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"If something is going to affect your life, it's best to know as much as you can about it." - Donald Trump

Things as I see them
By Kenneth W. Terpenning - KyHarnessRacing.com

I, Kenneth W. Terpenning, 35 years old, am many things. I

am a Lexington, KY resident, a KHHA member, a Director’s

Board nominee, a part time writer for the USTA’s website,

a standardbred horse owner, a taxpayer, a

businessperson, and an active advocate for the harness

racing industry. But I am so much more…more important

than all of that.

When I was 6 years old, my father, Joseph Terpenning,

died from a brain aneurysm at the age of 44. He was a

hard working blue collar multiple job holder for most of his

short life. He was also a husband and father to 4 other

kids, my family. My mother worked most of her life as a

factory worker sewing buttons and things on dresses for

pennies a day. Today, at the age of 73, my mother lives

nearby with my brother John, 50, who has an incurable

lung disease. Everything I do each day is started with

caring for both of them, whether it is a ride to the grocery

store, the doctor or to the Red Mile for a little fun. I love

both of them with all of my heart. My wife, Danielle, 26, my

dog, Napoleon, a cocker spaniel, and my barn cat-turned

house cat, Josie, live in modest accommodations in this

beautiful little city. They are the reason I wake up every

day.

I have worked 14 hour shifts in previous jobs in front of

600 degree ovens from 3pm to 5am as a former New

Yorker and bagel baker while going to school to earn a

degree. I have driven taxi cabs, sometimes 20 out of 24

hours straight just to pay the rent.

I eventually ended up in banking after I started college

which I worked in for over 15 years. All the while, I left

school to care for my family members like my brother who

were not all that well. Since 2005, I have returned to

college to finish my education because it was what no one

in my family had ever had. In October, 2006, I graduated

from Western International University with my Associate’s

degree in Business. Today, I continue to go to school

working on my Bachelor’s degree in business. I even

attended the USTA’s Standardbred Driving School and took

my driver/trainer’s test (an opportunity I never thought

possible just 5 short years ago!).

You may say, “Yeah, so what?” or “What does this have to

do with this website?”. My entire life I lived around or was

influenced by harness racing. I grew up watching greats

like John Chapman, the Haughtons, Carmine Abbatiello,

and Herve Filion race at Roosevelt and Yonkers Raceways.

All my life I dreamed of being in the sport either as a driver

or trainer. Today, I am realizing my dreams in a different

way as an owner and soon a trainer and maybe, hopefully

as a KHHA board member trying to make a difference.

I have dreams of having kids one day and for their lives to

be somehow involved in this beautiful sport. I want

everyone in the sport to have better lives and make more

money than they have before. I want our facilities we race

at to be nicer tomorrow than they are today. But I am

afraid my dreams will die along with the jobs, the lives, the

sport so many of us work in everyday if something is not

done to change the path harness racing is heading down.

What have I done and what are my results? I have written

my congressmen numerous times, as of today the only

response I have received is from an intern at Rep. Stan

Lee’s office that said.

“Thank you for your email and concern regarding the

expanded gambling issue. Rep. Lee is taking a closer look

into this bill and will keep your position in mind once the

time comes to vote on it. Thank you.”.

I have written the KHHA on several occasions, with no

response.

I have invested tens of thousands of dollars in the

industry by the way of ownership. I have helped those

that want to get into the sport by answering questions

and giving out information. I have posted stories and

comments on this website, proposing a rally, offering my

ideas and input, asking for others out there who care as

deeply as I do for improving the future of our sport, and

instead of getting positive, constructive feedback, I get

some posting comments that are just meant to destroy my

efforts or demean my take on the problems at hand, you

know who you are.

KEEP has a rally and hardly anyone, including myself, finds

out about it.

Those that question where the KHHA were during this time

are correct in questioning why no one was notified,

especially potential board members like me.

And then there is all of you that pay the salaries of Bill

Napier. Why w

asn't all of you notified?

Are my positions always the right ones? Am I always right

or use the most tact in the things I say? I am human, like

all of you and for that I ask for your forgiveness. But I

have the passion to see harness racing have a better,

brighter future and if even half of you share this passion

then we are better off today then we were yesterday.

When we look at what is wrong with Kentucky racing, it is

easy for us to point out what is wrong, to sit back and

type away behind a computer where we cannot be

harmed. It simply is not enough.

We need to make suggestions, act on those suggestions,

formulate plans, and make them happen, but it takes hard

work and people to do the hard work. I have done my

share of hard work throughout my life and continue to do

so as I am sure many of you fellow horsemen and women

have and will. For some of you, horses are your lives. Then

why is it that we cannot get it together, to feel we can

make a difference in the matters at hand ourselves

without the help of the powers that be (those in charge of

the organizations we pay every year to represent us and

our cause)???

Lastly, why do many of us go through life with the

philosophy that we need to look out for numero uno

(number one) first and the group as a whole not at all? Did

we not learn anything from history when we were taught

that the United States of America is the great country it is

today because of the saying, “United We Stand, Divided

We Fall!”???

I point this out in its entirety to, hopefully, open some

eyes not ruffle feathers, and to point out that there is

more to this industry’s issues than whether or not we get

slots. There is more to this issue than the things that are

posted on this website or on any other harness racing

forum out there. There is more to this situation than just

money; peoples’ lives are at stake, the way they provide

for their families. There is more to this than what I say or

Terry Cullipher or Bill Napier or those posting comments

here. There is more to this than my dreams, but the

dreams of every horseman and woman’s children’s dreams

to one day do what their family has done for generations.

I hope you all understand me better as a person now that

you have read this. I ask you all to fight for what you feel

is right, to stand up and make your kids proud. I ask you

all to be better people in all that you do and say about life,

this industry and each other. If you do not like what I say,

I understand and perhaps, one day I will come to my

senses and stop talking and writing. Maybe I cannot make

a difference by myself, maybe I can inspire even one of

you to do something more. Either way…you now know

what I am doing and what I am doing it for.

The last thing I will ask from all of you is to please just be

good to yourselves and to each other….life is too short

and too precious to discount even one day in our lives and

the lives of our families. Just ask those you know, like me,

my mother, my brother, Shawn Gannon and his family, or

your neighbor who may have died only to come back to life

on the operating table or your friend who has an ill family

member or friend.