Blue ribbons for Reggie and Grace: Horses provide welcome break at senior living facility
Dick and Mary Carlton are in quarantine at the Legacy Reserve at Fritz Farm, a senior community on Man O War Boulevard with no complaints.
“They keep us very busy with all the things that are going on,” Dick Carlton said. “We’re very pleased. We talk to our children every day, every other day.”
That’s not to say it wasn’t a welcome surprise to see Rocky Mountain Memories, aka Reggie, a strapping chestnut American Saddlebred approach their ground floor porch to say hello.
He posed with perfect pricked ears as the Carltons petted his neck, staying completely still even as TV cameras zoomed in and traffic zoomed by.
“Nice,” said Mary Carlton. “I grew up on a farm so I’m used to horses.”
One porch over, Shirley Potter was even more excited because she grew up on a farm in Washington State with ... American Saddlebreds. “He’s lovely,” she said of Reggie.
Reggie and his stablemate, Grace, a Morgan, and their entourage made their way down the row of porches as folks waved from upper balconies. The visit to Legacy Reserve and The Willows next door was the idea of Julie Kaufman, owner of Blue Willow Farm in Versailles. Reggie, 19 years old, is a breed ambassador, a diplomat for Saddlebreds as it were, and with his perfect manners, she wondered if it might cheer up seniors sequestered in nursing homes.
Last week, Kaufman took Reggie and Grace to Daisy Hill Senior Living. “They were both a huge hit,” she said. So this week she proposed bringing the horses to Lexington and the two centers accepted.
On Wednesday, Grace was less patient with folks. She’s a recent addition to Blue Willow Farm, having been recently rescued from a feed lot in New Jersey, just one step away from a truck going to a Mexican slaughterhouse, where horse slaughter is still legal.
“She doesn’t want to be touched much today,” said her handler, Andrea Steponaitas, also of Blue Willow. Grace still has scars on her legs from whatever happened to her before she got to Kentucky, so her relative calm at being walked around a parking lot was impressive.
Much of Legacy Reserve is independent living apartments, so several people were able to walk outside to see the horses. L.G. “Pete” Smith also grew up on a farm and did some hotwalking at Churchill Downs, so he moved his walker right up to Reggie’s side.
“I’ve been around horses all my life,” he said, “so it was nice to pet him.”
When we start taking account of these crazy times, we’ll remember folks like Kaufman and Steponaitas, who just had an idea to brighten someone’s day and then acted on it. Like the teachers who put together parades for their students or the green lights on every other house in memory of those who’ve died, coronavirus has in some ways brought out our best.
“We know these folks are bored and isolated,” Kaufman said. “We just thought they’d enjoy it.”
This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 3:43 PM.
