When a Meeting in a Basement Vault Changed Everything
In 1984, the richness of our history was displayed for all to see at the Arabian Horse Trust Museum in Westminster, CO. It's Rocky Mountain panorama seemed a majestically fitting backdrop to the museum Arabian horse enthusiasts would travel far and wide to visit and enjoy.
However, in 2001 the Arabian Horse Trust closed its doors, and nearly a century was locked in a basement vault. It was a sad day for the Arabian horse community. It felt defeating, sobering... like we'd somehow done a disservice to the breed we love.
It's contents hadn't since light since... until November 7, 2007. On that overcast fall day, a meeting was held in that vault that would set a new course for the Arabian breed, as the Purebred Arabian Trust set out to vindicate the former museum by launching an effort to build a two-story, 10,000 sq foot museum addition to the Kentucky Horse Park's International Museum of the Horse, showcasing not only the precious contents of the Arabian Horse Trust Museum, but also the most comprehensive experiential history ever displayed.
3 years, 7 months, and 4 days later, the Al-Marah Arabian Horse Galleries opened. And in the last six year's, it's been one of the Kentucky Horse Park's most trafficked and popular attractions to over 3 million – THREE MILLION! – visitors who have attended the park since the Galleries opened. It was a long haul for the volunteer board of the Purebred Arabian Trust who rolled up their sleeves to do the job set before them. But they recognized an unprecedented opportunity, and went for it.
And it all started in a basement vault.
#GreatMoments #ArabianHorseGalleries
**Note: Interested in Arabian horse history? Visit the Purebred Arabian Trust page below for daily posts and videos from every single exhibit in the Al-Marah Arabian Horse Galleries. It's a history enthusiast's dream.
https://www.facebook.com/PurebredArabianTrust/?fref=ts
