Page 126 - Speedhorse August 2018

DIANNE BENNETT
I have bred and raised most of my own race horses. If they do well, it is quite an accomplishment and makes it all worth it.”
by John Moorehouse
There’s a passion for Quarter Horse racing in Indiana, and the Quarter Horse Racing Association of Indiana (QHRAI) is a positive and powerful advocate for racing in the state. As Executive Director of the QHRAI, Dianne Bennett is in charge of managing it all. With some of the most lucrative races of the year coming up in the fall, Bennett is entering what could be described as her busy season, but she still took time to participate in this month’s “Lighter Side.”
Q: Where were you born?
A: Franklin, Indiana, but I lived in Greenwood and attended Greenwood schools even though I was supposed to go to the Whiteland school system. My father paid tuition to Greenwood schools since we were only a few miles away compared to Whiteland, which was much farther from my home. When I married, we lived in Greenwood, but later moved to the Whiteland/Franklin area where we purchased property to have our horses.
Q: What are your hobbies outside of horse racing?
A: Before having race horses, I had barrel horses and even bred some of my own barrel
horses. But after getting into the horse racing business, I gave up barrel racing about five years ago. I just didn’t have time to participate in both. I still miss barrel racing, but not those
long nights of waiting to run.
Q: What is your favorite
movie, and why?
A: My favorite was “Secretariat.”
I have watched that movie many,
many times. Who would ever have
thought that I would have the opportunity to meet and call Otto Thorwarth my friend. He played Ron Turcotte in the movie. Otto is the chaplain here at Indiana Grand for the Quarter Horse Racing Association.
Q: What’s an interesting fact about
your family?
A: My father and his brother opened the commercial airport, Wheatcraft Airport, in 1946. It has since been sold and is presently owned by the City of Greenwood. As brothers, they loved flying. But
even though I was at the airport all the time, I never
Dianne Bennett, Executive Director of the Quarter Horse Racing Association of Indiana.
did have that desire. I just wanted a horse! My husband and I later decided to buy trail
horses so we could go trail riding with our friends. We boarded them at a stable
since at that time we didn’t have the facilities at home for horses. I had to waituntilmychildrenwereincollege before I finally got to get my first horse. I’ll never forget, my son was going to
Purdue University at the time, and he came home unexpectedly one weekend. I
said, ‘Why are you here?’ His reply was, ‘I had to see if my parents have gone crazy and
bought horses.’ That is where it all started with those two horses that later became my barrel horses.
Q: What is the strangest personality quirk you have ever seen in a horse?
A: Several have had strange personalities, but I have one now. I give hay to my horses three times a day, the latest time being around 10 p.m. I currently have a three-month-old foal that likes to eat his last hay feeding laying completely flat on the ground. I guess he is just too tired to get up and eat since it is so late. Plus, he is a talker! Always nickering every time I pass by his stall.
John Moorehouse
124 SPEEDHORSE, August 2018
THE LIGHTER SIDE