Page 73 - June 2018 Speedhorse

actual hands-on experience with them. Then I went to college and continued with it.”
Melanie came to Lone Star on a different track. “I don’t have any horse background, so it’s information I’ve learned, not hands-on experience. I used to be really afraid of horses. The first time I went horseback riding was not good,” she laughs. “It was a bad experience. The horse ran away with me, ran through the woods, and I ended up with sticks all in my hair. But now, I’m more comfortable with them. The more you’re around them, the more comfortable you are.”
That brings us back to the youngsters.
“I got in the program because at first I did want to be a veterinarian,” says Elizabeth Mendez, an 18-year-old senior. “Then, I did some internships and I realized I didn’t want to be a vet. But my grandmother has horses and I had started going around them, and I thought, ‘Well, maybe I want to stick with the field.’ So, I started taking lessons and now I’ve gotten the education I need in order to become a vet tech, and this fall I’ll be going to Colorado State (University) for equine studies.”
A friend with whom Elizabeth shared the complementary lunch in Lone Star’s Turf Club
speaks up. “I’ve always loved animals and I wanted to be around them,” says Katherine Kurylas, 17, who rides English and is a junior in her third year in the program. “Whether I want to be in the field as a career, I’m not sure. But I love being with horses. I have not done my internship yet – I’ll do that next year – but, I feel like I’ve learned a lot more about the animals than I did before. It’s a lot different learning how they’re really built, rather than just having dogs at your house – a lot different!”
Like all the other students, Katherine found the track different from what she had expected.
“I think there is always a little bit of a negative stigma that comes with racing,” she says. “When you see the horses in person and get to see how they’re kept and the facilities they are kept in, it makes you think about it a lot differently. It’s a
lot more positive than what people think it is. Knowing what I know now, I’d tell my friends that racing isn’t the only thing that racehorses can do, that they lead lives after their racing career and are used for much more than just racing.”
Katherine and Elizabeth both speak up: “I’d like to thank Lone Star for having us here
today,” says Katherine. “Yes,” adds Elizabeth, “thanks to Lone Star and everyone who helped us walk around and tour the barns.”
“I’ve learned so much out here,” Jett says. “I found the x-ray thing very interesting, when we were following the veterinarian scoping the horse. That was something to learn about! And I’ve learned that jockeys just aren’t small people on horses. They actually are athletes. Seeing them close-up on the track sure changed my perspective of that. You see them on TV, riding the racehorses, and they make it look easy, but you get down there close and you can see it’s a really hard thing to accomplish.”
Simple intere St
Getting close to the horses began that morning at the gate, where the youngsters watched a young colt being introduced to the big mechanical monster.
“We don’t keep them in (the gate) very long the first time,” explains Terry Walker, the Lone Star starter who also kicks the gates at Oaklawn Park. “We just want them to accept it, see what’s going on, don’t act up and come out easy.”
There was a talk with a track steward about test barn protocol and drug testing.
The tour included visiting with Bret Calhoun and meeting stakes horses.
Darren Fleming (with Jerry Burgess), who runs the barn as an assistant trainer for leading thoroughbred trainer Steve Asmussen, spent time with the kids. “maybe it’d be something they’d want to do, maybe now they’ll come out and bet a little on the races, maybe they’ll bring a friend, maybe they’ll develop some kind of interest in the sport,” he said.