Horowitz On OTTBs: Looking Forward To 2022 With Hope For Ex-Racehorses

Last month, I wrote about “nature,” genetics, and how the Thoroughbred breed “has evolved over more than three centuries to be an elite sport horse, regardless of what that sport is.”

“Understanding and embracing the true nature of the Thoroughbred means that events like the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover, programs like The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program, and retired racehorses competing at horse shows can be appreciated as representations of the strengths of the breed, and not just something different that happens after a racing career ends.”

Now, I'd like to explore “nurture” and how the ability for Thoroughbreds to excel in new sports after racing is actually honed by what they learn on the racetrack.

The Thoroughbred breed was developed with the primary goal of being an elite racehorse. Certain key skills learned through racing and the racetrack serve these horses well for future endeavors. Plus, we're at the stage in the breed's evolution where racing can be seen as a first discipline in which Thoroughbreds will compete but will not necessarily be the end game.

There is still a learning curve to go from horse racing to, say, jumping or polo, but there would also be a learning curve with similar amplitude for a horse going from being a show hunter to an eventer. The foundations of being an equine athlete are similar across all disciplines, and the racetrack does a great job of instilling those foundations.

“The training that a horse gets before the track, like when they're being started under saddle, is like someone going through kindergarten and elementary school in their formative years,” said Jen Roytz, the outgoing executive director of the Retired Racehorse Project who is heavily involved in understanding and promoting the successes of Thoroughbreds both on and off the racetrack. “It's like the most basic building blocks of how to be a riding horse. Then, they get to the track, and that's kind of like their high school education. They start to do several things at once, and they're faster and responding to cues faster. Then, they get off the track where they're going to do other equestrian sports, and people have more time to hone those skills.”

By the time racehorses finish their racing careers, they will likely have travelled by trailer to multiple locations, been handled by many people, and been exposed to high-stimulation environments. They will have been ridden many times by different riders and, in the process, been asked to go through the different gaits of walk, trot, and canter and change leads.

Perhaps of most benefit, a career in horse racing instills a mindset that a horse should go forward.

“You want the horse's answer to always be forward,” Roytz said. “Like, if you're jumping, you want the horse to go forward over the jump and not spook and shy away. People try to train a 'yes' horse. I think racing does them such a benefit in that way because they come off the track eager to go forward.”

The forward-thinking nurturing of Thoroughbreds matches with their forward-thinking nature. It's worth repeating what Chris Ryan, the subject of my “nature” article about the Thoroughbred breed last month, said, “The Thoroughbred looks out into the far distance. His horizon is way out there and he feels he can get there whenever he wishes. This gives him tremendous forward thinking. A horse thinking forward is going forward. Watch his ears!”

The Thoroughbred often knows where he will go before we do. That makes the journey and the possibilities of destinations incredibly exciting.

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To be fair, there are certain areas that horse racing does not emphasize or emphasizes in a different way, but most of those things shouldn't be seen as a knock against racing. A British literature class will emphasize different material than a course in American literature. But a student going from one of these classes to the other does not need to reinvent the wheel, and neither does a Thoroughbred when going from a racehorse to a sport horse career.

Roytz gives a specific example, saying when it comes to changing leads: “Horses at the track know how to change leads, going from their right lead on straightaways to their left lead going around the turns. They learn how to do it at speed based off the riders' weight distribution and a cue on the reins usually. Then, they get off the track, and they learn to do it in a slower, more proper way, balancing themselves differently, pushing off from behind, making a much more purposeful change of lead with a more subtle, nuanced cue.”

And, yes, there are certain areas that horse racing in the United States can improve upon for the future well-being of the horse, like instilling good ground manners, offering turnout, and simply giving horses more opportunities to stand still to get used to high-stimulation settings.

However, at the end of the day, horse racing should not be seen as an outlier for Thoroughbreds nor should an appearance in another sport be a novelty for Thoroughbreds.

As we wrap up a roller coaster 2021, I'm not saying that the horse racing industry is free from criticism. This year will very well be remembered as the year that a Kentucky Derby winner tested positive for betamethasone and that prominent trainers who had made a mockery of fair play were finally brought to justice.

However, we should celebrate that, through trying to prepare horses for their racing careers, many racing connections are giving their horses the skills they need for whatever lies ahead. And that gives me hope for the Thoroughbred industry in 2022.

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Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: In Memory Of A One-Eyed Wonder

The biggest week of the year for retired racehorses is what helped me grieve the lowest moment I've had with horses.

The Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover has always had a significant impact on my life, starting with the first time I announced the event during the first year it was held at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2015. I had only begun riding horses a few months earlier, and seeing the supportive and talented community that was brought together by a love for OTTBs inspired my passion for eventing and has changed my life.

