Contact: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Friday, May 28, 2010

Three students from Lafayette High School earned accolades in a regional art contest promoting “A Gift from the Desert: The Art, History and Culture of the Arabian Horse,” an exhibition at the Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse.

Sasha Dantchenko took the top prize, and Katherine Spears finished third in the competition, called Desert Treasures: The Arabian Horse. Emily Collier received honorable mention.

Sasha was invited to meet the royal family at a May 27 reception, along with Larry Parks and  Dylan Murphy of Bryan Station High School, whose horses were particularly admired by a Saudi dignitary who previewed the collection.

This spring’s call for contest entries went out to more than 50 central Kentucky high schools. Students were given a template of an Arabian horse and asked to come up with a design that was not only creative but also representative of the breed. 

The top 24 designs received 17-inch resin sculptures to paint their designs for a final round of judging. The eight top horses were awarded cash prizes for their schools’ art departments.

The two dozen horses will be on display until mid-October at the Kentucky Horse Park and throughout central Kentucky during the “Gift from the Desert” exhibition and the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Afterward, they will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to The Black Stallion Literacy Foundation and the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation.