Lexington: The Kentucky Horse Park

We arrived in Lexington by 1:30 pm, in time to visit the Kentucky Horse Park. This 1200 acre facility is owned by the State of Kentucky, and it's a great place to see over 100 different breeds of horses up close and personal. A quick tour of the overall facility is given in a large wagon pulled by Belgian Draft Horses.


One of the many breeds living at the park are Miniature Horses. You can meet them at the daily Parade of Breeds. When the horses aren't 'working' as tiny ambassadors, they graze in beautiful pastures throughout the Park.

One of the events that happens each day is the Hall of Champions show, where you can see seven of the biggest money winning horses alive today. The newest resident of the Hall is Funny Cide, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2003.

The KY Horse Park is a warm, beautiful place to stop for a couple of hours on a nice day. It is surrounded by miles of pastures, fences and distinctive Kentucky dry stone walls.

After leaving the Park, we drove through downtown Lexington. The Historic District has some beautiful Victorian houses, but we didn't see anything that called out to us to stop. So we decided to push on, and are spending the evening in Bardstown KY, about 45 miles closer to tomorrow's destination: Oxford, Mississippi.

Lexington Kentucky - Model Evaluation

Our first stop on the walkabout will be Lexington. Our current plans have us staying only one night, and based on the results of my Decision Apprentice evaluation model, that is the right amount of time. Lexington fails to meet our criteria, and we only plan on spending several days in locations with high potential as a future home (or a family member to visit).

Based on my Internet research, Lexington fails to meet two of our five high level requirements: the climate is not mild enough (the winters are too cold) and there are not enough job opportunities for us. The full tree looks like this:

Lexington KY

• ●Lexington KY is a good choice for our next home.
• ●AND [1 of 5] : Lexington KY has a good climate.
• ●AND [1 of 2] : Lexington KY has moderate winters.
• ●OR [1 of 2] : The number of days each year at or below freezing should be 10 or less.
• ●False
• ●OR [2 of 2] : The average winter temperature should be at least 10 degrees warmer than Hudson OH.
• ●False
• ●AND [2 of 2] : Lexington KY has a good balance of sunshine and summer heat.
• ●OR [1 of 2] : Lexington KY has moderate summers but not a lot of sunshine.
• ●True
• ●OR [2 of 2] : Lexington KY has lots of sunshine but hot summers.
• ●False
• ●AND [2 of 5] : Lexington KY has an affordable cost of living.
• ●AND [1 of 4] : Lexington KY has health insurance available for less than $1500 a month.
• ●True
• ●AND [2 of 4] : Lexington KY has lower taxes than Hudson OH.
• ●True
• ●AND [3 of 4] : Lexington KY has a lower cost of living index than Hudson OH.
• ●True
• ●AND [4 of 4] : Lexington KY has good housing for less than $800,000.
• ●True
• 1671-Red-House-.pdf (Documents)
• 181-Water-Works.pdf (Documents)
• 252-North-Broad.pdf (Documents)
• 302-High-Street.pdf (Documents)
• 635-Jones-Lane-.pdf (Documents)
• ●AND [3 of 5] : Lexington KY has good work opportunities.
• ●OR [1 of 2] : Lexington KY has good fulltime work opportunities.
• ●False
• ●OR [2 of 2] : Lexington KY has good freelance work opportunities.
• ●False
• ●AND [4 of 5] : Lexington KY provides a good quality of life.
• ●AND [1 of 2] : Lexington KY can provide a healthy lifestyle.
• ●OR [1 of 2] : Lexington KY has neighborhoods that provide a walkable urban lifestyle.
• ●AND [1 of 2] : Lexington KY has at least one neighborhood with a walkscore greater than 90.
• ●True
• ●AND [2 of 2] : The neighborhood with a walkscore greater than 90 has a crime rate no greater than 125% of the national average.
• ●True
• ●OR [2 of 2] : Lexington KY has areas with affordable nature 'compounds'.
• ●True
• ●AND [2 of 2] : Lexington KY can provide an inspirational lifestyle.
• ●OR [1 of 3] : Lexington KY has a high quality university.
• ●True
• uk_Map.jpg (Pictures)
• university of kentucky.jpg (Pictures)
• ●OR [2 of 3] : Lexington KY has cultural diversity.
• ●False
• ●OR [3 of 3] : Lexington KY has beautiful scenery and views.
• ●False
• ●AND [5 of 5] : Lexington KY has good accessibility.
• ●AND [1 of 2] : Lexington KY is within 2 hours of a major airport.
• ●True
• ●AND [2 of 2] : Lexington KY is within 30 minutes of high quality hospitals.
• ●True
• hospitals.jpg (Pictures)

Unfortunately, in this blog post you are unable to view either the notes or the attachments that explain the red/false and green/true assessments I've made on each point. In the actual application, all of this is saved and readily available as documentation for each item in the model.

Lexington has a lot going for it - it is affordable, it has a good university (University of Kentucky), and it has some great walkable neighborhoods with nice housing. Unfortunately, it is a little too cold and a little too small to find work. If we find, as we travel, that no location passes our 'test' and revisions/compromises are necessary, Lexington may merit a second look.

Of couse, a lot also depends on how we feel about a place once we actually see it; as wonderful as the Internet is, there is no substitute for real life exploration. That is why a walkabout is necessary! We will visit, take pictures, and we will be more efficient at this because of the research we've done in advance. I now know the walkable neighborhoods we would like to explore, and given we plan on spending only one night, efficiency is essential.