CSU students compete in Thoroughbred Makeover
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Once the lights are turned off, the track returned to its original state and fans flood out of the gates into their everyday lives – not many consider what happens to the young Thoroughbreds that ran before them just moments before.
That’s where the Retired Racehorse Project began their mission. In 2013, they birthed the program, the Thoroughbred Makeover, which is an event intended to highlight the “trainability and talent of off-track Thoroughbreds.” What makes this event unique though, is this program with the intent of serving these former racehorses, is the only national gathering of its kind. Since the Thoroughbred Makeover’s inception nearly 11 years ago, $40 million has been spent in the healthcare and training of these horses.
At the annual event, the selected riders and horses have the opportunity to compete in up to two events of their choosing. Event options include barrel racing, competitive trail, dressage, eventing, field hunter, polo, ranch work, show hunter, show jumper and freestyle.
The 2024 Thoroughbred Makeover commenced on Oct. 9 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. Before the three-day event took place, 396 riders and 416 horses were accepted to compete.
CSU STUDENTS
Included in these nearly 400 riders, were eight students from Colorado State University. Instructor of animal science Tiare Santistevan and Right Horse Instructor Cayla Stone coached the team of students ranging from sophomores to seniors that were selected to represent the university from Fort Collins. After an initial evaluation of their skills, the coaches paired up the talented riders with four of the horses — Bourbon Creed, Fortune, Mocho Chocco Latte and Mouillage.
Santistevan began the program at CSU back in 2019 when after hearing about the event and thought it would be interesting to do it as a team. In October of 2019, her vision came to life as she, one student and horse, made the journey to Kentucky to compete in this legendary event for former racehorses.
Five years after its inception, the program has captured the attention of many CSU students who are interested in the equine program. One of those students is Maddie Hawks, a junior, equine science student from Redding, Conn. Hawks began her journey in the equine industry over a decade ago and says that she was drawn to CSU because of their equine program.
“I had not had much experience necessarily training young horses, but I had ridden many different horses through my years as a working student. Tiare had come to me about this program in the fall of my sophomore year and I was sold,” Hawks said.
Hawks had the opportunity to work with one of four geldings, a horse born in 2020 named Fortune. She mentioned that patience and hard work are a few of the many skills that she has gained through working with a young horse and plans to continue building on these qualities by training more horses in the future.
“This experience is something you should not miss out on. It is an amazing opportunity to develop strong horsemanship skills that can benefit you as an equestrian outside of working with young horses,” Hawks said.
While the program not only improves riding skills of the young adults, it also gives them the chance to work with horses that are no stranger to success. Mouillage, a 2018 bay gelding, trained by Chad Brown, earned over $200,000 in his racing career after starting 15 times and winning four of those races. Another bay named Bourbon Creed also experienced plenty of triumphs while racing. Trained by Ian Wilkes, he was able to have four starts, and two wins which totaled over $115,000.
HARD WORK
From a coaching perspective, Santistevan loves watching the hard work that each of the students puts into each of the Thoroughbreds.
“By the time they get to The Makeover, that’s their culmination of hard work and ability to show at such a large event where everyone’s on the same playing field with these thoroughbreds that came off the track,” Santistevan said.
The skillset needed by these riders is no small feat, and they must have a diverse set of talents to succeed in a variety of events. Most students from CSU compete in jumping, dressage, eventing and trail — just to name a few. Looking forward though, Santistevan said that she would like to see a rider and horse compete in the ranch horse class or polo event.
In each division that the horses compete in, they must have two riders. Santistevan explained that this is a bit of a disadvantage because horses, at times, have a hard time being ridden by more than one rider.
Even through the challenges of dealing with high-strung horses, CSU has had some definite success. Fortune, ridden by Maddie Hawks and one other student, placed sixth in eventing at the 2024 Thoroughbred Makeover. Additionally, the team dominated in eventing and ended with a first-place finish.
While the racetrack lights are off, and the roars of the crowd fade away — the profound impact made on the student and horse will be remembered for generations to come.
