Horse Sense

The Kentucky Derby may have been two weeks ago, but that didn't stop the American Museum of Natural History from bringing a little Southern equestrian style to the Tuesday-night preview party for its newest exhibition, "The Horse." Approximately 600 guests attended the cocktail party, which featured bugle players, a mint julep bar, and, natch, horses. The museum's senior vice president of development and membership, Lynn Debow, and the development department planned the event, which thematically took its lead from the exhibition, a collection of artifacts that explores the history of the interactions between horses and humans. ("The Horse" opens to the public this Saturday, May 17.)Members of the N.Y.P.D.'s mounted guard stood outside the Upper West Side institution, greeting guests on Central Park West, and at the entrance, musicians from All-Star Buglers performed. Inside, bourbon whiskey brand Maker's Mark (a spirit distilled in Kentucky) supplied mint juleps as refreshments, while projections from Stortz Lighting highlighted the walls of the rotunda. And to make sure that the attendees matched the motif, the invitations specified "Derby attire" as the dress code for the evening.