Mary and Marquetry and friends

Mary Simons

Mary Simons (aka Moneigh® Mary)

From Mary:

Growing up in Wisconsin, the closest I got to a horse was the Kentucky Derby on television. Little did I know that in my life, I would be licked by, bitten by and slobbered on, by those same Derby winners and some of the most famous race horses in this country. It started when I became a volunteer for ReRun, a Thoroughbred adoption charity in Lexington, KY, and my project was helping with the Moneigh® paintings. Moneighs® were paintings created by famous horses and auctioned to raise funds for the organization. My job was to hold paper plates with paint and try and get the horse to dip into the paint and smoosh around on some paper. I knew nothing about stallions so I had no fear of getting up into their face with the paint. (Thank Heaven for grooms and barn managers holding the lead shank). My first assignment was Gone West, and I had no idea who he was. After researching, I was astonished to learn he had a $150,000 stud fee. I then started to research past performances and pedigrees of the horses who painted and learned of their amazing earnings and I got hooked.  I went on to work with Derby winners, Breeder’s Cup winners, and famous stallions. After hearing about their demeanor, Dynaformer, John Henry and Storm Cat had me concerned for my safety when I got in their stalls, but actually they were very professional. After doing approximately 1000 paintings, I think I’m now considered experienced.  I met Michael Blowen at his first fundraiser at Afton Farm when we provided a Moneigh® for his auction. How can you resist Michael’s enthusiasm for his horses, so I started doing Moneighs® with the Old Friends residents to auction at their events.  It is bittersweet when one of the artists passes away, but at least we have something to remember them by, in addition to their past performances.  I continue to create Moneighs®, and also work at the Kentucky Equine Humane Center and help Old Friends whenever I’m needed.  I’ve tried to give up my volunteering so I can spend time with my family, but I’m hooked on horses.  I understand why jockeys continue to ride after trying to retire. You can’t get horses out of your blood. Don’t ask me who my favorites were to paint with-it would take hours. (But one of them is pictured here).

Rachel in Paris!

Rachel Binegar

Rachel Binegar

Rachel has been a volunteer at Old Friends since 2006.  Her interest in horses began in high school in England where she took riding lessons; she continued to ride in college and after. In 2000 she and her daughter took a horseback riding vacation in Vermont where she rode Icelandics. She is rather new to the thoroughbred racing industry, but not to volunteering.  For years, she volunteered at Last Chance Corral in Athens, Ohio, a facility for abused and neglected horses. She finds volunteering at OF is not quite as physical as at Last Chance where she mucked stalls and groomed horses.

Rachel loves all of the horses but feels particularly close to Creator --they both have lived in France and England AND he is beautiful and ornery.  Arson Squad is another favorite; he is calm and responsive, and Rachel and he have similar leg x-rays. She misses The Wicked North.

She and her husband Steven moved to Versailles from Ohio to be near family. She is a retired teacher, arts administrator, and guardian Ad-litum.

Michael says about Rachel: "For years, I could never find anything when I needed it. Not anymore. That was pre-Rachel. Now, it's post-Rachel. And no one's more grateful than I am. She has the odious task of organizing all of our items into various categories..permanent collection, auction items, E-Bay, etc. And she does a great job."

Martin with Risen Warrior

Martin Klotz

Martin Klotz

From Martin:  It has been said many times, in many ways and it was one of Ronald Reagan’s favorite sayings and truly, “there is nothing as good for the inside of a man as the outside of a horse!” Being taken to Churchill Downs at a very young age and seeing my first Kentucky Derby in 1945, I spent much of my adolescent years dreaming of being a jockey; however, by the time I reached my teen years I realized my body was not designed for this profession and consoled myself when I discovered girls seemed to liked football players as well as, if not better than, jockeys!  So having to find another profession, I settled upon teaching and coaching, which I did for ten years at high schools in Kentucky, Indiana and California.  A change of professions began for me during my last three years of teaching and coaching and upon graduating from law school, I spent the next 32 years as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and as Special Counsel (Criminal Tax) with the U.S. Department of the Treasury.  After retiring in 2004, I returned to my old Kentucky home (Louisville) in 2005 and began my career as a volunteer tour guide in the spring of 2006. As Melissa Solvey Nelson wrote in her book, If I Had A Horse: How Different Life Would Be, “horses afford us the luxury of enchantment” and I have been fortunate to experience this every time I lead a tour at Old Friends.  Being the oldest tour guide and hanging out with these old equines continues to be a magical and enchanting experience for me as I am privileged to tell each of their stories to those who come to meet them and/or revisit them.    

