Halloween with Horses!
Horses? Huh? Halloween is ghosts-jack-o-lanterns-and candy! How did
horses get into it? Well, they got into it eight years ago at the Colorado Horse Park!
Halloween with Horses, now in its eighth year, brings back the fun of yesteryear. At this fall festival, families enjoy the delighted squeals of little ghosts and goblins as they discover real live horses in fabulous costumes, tricks-or- treats in the Halloween barn, decorate a pumpkin, ride a trail horse, listen to spooky Halloween stories, and experience a few chills and thrills in the "Stable of Terror."
Upwards of 10,000 people attend this hugely popular and unique annual event. This year's
Halloween with Horses is Saturday, October 20 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. The festival also features horse performances, pony rides, a petting zoo, face painting, a castle bounce and slide, a hay maze, tractor rides, and lots of food and musical entertainment. There'll even be a "Howl Arena-Going to the Dogs!" But by far the day's most exciting events are the costumed horse contests. Over the years
Halloween with Horses has had a dragon and knights, jousters, a box of crayons, an American flag, an elephant, skeletons, even the Batmobile! New this year will be a category for best costume entered by a barn or club-so round up your horse and get creative, because winners receive ribbons and cash prizes!
Halloween with Horses is only one of the exciting events hosted by the Colorado Horse Park. You can see the country's top riders in spectacular competitions featuring jumping, cross country, and dressage, draft horse shows, carriages, and driving events. You can learn to ride or board your horse at the CHP. You can also see fine arts shows and dog shows. And our plans call for even more. We are working very hard to create a cultural heritage park focusing on the roles of the horse throughout the history of the West. The Park will include a museum complex featuring 19 th-century entrepreneurs, firearms, and model horses, living history and western cultures centers, a library of the Western Horse, and an equine performance arena. The Colorado Horse Park also will help preserve hundreds of acres of open space. When fully established, the Park will help protect and retain the treasured natural quality of the land and access to a long-ago rural lifestyle and time.
Halloween with Horses is one way we invite our visitors to experience "
the history and heritage of the West through the romance of the Horse." It is the premier event of the Colorado Horse Park Foundation, a recognized 501(c)(3) organization. Planning and presenting an event of this magnitude and complexity takes hundreds of volunteer hours. We rely on collaborations with such diverse partners as the Parker Arts Council, Douglas County Libraries, the Parker Fire Department, and the Town of Parker, among others. It takes scheduling, contracting, volunteer recruitment and training, numerous in-kind donations, sponsorships-and funding! A $1,000 grant from the
YourHub.com Community Giving Program will go a long way toward making this year's
Halloween with Horses the best ever. With YourHub.com's support, we will celebrate both the horse heritage of Douglas County and its famous Halloween family festival.