Now, in 2021, the Thoroughbred Makeover took place right after we lost Uno (JC: The Gray Man; USEA: Rocketman) to colic on Oct. 10. My wife, Ashley Horowitz, and I flew to Kentucky that night for a week of producing stories about participants and broadcasting the event. We arrived with heavy hearts, trying to process the sudden death of a horse with whom I developed a truly special bond.

As unexpected as losing Uno was, having him come into my life and the moments we shared together were just as unexpected.

Uno was foaled on May 3, 2017, in Indiana, and he raced twice at Indiana Grand under the name The Gray Man. At eight days old, he lost his left eye, although I've never confirmed which of the two stories that I've been told about it was the cause — either from a pasture accident or his mother's stepping on him.

Uno's one eye gave him a special personality. For Halloween this year, I was planning to have him be a pirate, while I would ride him wearing a parrot costume. With one sense limited, another was heightened, and Uno relied on processing his surroundings through smell more than I've seen in other horses. He also relied on people to guide him when he was unsure, and you could tell from this trait that he was always treated well by the humans in his life.

The grey son of sire Unbridled Express and dam Majestic Isle made his racing debut in the eighth race at Indiana Grand on June 16, 2020, a maiden special weight for Indana-breds over five furlongs. He finished 12th of 12, beaten 44 lengths.

The Gray Man ran one more time on July 6, 2020, this time going one mile on turf in an Indiana-bred maiden, and finished eighth of 11 beaten 18 3/4 lengths.

With racing not in the stars for the lanky 16.3 hh gelding, The Gray Man began a new chapter of life with Brit Vegas' Royal Fox Stables in Milford, Nebraska. Vegas has built a great reputation rehoming Thoroughbreds from the racetrack, and through Vegas, The Gray Man would make his way to Colorado to Kim Wendel, an upper-level eventer who is also the wife of our veterinarian, Dr. Tom Wendel.

Jonathan's two horses come together in the final photo he would ever take of Uno

Kim Wendel bestowed the barn name of “Uno” on The Gray Man because of his one eye. She had plans to compete him at the 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover. Those plans changed when she imported the Irish Sport Horse MBF Gambler from Ireland and decided to focus her eventing goals on reaching the upper levels of the sport.

My wife responded to a Facebook post Kim made in December 2020 that Uno was for sale. I told Ashley that I did not want to buy another green OTTB after what had been a roller coaster year with the first horse I started retraining straight off the racetrack, the bay Illinois-bred filly Cubbie Girl North. However, I agreed to a test drive.

The Wendels trailered Uno over to our farm in Parker, Colo., on December 13, 2020. Uno was understandably jittery coming to a new place, as well as being in an indoor arena for the first time. He hadn't been ridden or turned out in a week.

However, Uno settled down and got over his initial nerves. I appreciated how eager he was to respond positively to human guidance and direction. I decided that night to buy him.

The themes of that first ride — Uno's eagerness to please, my desire to develop a partnership with a horse, and the serendipity of how we came together — defined our time together.

We competed in our first event at the Spring Gulch Horse Trials on Aug. 8 on a whim. Uno was sidelined for the month of June with a minor injury and illness but didn't miss a beat when we started training again in July. So, we replaced another horse and rider that couldn't compete at Spring Gulch during the week leading up to the show. Uno was unfazed in his first show environment, his first dressage test, and his first full cross country course.

From there, we competed at the Sunrise Equine Mini Trial six days later. That was originally supposed to be our first show, but with Spring Gulch under our belt, we moved up from the Intro-level height of 2-foot-3 jumps to the Beginner Novice height of 2-foot-7.

Uno was a joy to ride on cross country. He was also a joy to be around, as he spent the next couple hours walking the showgrounds with me, grazing, rolling in the dirt, eating a Pop-Tart, and being pet by others while Ashley's other students were competing.

Because of the experience at Sunrise, we entered our first USEA recognized event at Beginner Novice at The Event at Skyline in Utah on Sept. 17, 18, and 19. I also announced the show. We finished sixth of 12 in our division, and I announced the ribbon ceremony on horseback. He was unfazed as I held a microphone and papers of the results while a green ribbon attached to his bridle on his blind side blew in the wind. The Elton John song Rocketman, the inspiration for Uno's show name registered with USEA, just so happened to be playing in the background.

That one recognized event we got to do together would not have happened had we not taken advantage of the experiences from the previous two shows the month before.

