Page 91 - September 2016

want to do, if they’re just given the chance, because they are so athletic.”
Robbie Edwards is right on board with Mitch. “My best outrider horse was an ex-racehorse, Already Rude,” Robbie says of the 2007 Rainbow Derby-G1 qualifier. “He’s good, great, real solid. ‘Rudy’ had the gas. Plus, he’d been running so the races didn’t bother him at all.
“My other good horse is 20-something years old,” he continues. “She’s by Dash For Cash out of a Johnny Boone mare, an ex-racehorse. She only ran a couple times, but she’s my best rope horse and she’s a good solid horse, real quick. You need something that’s quick, that’s definitely broke, and something that’s not afraid to roll up on something that’s rolling pretty fast.”
That brings up another point. High-strung horses are prone to alarm and racehorses tend to be high-strung. It’s easy to trip the trigger.
“A lot of times when a horse is loose, the saddle is underneath his belly, the irons are clanking against his legs, and all that stuff is freaking him out,” Robbie says. “So, it’s not just rolling up on a loose horse, it might be a loose horse in a panic.”
Robbie laughs. He mentions a former jockey with whom he used to ride. “Billy
Don Wainscroft – good friend of mine, crazy little dude, he could ride anything,” Robbie says. “Billy’s now the outrider for the trotters in Sacramento. He told me you talk about something that’s wild: Roll up on one of those things when the buggy is overturned. You gotta
have a pretty broke horse to get in there on that. And sometimes, there’s more than one of them.” He laughs again. Don’t misunderstand the
laugh. As almost any jockey and cowboy will attest, a good wreck can be a pretty good source of amusement – as long as both the riders and horses walk away (relatively) unharmed. As jockeys and outriders, both Robbie and Mitch have seen, had, and been in wrecks that people in the grandstand can only imagine in their worst dreams.
It takes a certain kind of horse to get the job done. And like any other profession or trade, you need the horse to learn it. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
“The outrider horse needs to be solid and the outrider has to be able to count on
him when he needs him,” Robbie repeats. “That’s why my rope horses are good for that, because at least they are used to
rolling up on something while a lot of action is going on, while a lot
is happening all at once. Overall, I think ex-racehorses make just about the best horses for anything you want to do, if they’re just given
the chance, because they are so athletic. And, yeah, of course, I just like them. But first of all, they have to have a decent mind. Some do, some don’t.”
The work day starts early for outriders
Outrider Darren Cain catches a loose horse, which can be
a very touchy situation especially if the loose horse is in a panic.
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the winner’s circle after winning the 2014 All American Derby-G1
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Too Flash For You being ponied into
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SPEEDHORSE, September 2016 89
Gene Wilson & Associates
photo by Richard Chamberlain