Keeneland Horse Sale

One of our good friends works at a farm in the horse industry. Sunday, he invited us out for the first day of the Keeneland Yearling Sales. If you are not familiar with this sale, it is the premier horse sale of the year. People from all over the world come to buy their race horses here in Lexington. It was an interesting and exciting day full of glamour, new sites, and sounds. Still, while I was there, I couldn't help but feel uneasy about what was going on around me.

The extravagance and easy money flying around was overwhelming. One horse sold for 4.2 million dollars. Yes, that is "millions"! Most of the other horses were going for hundreds of thousands of dollars. As they say, this is definitely a rich man's hobby. Yes, we can say that it supports our local economy, furnishes many jobs and supports many of our local charity organizations in the form of Keeneland Grants each year. Still, it is hard to not be judgemental about the amount of money being spent on a "hobby". I could not help myself but wonder how many people that money would feed or how many water wells it could drill. It is easy to look at others and point fingers but then eventually those fingers start turning back to me and all the extravagances that continue in my life each day.

I wonder how much money could I give if I did not eat in any fast food restaurants again. How much would it help if I ate only the food my body needed for nourishment? How many water wells could I pay to have dug if I didn't need that next best gadget? How much would I cut down on my carbon footprint if I truly gave up my car for most trips and used my bike or public transportation? It is easy to point fingers at others people's "extravagances" but it is hard to look at my own and honestly call them what they are in my life.

My continued goal in life is to cut down and eventually eliminate these and other extravagance's. It is a hard transition though. It all boils down to the fact that I am taking away from others the basics for their lives. There are only so many resources in the world and they have to be divided among 6 billion people. It is not right if I am using, with the rest of America, 25% of the world's resources for only 6% of the world's population. The more I do research for my sustainable living class; the more I realize how much my actions affect those in other countries and, yes, even here in America. I also realize the impact I am placing on the future of my children. These are the lessons that I truly have taken away from the Keeneland Sales. I can only change myself and my actions and there still is a long way to go.