When your spouse is an equestrian and you have a soft spot for draft horses, your mind sometimes starts to wander... Has anyone been to the Horse Museum in Lexington, KY or the one at Münster Zoo? Kentucky Horse Park :: Lexington, KY Westfälisches Pferdemuseum: Home Das Westfälische Pferdemuseum im Allwetterzoo I would recommend the visit of both, even if you're not a horse person. To carry this thought a bit further, let me share the following concept with you: All located in an area close to a major urban area with lots of horse afficionadas, lots of natural old forest, vast meadows and maybe close to a large body of water (the sea, a large lake etc.). Everything is settled in a vast, naturalistic English park area and kept most professionally. A central building, very much alike to the museums mentioned above, dedicated to the history of the horse, starting with its evolution, its domestication, its cultural role, its involvement in warfare, sports, transport, society... Several further complexes around this museum dedicated to various categories, connected by trips on horse carts, offering daily shows on topics such as Horse Breeds of the World: various representatives of unique horse breeds from all over the world, such as the Akhal-Teke, the Marwari, the Peruvian Paso, the Posavina etc.... Retired Racehorse Champions Show rings offering daily shows of acrobatics/vaulting, Western riding etc. A historical horse cart museum Professional racetracks for hobbyist equestrians, also used for pro races on which you can bet (mafia-free betting shops included) Various bookable riding and horsecart driving and training options/classes such as natural obstacle courses, beach riding trips, jumping etc. monitored by pro trainers for hobbyist equestrians Symposia and workshops offering talks on equine nutrition, training etc. (and closeby boxing rings and catfight arenas for those who disagree on related aspects...jk) A breeding center dedicated to an expensive breed A VR horse race experience center A large restaurant overviewing the training areas and catfight arenas (dishes containing horse meat only served on demand) A modern library on everything related to horses A huge gift shop also offering all kinds of overpriced equipment for the hobbyist equestrian A large guest stable Blacksmiths and saddlers on site catering to all customer whims A state-of-the-art equine vet clinic full of interns and residents willing to work for a penny just to be able to add the experience to their CV Accommodations on sights for those who want to stay longer (and invest more and more money in the options above) Large exhibits showcasing bachelor groups of P-Horses, a zebra species and maybe Asinus sp. A daily shuttle service that drives the non-equestrian family members to a adventure park that, depending on the individual age, offers leisure activities such as vast indoor and outdoor playgrounds, farmers' markets, lasertag /paintball options, shooting ranges and the possibility to rent and drive massive military vehicles such as tanks on an offroad test track. Or powerful sports cars on a race track => Fast n' Furious for Joe Average. ^^ I cannot deny that this, unlike the idealistic fantasy concepts you usually find here, was written with a certain commercial greed of gain in mind... Your thoughts?
I think this is an excellent idea! At first my only concern was that it would be ridiculously expensive, but even that might be overcome by involving different organisations and breed associations. I think it would extremely popular. Could be done with dogs, cats and other domestics too. Very inspiring.
No kidding but I lately had some kind of the same idea for pigeons ! A museum about the history of its domestication, the racing pigeon sport, the development of the 100-ths of different species of breeds, a librery and art-exibition of paintings, statues and so on, aviaries with all kind of breeds and next to it a large collection of all kind of wild pigeon and dove-species ! Idialy I would plan this "Pigeon-center" in the dutch town Duiven ( translated Pigeons ) !
Thanks for the feedback! Great idea about the pigeons! Given the recent rise in popularity of the pigeon husbandry in China, it would be good to include that market, too!
Hehe, I would enthusiastically visit only this part, although most "normal" visitors would be much more interested in the other parts of your exhibit
Sounds good. Here in Melbourne, Australia we have a home for retired racehorses called Living Legends. Many of the horses are Melbourne Cup winners. I was lucky enough to meet one of my favourites, Doriemus, shortly before he died. It's situated near the Melbourne Airport and runs tours to see the horses, and also so international visitors can get up close to the wild eastern grey kangaroos that live on the property.
I always thought it would be cool for a zoo to display different breeds and variations of domestic animals. If you want to dedicate a whole zoo to the concept, horses would probably be the best animal to go with. (dunno if you'd get as many visitors to a zoo for dogs or chickens) It would be really cool to learn about the different breeds and their histories.
In Japan they have cat cafes where you can stroke the cats. So there would be interest there in a cat zoo with petting.
That was actually quite a thing in the past, among others in East German (former GDR) zoos, such as Erfurt or Stralsund (which still keep some a variety of exotic domestic breeds). Furthermore, you have institutions such as Arche Warder, Cotsworld Farm Park or Haustierpark Lelkendorf that specialize in rare domestic breeds and their conservation.
Cat Cafes are starting to become popular in the US too. One opened a couple years ago in Madison. I remember hearing one story where a lady opened a cat cafe, only later to find out she was allergic to cats!
How about the one with owls in Japan. I would love to see that, and I would love to open one with otters and foxes and tanukis. There is a world famous fox village in Japan (Zao Kitsune Mura), that must be a good idea for a tea garden. Though ppl sometimes claim Japanese wildlife is tamer because they were not hunted, the outcastes did hunt and eat meat, including red foxes. I think the reputation of foxes as bad pets is because they come in as traumatised cubs. Zao Kitsune Mura gets by fine. How I crave kitsune udon, made with konbu dashi...
I think they would have to drag me out of a place that has foxes roaming about and a tea house within it!
Not sure. I always imagine the main audience being people who really love cats, or people who want a pet cat but can't have one for some reason so they go to the cafe to get their kitty fix. (if someone opened a doggy cafe I'd go to it!) But I'm sure plenty go for the novelty, and there are probably a ton of otaku customers, ha ha.
In JP there are owl and otter cafes after the feline model, and they seem to work quite well. If I could there would be otters and owls in the tea room area, and foxes and tanukis in the tea garden.