Michael says of Martin: :Martin Klotz, our man Friday, is one of our most knowledgeable tour guides who mixes great anecdotal stories of the horses with meaningful statistics. He also sets a solid pace with some vistors claiming to have lost a pound or two on Martin's invigorating walks. He drives all the way from Louisville at his own expense every Friday during our busy tourist season."

Beth with Ogygian

Beth Shannon

Beth Shannon

One of Beth’s earliest memories is being held up to watch a race at Keeneland before she was tall enough to see over the rail. A Lexington native, she was able to visit horses she’d cheered on the track during their breeding careers and to experience their dignity and intelligence. She moved to Chicago, then California, worked on excavations in Egypt, then earned a Ph.D. in literature at UK. “That’s grim work. Horse racing was my relief.” In early 2004 she visited Old Friends. “I remember it as the Great Horseless Tour. Michael showed my family three empty paddocks at Afton Farm and told us his plans. Then he fooled us. We were talking about stallions overseas, and Michael says, “Want to meet Silver Charm?” We stare. “Really? Sure!” We follow him to…a house. Huh? Out he comes with a pint-sized cutie and tries to convince us the ’97 Derby winner has shrunk with age. By our next visit he’d realized his dreams: Narrow Escape, Sunshine Forever, Creator, Ruhlmann.” Beth has volunteered since July 2006. She gives Saturday tours, researches, writes bios in the tradition begun by Cindy, helps Sylvia with the horse pages for the new web site, and lends a hand as needed. She also donates royalties from her mystery novel, The Sun and Stars (available at the OF gift shop or Amazon.com). Giving tours never gets old. “Each one’s different. Reuniting racing fans with champions they love is a thrill, but I feel it’s just as important to enable people to connect with the horses for the first time. To see people realize their accomplishments and greatness of heart, to make them aware of horses in need and what can be done for them. The only perk more rewarding than that is the wonderful experience of being treated as a friend by the horses themselves.”

Michael said, "Beth is one of our most dedicated volunteers. She makes no secret of the fact that Ogygian is her favorite. On the coldest nights she can be seen delivering warm water to this great son of Damascus. She's an accomplished novelist whose reviews are nearly as good as her tours."

 
Tom with Swan's Way

Tom Beatty

Tom Beatty

 A native Kentuckian, Tom Beatty has been a horse racing fan since birth; his mother told him the first two words he ever said were "Daily Double." Following graduation from UK (he never took afternoon classes so he could go to Keeneland) and a 21-year Air Force career, Tom spent 12 years as the programming director for a PBS station in Indiana. He retired in 2005 and returned to Kentucky, settling in Georgetown. On Christmas Day that same year, Tom happened to be in Louisville and read an article about Old Friends that appeared in the Courier-Journal. The following week, he went to Hurstland Farm in Midway and took a tour of the farm. He fell in love with the Old Friends mission, and of course the horses (and one in particular). Tom recalls asking if they needed volunteers; that was all it took. He still tells visitors today that, "they tied me to the fence post!" Tour guides find it difficult to have a favorite horse, given the number of interesting equine personalities they encounter each day, but Tom is quick to point out that Swan's Way is number one on his list. "He's an old blue collar survivor," he says. "Swannie worked way too long, way too hard, and for very little money. You have to admire that!" When he's not giving tours, Tom takes care of his own thoroughbred, Ask Ellen. "She's pretty much a pasture pet, and she definitely enjoys being spoiled," he says. In addition to his tours on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, Tom is also the summer caretaker of the Old Friends cemetery.  

Cindy Grisolia  

Cindy Grisolia

As a New York-bred now living in the bluegrass, long-time volunteer Cindy Grisolia hears this question a lot: However did you get from Manhattan to Kentucky? Fact is, Old Friends played a big part in her relocation.  After spending a summer living in Midway and helping out at the farm, she just fell in love with everything the Commonwealth had to offer. “I had read about Old Friends in the DRF and emailed Michael to ask if I could come help for awhile,” she says. “I thought I would never hear from anyone.  He called me that day and said, ‘Come on down.’ I did and had a blast.” That summer Cindy conducted tours (“They were short then,” she laughs. “It was 2005 and we only had four stallions.”), drummed up press, wrote horse bios, worked with Sylvia to revamp the website, and helped acquire Popcorn Deelites.  “He was still racing in New Mexico, which, at the time, had an outbreak of equine Vesicular Stomatitis. We couldn’t ship him into Kentucky until he’d been quarantined and tested. It took two months.” Once an editor at Entertainment Weekly, Cindy now works as a freelance editor-journalist-PR writer and helps with Old Friends publicity, event planning, and promotion. In between she tools around on her own horse: Damien, an Appendix gelding. "I don't know where we'd be without Cindy," said Michael Blowen. "She mixes her passion for the horses with an extraordinary intelligence."