This year we will be attending the Retired Racehorse Project’s “Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium” at the Kentucky Horse Park with the Equicizer. The event begins on Thursday and runs through Sunday, October 27th-30th.
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| Equicizer inventor and creator, Frank Lovato, Jr. |
Here at Wooden Horse Corporation, the history of the Equicizer has deep roots in horse racing beginning with founder and creator, Frankie Lovato, a retired professional award-winning jockey of 25 years. As many of you may already know, the Equicizer was originally developed by Frankie to assist in his recovery from a badly fractured leg, resulting from a racing accident. The Equicizer can be seen at racetracks and in the homes of jockeys and exercise riders around the country and all over the world.
Aside from the Equicizer’s origins in horse racing, the Off Track Thoroughbred itself makes its presence felt very strongly here within our team at Wooden Horse Corporation. Both myself and our Director of Social Media, Amanda Chicotel, have our own Off Track Thoroughbreds and they are, without a doubt, the love of our lives!
The goal of the Thoroughbred Makeover, in their own words, is “…to showcase the trainability and talent of off- track Thoroughbreds, to inspire good trainers to engage in the process of transitioning these horses to second careers, and to educate the people involved in the care, training, and sale of these horses to responsible owners.” This is something we wholeheartedly support here at Wooden Horse Corporation and we are very proud to be attending this event.
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| Amanda Chicotel with her OTTB Techno Centre aka "Chester" after a successful afternoon of showing |
The goal of the Thoroughbred Makeover, in their own words, is “…to showcase the trainability and talent of off- track Thoroughbreds, to inspire good trainers to engage in the process of transitioning these horses to second careers, and to educate the people involved in the care, training, and sale of these horses to responsible owners.” This is something we wholeheartedly support here at Wooden Horse Corporation and we are very proud to be attending this event.
The Makeover itself will be featuring Thoroughbreds competing in ten different disciplines: barrel racing, competitive trails, dressage, eventing, field hunters, freestyle, polo, show hunters, show jumpers, and working ranch.
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| In a cool twist, Frankie Lovato actually won on Kayla's OTTB at Arlington Park in 2003 before they parted ways, only to be reunited years later |
It doesn’t matter if you’re a racing fan or not, the TB Makeover has something to offer everyone. If you are in the Lexington area, we strongly encourage you to come on out! This is a fantastic opportunity to try the Equicizer (we will have multiple Equicizers in our booth, saddled to accommodate all disciplines) and speak to the man himself – Frankie Lovato! We are only able to do a limited amount of events per year and would love to see you!
If this is your first introduction to the Equicizer, I encourage you to check out our previous blogs which feature a few of the basic ways the Equicizer is used by riders and NON-riders alike, around the world:
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| Kayla Jarvinen and her OTTB Intrinsic Worth aka "Shorty" sharing a moment after being apart for 6 months last fall |
Equicizer for Western Disciplines
Equicizer in Horse Racing
Equicizer for Therapy
We will be in booth 38B in the TCA Covered Arena. For a complete schedule of events, click here. We hope to see you there! (And if you're around, don't miss Saturday night's party at the KHP in the "Big Barn" - rumor has it, there may be some celebrity Equicizer racing taking place!)
By Kayla Jarvinen
