What's Inside
The moment visitors approach the museum, they are greeted by the beautiful, larger-than-life bronze statues of history-making American Quarter Horses.
Spend time reflecting outside at the Wall of Honor Plaza, honoring and memorializing the horses and people who've paved the way for the American Quarter Horse. The Wall of Honor welcomes visitors to the Hall of Fame from two unique perspectives. From the east, a light sculpture displays a herd of running American Quarter Horses; from the west, granite bricks pay tribute to the people and horses who are meaningful to our generous donors.
The Grand Hall houses the legends of American Quarter Horse history: people and horses inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame who have paved the way for the future. Designed to showcase these horses and humans, the majestic space features soaring rock columns and intricately etched bloodlines in the floor. The front of the room welcomes visitors with an impressive emblem depicting the American Quarter Horse and adds to the breathtaking setting.
The American Quarter Horse breed is based on 11 foundation families of horses, and almost all of them are related in some way. The Bloodlines of the Breed exhibit traces the bloodlines of foundation sires including Lock’s Rondo, Old Billy, Printer, Peter McCue, Steel Dust, Roan Dick, Traveler, Shiloh, Little Joe, Old Fred, and Old Cold Deck.
Many American Quarter Horses are descended from the stallions used in the United States Remount Service horse breeding program. Countless well-known Quarter Horses can trace their ancestry back to one or more Thoroughbred remount stallions, including Refrigerator, Easy Jet, Two Eyed Jack, Peppy San Badger, and Clabber.
Watch the history of the American Quarter Horse unfold through a 10 minute film in the Ken & Laina Banks Theater. In this film, visitors can learn more about the breed and its roles in today’s world, from a work partner on the ranch to an athlete on the racetrack or in the show arena. The theater also displays a collection of Orren Mixer paintings. Mixer was once commissioned to paint the ideal American Quarter Horse and went on to produce portraits of many of the American Quarter Horses whose legacies live on in the Hall of Fame.
The joys of owning a horse can be experienced by kids of all ages through hands-on learning at the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum. Here, visitors can touch real tack and all the tools needed to keep a horse healthy. Try haltering a horse and climb aboard a life-sized horse for a photo memento. Step into our Orren Mixer Art Room with activity sheets and crayons so you can be an artist too.
Journey through a timeline of the history of the American Quarter Horse and discover the role each Hall of Fame inductee played in the preservation and promotion of the breed.
Get an intimate look at each of these legends by viewing personal items from individuals such as Joe Kirk Fulton, the first Masked Rider mascot for Texas Tech University, or Rugged Lark, who served as an equine event ambassador at the 1996 World Olympic Games.
Designed to share the rich history of the American Quarter Horse and the people who made them great, the Reading Room is a tranquil place made available to Museum visitors upon request. Here, an individual or small group can sit and read comfortably in an elegant, western atmosphere.