Three horses killed, four more injured in wreck on Bluegrass Parkway in Kentucky

Christopher Leach
·2 min read

Three horses were killed and four more were injured in a tractor-trailer crash on the Bluegrass Parkway Monday afternoon, according to multiple agencies in Nelson County.

The wreck was reported around 4:50 a.m. at mile-marker 25 of the Bluegrass Parkway in Bardstown. The Nelson County Emergency Management Agency said a tractor trailer left the road, crossed over the opposite lanes and crashed into an embankment by the Highway 150 bridge.

The driver of the tractor-trailer was trapped inside the cab of the vehicle and had to be extricated, according to Nelson County EMA. The extrication took 30 minutes and the driver was flown to University of Louisville Hospital, according to the Bardstown Fire Department.

The driver had a severe cut on their foot and two lacerations. The Bardstown Police Department described the driver’s injuries as non-life-threatening.

Officials also had to extricate the seven horses trapped inside large commercial equine trailer being pulled by the tractor-trailer. Nelson County EMA said the Anderson County Large Animal Rescue and Jessamine County/Nicholasville Large Animal Response Teams responded to the scene to assist with rescue operations.

It took over four hours to remove the horses from the trailer, according to Nelson County EMA. Officials had to rescue the horses individually from the backside of the trailer due to the angle and condition of the trailer from the wreck.

Three horses died in the crash while the four injured others were transported by equine ambulances supplied by Keeneland, Hagyard and Creech, according to Nelson County EMA.

A tractor-trailer crash on Bluegrass Parkway in Kentucky left three horses dead and four more horses injured on March 25, 2024. Officials were on-scene for approximately 10 hours.
A tractor-trailer crash on Bluegrass Parkway in Kentucky left three horses dead and four more horses injured on March 25, 2024. Officials were on-scene for approximately 10 hours.

The estimated loss of the killed horses is roughly $450,000, according to Bardstown fire. Bardstown police said the injuries to the surviving horses are life-threatening.

The injured horses are being cared by Dr. Kathy MacGillivray and Dr. Nimet Browne at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, Bardstown fire said. The horses were being transported from Arkansas to Keeneland, which has its Spring Meet start next week on April 5.

Numerous agencies contributed to the on-scene efforts. Nelson County EMA said officials were on-scene for approximately 10 hours.

“It took a collaborative effort between multiple agencies to make this a successful incident,” Bardstown fire said in a Facebook post.