Off Track Thoroughbreds

Ken’s Kitten is a naturally gifted OTTB who has cracked in to fourth level dressage.

To those who might denigrate the Thoroughbred’s capacity to compete in the dressage world—oh, they’re just not born for it; not “uphill” enough— exercise rider turned OTTB trainer Nuno Santos has a horse to tell you about. Actually, make that two.

A dressage rider who helped transform a nervous, somewhat flighty Thoroughbred named Ken’s Kitten into a third-level mount capable of incredible movement and scope, can hardly conceal his glee today as he speaks of Kitten’s burgeoning four-star achievements.

Ken’s Kitten
Sire: Kitten’s Joy
Dam: Cruise Line
Foal date: April 11, 2007
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Rapsandtaps
Sire: Tapit
Dam: Redness, by Tale of the Cat
Foal date: April 3, 2010In only a year’s time, since Santos and Ken’s Kitten were the star attraction at Steuart Pittman’s Retired Racehorse Project Makeover show at Pimlico Race Course, the flashy OTTB has flourished into a full fledged competitor, now floating through piaffe and passage moves at a four-star level.

“He’s such a different horse now,” Santos says. “He has matured so much, and is so willing to do thing without getting nervous. He does his tempe changes, some piaffe and passage … and he has so much more expression in his movement.”

Like a proud papa, Santos says Ken’s Kitten has utterly blossomed under the tutelage of USDF silver medalist (and older brother) Carlos Santos, in California, and now stands poised to take on the Prix St. George test this year.

But Ken’s Kitten, Santos explains, was no flash in the pan, or rarity among today’s Thoroughbred.

Nuno Santos trained Ken’s Kitten up through third-level dressage before handing over the reins to California USDF silver medalist (and his brother) Carlos Santos.

Thoroughbreds, he asserts, are coming back into vogue. Even in dressage. And to prove it, he is schooling a previously injured, 5-year-old stallion by Tapit for the upcoming Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover Show.

Later this month at a showground in Kentucky, Santos will ride Rapsandtaps in a demonstration highlighting the skill of the mellow Thoroughbred.

In personality, he is totally unlike his predecessor, Ken’s Kitten. Whereas Kitten was nervous and needed to be channeled, Raps is mellow and willing, with the occasional burst of quirky energy, he says.

But what they share is an ability to excel in a reach outside of horseracing, Santos says, noting that Raps comes to Dressage after recuperating from a condular fracture in his right leg. And still he is great, he says.

The two OTTBs are brilliant examples of the basic talents waiting to be unlocked in ex-racehorse Thoroughbreds, says Santos, noting that several of his riding students recently switched to riding Thoroughbreds after riding Warmbloods.

Rapsandtaps works with Nuno Santos in preparation for the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover Show at the end of the month at the Kentucky Horse Park. Photo by Lydia A. Williams

“My clients had started with Warmbloods, and don’t get me wrong, I love Warmbloods. But they realized that Thoroughbreds are so much easier. They give you energy right away, whereas with the Warmbloods you have to push and push,” he says, adding, “I think the way people look at Thoroughbreds is totally changing, because of all the organizations” working to raise awareness—the Retired Racehorse Project horse shows among them. “Thoroughbreds are getting back into vogue.”

Steuart Pittman, who pioneered the Retired Racehorse Project to remake off-track Thoroughbreds into valuable, competitive sport horses, says he is thrilled with the impact of Ken’s Kitten and soon, Rapsandtaps will display his moves at the show, which takes place at the fabled Kentucky Horse Park this month.

“Very few of the best dressage riders put time into working with Thoroughbreds, and that’s the reason that very few Thoroughbreds show at the FEI levels of dressage,” Pittman says. “Silva Martin proved with Sea Lord in 2011 is that Thoroughbreds can still show brilliance at the Grand Prix level, but that was a very rare situation where one of the most talented dressage riders in the country had a Thoroughbred sent to her as a sale prospect. The result was incredible.

“Nuno Santos is the next person who will work this kind of magic with Thoroughbreds. He has the talent, he has the feel, he knows and loves the Thoroughbred mind, and he has the connections in racing to find clients who will put their money into the long-term training that it takes to reach the top level.”

After the ride, Walker says her OTTB seemed to stand a full hand taller. Photo by William Morgan “Billy” Benton

In her glory days, Arrington Walker worked among the stars of horse sport.

An assistant competition manager for equestrian sport at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, she saw the very best athletes strive for the fabled five rings at the pinnacle of their careers.

But now, at age 73, the soft-spoken South Carolina grandmother is doing something even more exciting. She is doing what those in the Thoroughbred world refer to as myth busting.

To the amazement, and mild concern of friends, family and coaches, Walker bought herself an off-track Thoroughbred two years ago, practically pulled the old mare from a field and saddled her up.

Before the horse and rider met, Walker had been looking for the perfect riding horse for several years when in 2012, while chatting at dinner with some friends, she learned that a friend of a friend had a horse she could try.

Cowabunga
New name: Sip and See
Sire: Carborundum
Dam: Suzy’s Surprise
Foal date: Jan. 30, 1996“I was giving my usual does-anybody-know-of-a-horse story when a friend got this lady on the phone,” and the next instant, Walker was chatting with a former college classmate and horsewoman, who, upon hearing Walker’s story proclaimed, “I’ve got a horse.”

And those words, uttered so confidently by her old school chum Jane Gunnell, turned out to be true. She had a horse all right. And what a gem she was.

“As soon as I put my foot in the stirrup” to try her “I knew. It’s an instinct, and that’s the only way I can explain it,” she says. “We went out in the hunt country of Aiken, and there were two of us riding … and she never put a foot wrong.”

Walker completed her first three phase on Sip and See last month. Photo by William Morgan “Billy” Benton

After a two-week tryout, Walker purchased the former racehorse and broodmare, and eventually named her Sip and See. The name, taken from a southern colloquialism used by grandmothers, came to her one day while she and a bunch of lady friends gathered in a field to look at her new horse.

“When you have a grandchild, you invite your friends over to sip wine and see the grandchild, so we say, ‘Come over for a sip-and-see.’ And one day in May, six of my friends came with me to her pasture—they brought their lawn chairs— and somebody said, ‘We’ve come to your sip-and-see!’ ”

And all who took a peek at the mare, who was 16 at the time, proclaimed that there, standing in the field serenely grazing, was a gem of a racehorse.

Her calm nature won over everyone, including her riding instructors who initially advised her, for obvious reasons, to purchase an older, smaller, well-trained animal.

Quite the opposite, the mare stood 16 hands, and possessed little training beyond the racetrack. And yet, her lack of a competitive streak made her quite agreeable to train and calm in most situations.

Last month, after a year of training together, the pair of “old ladies” made quite the splash at the Jumping Branch Horse Trials in Aiken.

The 18-year-old Thoroughbred and 73-year-old rider completed their first three-phase, an impressive feat for a rider who hadn’t competed in 22 years.

Though not the Olympic games, the competition was a monumental achievement for her.

“This is my miracle horse,” Walker says. “I’m out there competing, and I haven’t done it in 22 years! I’ve run into so many people from my Atlanta days, and they can’t believe I’m out there riding a horse and jumping!” — Originally published on March 14, 2014. #TBT