I felt like Uno and I took advantage of every moment we could together. When the Retired Racehorse Project asked me to model a new jacket for their website, I took the pictures with Uno. When Ashley went out for New Year's Eve 2021 and I decided to stay home, I went into his paddock and hung out.

 

Uno was the first horse I truly bonded with. I owned my chestnut mare Sorority Girl (JC: Grand Moony) for three years prior to Uno and wrote about how their personalities have affected the experiences I've had with each. Even in writing this, I find it difficult to express the significance Uno had for me.

Going through my phone, the last picture I took of Uno was on September 30, and it's of a brief moment where my two horses crossed paths near our barn. As I was leading Uno back to his paddock, he stopped and put his head next to Sorority Girl's. They took a moment to get to know each other, and it was a significant few seconds for me, made all the more significant now by the fact that it was the final moment that I captured an image of him.

“I have never seen a horse and human so similar—truly kind souls who simply want to love and bond with all those around them,” Ashley wrote in a Facebook post, reflecting on Uno's life. “The connection between the two was undeniable. Everyone noticed and commented, and on top of that Jonathan truly deserved to understand that special connection that can happen between horse and human.”

However, just as unexpectedly as things came together for Uno and me is also how it ended. The love I experienced when he was here is matched by the grief now that he's gone.

Being around the inspiring horses and their trainers at this year's Mega Makeover helped Ashley and me get through that first week after losing Uno. We produced stories about a race trainer that now competes with her horse Town of Towns in show hunters, a Maryland-bred rivalry on the track between Talk Show Man and Phlash Phelps that now continues off it, and more. We announced the two finales with NBC Sports' Donna Brothers.

The work and the Makeover gave us a sense of purpose. However, it would still hit us at times, the hardest for me coming when I announced Forthegreatergood as the 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion. Forthegreatergood reminded me of Uno, a young grey gelding full of talent and personality. His dam happens to be named No Peeking. Elton John's “Your Song” happened to be playing in the background.

The author and his heart horse share a moment at their first USEA recognized event together at The Event at Skyline in Utah on Sept. 17

The time I spent with Uno coincided with the time period trainers are allowed to work with their horses in new disciplines for the Thoroughbred Makeover—from the December of the year before to the October of the Makeover. Those 10 months are full of highs and lows, and that's what I got to experience with Uno.

“What short time Uno had with you was more than many get in a lifetime,” Kathy Smoke, the former president of the Arabian Jockey Club and my former boss, wrote in one of the many kind messages I received after Uno's passing.

Before I ever started riding six years ago, I spent 15 years announcing horse races and talking about thousands of horses in my race calls without ever really getting to know them. Going from broadcasting to riding to running a farm with Ashley has made me a more compassionate member of the Thoroughbred community.

I've learned so much from horses. But Uno was the horse that taught me about that special bond you can have with horses that I didn't know was a real thing. The experiences people have with their heart horses are inevitably extreme, and I feel like I got them all in just 10 months. Those extreme experiences are what ultimately bring the horse community together. We seek the highs and we keep coming back after the lows. I hope I can carry on the valuable lessons Uno has taught me as I continue my journey.

 

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Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: ‘Victory’ At The Thoroughbred Makeover Looks A Little Different For Everyone

The performances that make me smile the biggest and appreciate the retired racehorses and the trainers that care so much for them at the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover the most are not necessarily the ones that win ribbons or even make the Finale.

Don't get me wrong: as the announcer of the Thoroughbred Makeover since the annual marquee event for OTTBs was first held at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2015, I've been blown away by the talent that Thoroughbred sporthorses can show in new sports with less than a year of retraining after a racing career.

Like when Rosie Napravnik went into a gallop after a flawless jumping round in the eventing finale aboard Sanimo at the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover to win the discipline. It was reminiscent of the jockey-turned-eventer galloping out after a flawless ride aboard Untapable in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Distaff, after which Napravnik announced her retirement from racing, only to embark on a new equine career, much like the OTTBs that she now rides.

Sanimo and Napravnik moved up to the Prelim level of eventing in 2021 with two top-three finishes that qualified them for the American Eventing Championships and a return to the Kentucky Horse Park.

Or when Carleigh Fedorka had a breathtaking dressage test to win the discipline at the 2015 Thoroughbred Makeover aboard Called to Serve, a horse ESPN's Gary West once described as “a bull in perpetual search of a china shop” because of his naughtiness during race training.

There have been countless other performances that bring out the immense talent of OTTBs, and I'm looking forward to more when I announce the 2021 Mega Makeover from Oct. 12 to 17.

However, at least as valuable to the goal the RRP has that the Thoroughbred Makeover is “intended to inspire good trainers to become involved in transitioning these horses to second careers” is seeing the rounds in each discipline where trainers create a positive experience for their horses based on where their training is, rather than pushing things to the max.

I smile when I see the barrel racer that trots the barrel pattern rather than sprinting all out. The rider pats the horse on the neck afterward. They both leave the TCA Covered Arena proud of their accomplishment.

I smile when I see the freestyle competitor recognize that their horse is overwhelmed by the atmosphere, adjust their routine, and the horse picks up confidence as a result.

I smile every time riders show gratitude for themselves and their horses that just making it to the Kentucky Horse Park is an accomplishment, regardless of where the horses are at in their retraining, because the Thoroughbred Makeover is only part of a long journey that the horse will hopefully embark on in a new life after racing.

Jonathan and Ashley Horowitz announce the finale of the 2018 Thoroughbred Makeover.

There is no doubt that the Thoroughbred Makeover is an elite competition, with $100,000 in prize money and top-level riders competing across ten disciplines on horses that will go on to be leaders in their new sport. In addition, what makes the Thoroughbred Makeover so special and important is that it is also addresses a cause that all professional sports now have to reckon with — the welfare of their elite athletes after they retire. Thanks to the RRP and the Thoroughbred Makeover, horse racing is moving in the right direction with this.

“Since 2015, the Thoroughbred Makeover has steadily grown into not only the largest Thoroughbred retraining competition in the world, but also the largest gathering of people with a professional interest in Thoroughbred aftercare,” RRP executive director Jen Roytz said. “Since then, we've seen more than 3,000 horses go through the process of transitioning from racing to their sport horse careers by preparing for this unique competition, and now we're seeing our Makeover graduates from years past starting to perform at the upper levels in their new equestrian disciplines.”

After coming together for a memorable week at the Kentucky Horse Park, the Makeover trainers, who have represented 46 states and four Canadian provinces, as well as England, can return to their hometowns and inspire others with what OTTBs can achieve.

“That's what works so well with the Makeover,” RRP program manager Kristen Kovatch Bentley said. “It manages to cater to not only the trainers who use the structure of that first year to prepare horses for careers in the upper levels, or take advantage of the visibility to market a horse for sale at the event, but for the one-time 'bucket list' trainers who are entering this competition with their forever horse. It's rare for one event to be able to bring together so many different facets of the industry in one week, but because everyone has had that same incredible experience of partnering with these amazing horses to undertake this transformative 10-month journey together, the competition becomes a celebration.”

The Thoroughbred Makeover inspired me to learn to ride, and my work with OTTBs has changed my life. My wife, Ashley Horowitz, and I currently run the Super G Sporthorses farm in Parker, Colo., where ten of the 16 horses on the farm are Thoroughbreds. Those ten were bred in seven different states.

“For those who don't have a background in or natural connection to equestrian sports outside of horse racing,” Roytz said, “this allows them to gain a deeper appreciation of not only what these horses can go onto accomplish after racing, but how much time, skill, effort, money and more goes into their care and training as they make this life-altering transition from racehorse to sport horse.”

I'm one of those people and appreciate that I now have gone from “talking the talk” as a broadcaster to “walking the walk” as an eventer on OTTBs thanks to what has inspired me at the Thoroughbred Makeover.

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The Friday Show Presented By Monmouth Park: Talking Thoroughbred Makeover

Just as there are “baby” races at the track, off-track Thoroughbreds have their own kind of competition restricted to newcomers — the Thoroughbred Makeover, scheduled for Oct. 12-17 at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington, Ky.

The event, offering $100,000 in prize money and consisting of 10 different disciplines, brings together Thoroughbreds that are in their first year transitioning from the racetrack to a second career.

Jonathan Horowitz, who calls the races at Colorado's Arapahoe Park, has been the announcer at the Thoroughbred Makeover since 2015. Since January 2020, he's been documenting  his new avocation in a series of articles at the Paulick Report, “Horowitz On OTTBs,” highlighting the challenges and triumphs that come with working with off-track Thoroughbreds.

“I appreciate that it's not easy to do,” said Horowitz, who joins publisher Ray Paulick and editor in chief Natalie Voss on this week's Friday Show. “I appreciate that when you get it, it's one of the most rewarding feelings. It's a sport where … imagine if you're a basketball player and the basketball had a mind of its own.”

While Horowitz will not be competing at this year's Thoroughbred Makeover, Voss will be in the dressage ring at the Horse Park with her off-track Thoroughbred, Underscore (fondly known as Blueberry around the barn). She's a tireless advocate for giving ex-racehorses the best chance possible for a second career that can be just as rewarding for the horse as a trip to the winner's circle.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Monmouth Park, below:

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