There have been some improvements to one of the New York State Fair’s best features, known last year as Equine Avenue. The newly-expanded, World of Horses lets visitors get close to horses—as depicted in this photo by State Fair Hound’s Nick LoPresti—PETTING AT EA 15and is a wealth of information and entertainment about them.

This year they’ll be celebrating the success of Olympic equestrians, particularly gold medal winning New Yorkers Beezie Madden of Cazenovia and McLain Ward of Brewster. No appearances by our Olympians have been announced, but that would be a real coup for the Fair, if arranged.

Fairgoers can learn about breeds, care, physiology and all things equine. There will be games, prizes, trivia and photo ops. Best of all, there will be friendly horses within petting range.