Personality Profile

Vicki Moon

A WOMAN WITH A WAY WITH WORDS & HORSES

Middleburg author Vicky Moon spent more than a decade researching and writing about a pioneering African American woman’s career training horses. Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop Had a Way With Horses chronicles the grit and determination of the first African American woman in the U.S. to make it in the white male dominated world of elite horse trainers. Born in 1920 in Charles Town, West Virginia, Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop discovered her love of horses and ultimate talent as a trainer by hanging around the Charles Town Race Track from a very young age.

Moon is no stranger to the equine and race track worlds and the political workings of Washington, D.C. As a child growing up in Florida, her mother owned race horses. Vicky herself competed in horse events on the show jumping circuit in Florida and beyond before moving to Washington, D.C., to cover equine sporting events for the Washington Post. Her passion for all things equine brought her to Middleburg, where she was again living, surrounded by her beloved horses, and continuing her writing career. Moon’s unique knowledge and dedication to research provide a story of a fascinating African American female horse trainer put in the historical context of gender discrimination and the civil rights movement. Moon has a way with horses. And words. MM: When and how did you discover Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop? VAM: I love to chat people up, and will talk to anyone. One day about 15 plus years ago I was standing in line for a coffee at a gas station/ McDonalds in Marshall, Virginia and struck up a conversation while waiting my turn. Somehow the man in front of me told me about his “Aunt” who was a race horse trainer in Charles Town. I could tell he was a horse person. I already had a contract at the time to write a book about women who love horses. Two days later I drove to Charles Town to meet Sylvia. I knew this was important and we hit it off. I think the reason we got along was that I speak “horse.” I understood everything she talked about. We made an arrangement to meet every week, something like the 1997 book Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. My book then became just about Sylvia and none of the other women I had in mind. We began in August of 2004. Sylvia gave me notes and old photos and her little black book and I continued to meet with her. Then, during Christmas of that same year she passed, about the time my own father died. I had enough to continue and I dug in and decided this book was important. I

Photo courtesy Middleburg Photo