In Goshen, the story of harness racing is much bigger than a race.
At the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame, horses become a doorway into American history, science, mathematics, art and even future career opportunities. For Janet Terhune and Kristin Roberts, that educational mission is increasingly important as fewer young people grow up with direct exposure to horses.
“It’s all storytelling,” Terhune said. “It’s just telling a story in a different way so that different audiences can understand it.”
A classroom built around horses
Roberts, the museum’s education coordinator and sculptor, has developed programs that use harness racing to teach concepts across different subjects.
A lesson about a horse running a mile, for example, can become a mathematics problem. Students can examine the horse’s time at different points of the race and calculate speed.
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“How fast is the horse going if he goes a mile in two minutes?” Terhune explained.
Other activities bring in science, art, history and writing.
The museum’s educational programming uses the Standardbred horse and harness racing to help students understand subjects they might otherwise encounter only in a classroom. The museum also offers programs for homeschoolers, families, scouts and other youth groups.
For younger children, Roberts said the goal is not necessarily to teach them every technical detail of racing.
Instead, she wants them to recognize that horses have needs and feelings much like people do.
“If children leave feeling like a horse has the same wants and needs that they do, and that they’re athletes, just as we are,” she said, “you know, all species are important.”
Opening a door to opportunity
The museum also sees education as a way of introducing young people to careers they may never have considered.
That is particularly important as fewer children have regular exposure to large animals.
Roberts described the wide range of work connected to horses, from grooming and training to veterinary care, farriery, farm operations, equipment and racetrack maintenance.
“You can have somebody with autism or somebody with psychological nervousness of any kind, and they can work with horses,” she said. “And then you could have anybody as brilliant as you can work with horses.”
The message is simple: there is not one type of person who belongs in the horse industry.
The museum is also working to connect with students from Orange-Ulster BOCES and other educational programs. Roberts described efforts to give students interested in animal science opportunities to see the different careers available to them and connect with people already working in the industry.
“If you’re willing to come in and work hard, you can work from the start and the bottom and really move up,” she said.
Horses as part of America’s story
The museum’s educational mission extends beyond harness racing itself.
The Standardbred is an American-born breed, and Goshen has played an important role in the development of the sport. The museum’s collection, exhibits and nearby Goshen Historic Track allow visitors to see how horses, people, transportation, agriculture, business and local communities have intersected over generations.
The museum describes itself as a place dedicated to preserving the history and traditions of harness racing, while also using research, education and exhibits to introduce the sport to new audiences.
For Roberts, that history becomes more meaningful when visitors understand the horse’s place within it.
“These horses made it,” she said. “You know, it’s the history of America.”
Terhune agreed that the museum’s story reaches far beyond racing.
The collection includes stories connected to prominent local families, businesses and historic developments. Even famous horses such as Dan Patch can open a window into American popular culture. Dan Patch became one of the most famous horses of the early 20th century and was heavily marketed, with his name appearing on products, music and other forms of popular culture.
The museum also tells stories such as that of Sergeant Reckless, the famous military horse who carried ammunition and helped evacuate wounded soldiers during the Korean War.
Such stories allow visitors who may know little about harness racing to discover a broader history of the relationship between horses and Americans.
A partnership in Goshen
The museum’s connection with Goshen Historic Track adds another dimension to that experience.
The two organizations are separate, but Terhune and Roberts described their relationship as a close partnership built around a shared commitment to the sport and its history.
During major events, the organizations help promote one another, coordinate logistics and support visitors.
“We support and promote each other,” Terhune said.
For visitors, that relationship creates something unusual: the opportunity to learn about harness racing inside the museum and then see horses training or racing nearby.
The museum itself emphasizes that visitors can explore exhibits and interactive displays while also seeing horses at the historic track behind the building.
Keeping the story moving forward
Both women recognize that harness racing faces challenges, including the high cost of owning and racing horses and the need for new owners and qualified personnel.
But Terhune remains hopeful.
“The biggest things facing the industry are we don’t have enough owners,” she said, pointing to rising costs for transportation, feed, labor and other expenses.
Still, she added, “What gives me hope is that everybody who’s involved loves the sport.”
For Roberts, the answer is also education.
If people who have never been around horses can walk through the museum, learn something new, meet people in the industry and see the animals themselves, perhaps a new connection can begin.
“It’s constantly reaching out,” she said.
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