nicholson. "It's been part of our life and part of our world since there was a Kentucky and there was a Lexington. If you go around the world and say 'Kentucky', most people are going to associate that with 'horse'."