More on Marney's Marker

There is indeed more to the story of Marney Walerious's marker at Kentucky Horse Park - there were two of them! Nancy Kelly did some more research and here is what she discovered:

The original tree and marker; photo taken by Nancy Kelly in 2006.

Before the Atec Arena was constructed and before the restaurant was built there was a road on the edge of the park sort of in the southwest area. The first Breakables Live was held around there someplace, in a tent, and there were trees lining that road with markers, one of which was Marney's. I remember "visiting" it after the show.

The original stone. Photo by Nancy Kelly.

The marker you showed a picture of was that marker. It was larger and thinner and suffered a lot of damage. We had heard it was actually broken.

Then construction the Altec (completed in 2010) and the restaurant caused them to remove the marker, first putting it in storage, even losing it for a time, then at some point a new marker was ordered and placed near the Man O'War memorial.

The second stone marker, heavily damaged by mowers. Photo by Nancy Kelly.

When that area was reworked the current marker was then relocated to the present location. This marker also suffered damage, but not as bad as the original, thinner one.

Thanks, Nancy, for finding and sharing more information about Marney's marker. I hope to visit it next year at BreyerFest.

Marney - What's the Story Behind the Two Stones?

Recently I have been writing the history of Great Lakes Breyer Registry/Great Lakes Congress,  the longest running model horse club and show series in the world. During a phone interview, Kerri Johnson, the club's founder, credited Marney Walerius with a lot of mentoring in the early days of the club.

As I continued researching, I came across some old materials in my files about Marney's tree and memorial stone that were placed near the Man o' War statue at Kentucky Horse Park in August, 1992.

A tribute to Marney was handed out to those of us in attendance at that BreyerFest.

 On the back was a map of the park with directions for finding the site.

This is the stone that was originally placed under the tree. (Photo retrieved from Google Images, but Sue Sudekum took the photo and then gave Nancy Kelly permission to put it on her web site. Go here to Nancy's web site to read more information about Marney.)

Kerri also sent me a photo that she had recently taken of Marney's memorial stone so that I could include it the finished history.

It is not the same stone. And clearly it has had a tangle or two with the mowers at the horse park.

What happened? Where is the original stone? Why was it changed? Was it, too, damaged by the park's mowers thus needing to be replaced? And while I like this stone better than the first, the word "hobby" has been left off, making Marney's contribution to the early hobby muddled and unclear to those who may not have known her. 

I have moved on to another writing project so I am going to have to put this mystery on the back burner until that is finished. But I do plan to dig into this and see if I can find out the story behind the two stones.

Kentucky Horse Park with Lisa!

On our way home from Florida, Lisa and I decided to stop at Kentucky Horse Park (it was right next to the interstate!) We both share a love of horses, so...

One of the shows we watched within the park was the Horses of the World show.

 A view of the arena.

 An American Paint ridden by a woman named Suzy in old-west garb.

 A rare white Thoroughbred. He is not an albino - he is simply white.

 A Fell Horse from England.

 See the feathers? Beautiful!

 A Swedish Warmblood.

 His tail was all white - he looked a bit like a charcoal Breyer.

 The Lippizaner was giving his handler problems which disappointed me because I love Lippizaners!

 A big Percheron gelding dressed as a war horse.

 Final lineup.

Lisa and the Lippizaner.

Lisa took a picture of me petting the Percheron.

We also saw the Parade of Champions - famous race horses who live at Kentucky Horse Park. So cool!

This is Cigar. He's 22 years old now, but still very beautiful.

Cigar had sixteen wins and was the 1995 and 1996 Horse of the Year.

See that mark on his shoulder? He cut himself as a foal and had to have thirty two stitches! Sadly, Cigar is sterile and has no progeny.

Cigar from the back. Look closely at his left hock - see that pin firing?

This is Da Hoss. He's twenty years old and is a Breeders Cup winner.

And then, the one I was MOST thrilled to see....

Funny Cide!!

I was SO EXCITED to see him - and here he is, standing right next to me! He's a Kentucky Derby winner and a Preakness winner. In fact, he was the  first gelding to win the Kentucky Derby in seventy four years.

 So beautiful.

Funny Cide looked quite relaxed and calm.

This is the Standardbred, Mr. Muscleman. He's the 9th richest trotter ever. He has also been pin fired.

Mr. Muscleman is twelve years old and seventeen hands high. 

Lisa and I also rode the trolley around the horse park. Here Lisa is thanking one of the drafters who pulled us on our tour.