Horse Capital of the World

The drive from Crystal Springs to Ocala yesterday took us through some beautiful farm country and we passed one horse farm after another, some quite large and elaborate. Eventually we saw a sign advertising Ocala as the horse capital of the world and it made sense.

We later read that there are more than 200 farms and training centers located in Ocala that are devoted to breeding, training and showing breeds such as Thoroughbred, Paso Fino, Missouri Foxtrotter, Arabian, Morgan, miniature horse, quarter horse, hunter/jumper, and draft horses among others.

When we stopped in downtown Ocala and walked around, we noted these painted horse statues all over the place.  We'd seen this in the form of painted Cows in Vermont, and painted Mr. Potato Heads in Rhode Island (in honor of Hasbro Toy Co. in Pawtucket), but this was the first time we'd seen the horse version. Not sure why most of them were fenced in. Perhaps the statues around these parts are more wily than the Mr. Potato Heads back in Rhode Island...