NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — NTaylor Made Farm in Nicholasville is embracing tourism as a key component of Kentucky's horse industry, offering daily farm tours that provide visitors with hands-on experiences with thoroughbreds on their property, housing about 950 horses.
"We're always looking for a better way," said Frank Taylor, director of new business development at Taylor Made Farm.
The farm is particularly focused on expanding tourism opportunities, recognizing the broader impact on the industry and state economy.
"It's very important this tourism, it's good for the industry, it's good for the state," Taylor said.
Taylor Made has experience with high-profile horses drawing visitors. The farm previously housed 2014 Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome after the stallion retired from racing.
"We had some success, we had the Derby winner California Chrome here for a while and I think we had like 5,000 visitors," Taylor said.
However, visitor numbers declined after California Chrome left, and the farm acknowledged it didn't put maximum effort into growing tourism at that time. Now, Taylor Made is taking a more strategic approach to tourism development.
The farm is focused on improving the visitor experience.
"Defining and making our tours better," Taylor said.
To lead this effort, Taylor Made hired Robert Osbourn to design interactive tours from the ground up.
"We got a great team around us," Taylor said.
The tours offer visitors direct interaction with the horses from the beginning of their visit.
"You actually get hands on with a horse, we're gonna teach you how we take care of our horses everyday," Osbourn said.
The farm aims to make the horse industry more accessible to the general public.
"If you've never touched a horse before or if you kind of have that stigma that these horse farms doors are closed to the public it's not the case out here," Osbourn said.
Despite these efforts, Taylor acknowledges the horse industry still has significant room for growth in tourism compared to other Kentucky attractions. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail attracted 2.7 million visitors in 2024.
"The horse business I think it was forty, fifty thousand visitors last year, which is significant, but it's really not that great (compared to the bourbon trail).
Schedule a tour with Taylor Made Farms here.
