August 31 is the favorite holiday of all horsemen - the Day of Florus and Laurus, who were revered in Ancient Russia as patrons of horses. On this day, horses were treated in a special way: they were not engaged in any work, not saddled, not flogged along. But they bathed, decorated with ribbons, fed to satiety with selected oats, treated to salted bread heel and fresh vegetables ...
For the Horse Day we have prepared thematic photo album with the images of horses from the museum Collection repository.

The museum exposition features a variety of sculptural images of horses. The sculptural image of a stallion running going at a trot is on the cover. The figurine is fixed at three points. The right front and left hind legs are forwarded; the right hind leg is far behind and bent at the fetlock joint. The left front one is raised and bent at the knee joint. The mane flutters almost vertically, the tail is set aside at an angle of 45 degrees. The dedication inscription is on the plinth: to Alexander Nikonorovich // Shibanov // as a sign of special respect from the performers 1977. Recordist Peacock. The author is the sculptor Ernest Gilyarov (1929-2005).

The history of this exhibit is fascinating. V.I. Sorochenko breeded the absolute record holder stallion Pavlin (Peacock) at the Smolensk stud farm in 1968. The international class master rider A.P. Kpeydin (1928-1985) was competing astride this stallion. During 1970-1974, Pavlin won 18 conventional prizes at the Central Moscow Hippodrome and updated 20 the all-Union track records, one of which has not been beat to the present day. Pavlin won in the international competitions as well. The duo's only major setback was their performance in Derby, where Pavlin was left without top place due to severe injuries. Pavlin was buried on the territory of the Smolensk stud farm. A monument was erected on his grave, an honor that few horses managed to deserve. The sculpture was exhibited in the USA largest international horse museum on the territory of the Horse Park in Kentucky (Louisville, Kentucky) exhibition from 04/10/1994 to 12/31/1994 and at the Anne Strandling Horse Museum (Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico).