Tcmag october 2013 leena huff

october 2013

magazine

Leena Huff

our october Buckle Bunny John Holland BEWARE! Kat Livengood On the Road Maria Remedio One Jockey’s Life

Heard roun’ the waterin’ trough I am a visual person. I love to look at beautiful pictures and I actually see in a “creative dimension”...everything has the essence and potential for beauty.

But lately, I’ve been seeing more and more violent video clips on the internet of animal cruelty and murder. By grown men and women. In modern societies. Statistically it has been proven that serial killers begin their torturous lifestyles early on by perpetrating pain on kittens or small animals. Is the animal industry, segments of it, comprised of a group of serial killers?

Not a day doesn’t pass that I don’t think about the tortured animals in the film “Skin Trade”, the slaughtered dolphins in “The Cove” and the murderous bludgeoning of the baby seals. Doesn’t anyone worry about the state of our minds, let alone our society?

Most say they cannot watch films of this violent nature but think nothing of turning on Dexter or Breaking Bad and watch the “drama” of those characters killing and maiming one another. No effect on you? I don’t think so. Firstly, we are told that these TV programs are “fiction” in order to justify viewing them. But, dollars to doughnuts, they are based on actual police case files and only serve to harden you, all of us, against the ugly facts of life inclusive of animal abuse and torture. Might I suggest you turn the TV off and get... involved!

We are all connected...what happens to the animals today may be our fate tomorrow!

Be kind to one another. Call your mother!

Besos & rockets, Calamity Cate Crismani Editor in Chief

Publisher

Equine Angle unique marketing & PR Advertising EMK online 818 642 4764

Editor & Creative Director Calamity Cate Crismani

Cover/Pictorial Photographer Bristol MacDonald Contributing Photographers Kat Livengood Nathan Perkel Christopher Amerouso Alise Lemoraux Flint Burkart Tony Donaldson Contributing Writers Kat Livengood John Holland Alise Lemoraux Cate Crismani

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FEATURES 10 On the Road...Kat Livengood 24 BEWARE!...John Holland 30 Our October Buckle Bunny…Leena Huff 40 iView...with The Barbi Twins & friends 44 A Place to Call Home...Alise Lemoraux 52 A Jockey’s Life, Maria Remedio...Chris Forbes

on the road Kat Livengood “Whoa, whoa , WHOA!!" Kat Livengood yells, opening the truck door and stumbling out before the tires stop rolling. The truck fills with the sharp smell of sage. Off in the distance a cloud of dust rolls up and a band of mustangs appears, set to cross our path. Kat raises one of the two cameras slung over her shoulder. The horses thunder by, and her shutter clicks furiously. As the dust settles and they disappear to the south, I ask her if she got the shot.

Livengood shrugs. "Who knows? Here's the thing about photographing wild horses: first you have to find them, and they are good at hiding.

Once you do, and they've decided they want to get away from you, it's not like they run to the other end of the pasture then circle around so you can have another shot. You’ve pretty much got one chance to get it right. I love the challenge!", smiles Livengood.

Livengood would rather be out with mustangs than almost anywhere else. She and her partner, artist Kelly Moore, travel the dirt roads of Four Corners as much as they can be away from their studio on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kelly always takes the wheel and, as I witnessed, has gotten very good at stopping on a dime. Kat rides shotgun, with at least one camera in her lap and binoculars in hand, scanning for wildlife.

We get back in the truck and bounce along a bone-rattling, rutted track, finally spotting another band of mustangs that allows us to observe them from a comfortable distance. Livengood focuses her lens on a battlescarred Spanish stallion, fiercely guarding his four mares. While she shoots we talk a bit about the politics of wild horses, which are polarized and complicated; made more complicated all the time by growing populations, competing desires for land usage, and the lack of knowledge about/ affinity for wild horses by those who make decisions that affect them. "I don't think there are any easy answers, but there absolutely must be more intelligent solutions than the ones in use today," she says. "Managing the wild horse population via fertility control is something I really hope to see pursued more widely.�

Kat Livengood donates a percentage of her photo profits to Cimarron Sky-Dog Wild Horse Sanctuary in northern New Mexico, and sponsors two of their mustangs. As we enjoy watching a filly shyly peek at us from behind her mother, she tells me about one of them: Willow, a Wyoming mustang whose difficult journey thankfully has had a very happy ending. "She was adopted after a BLM roundup, and later abandoned in a locked horse trailer in North Carolina's summer heat. She was near death when she was found. A rescue organization took her in and cared for her until she was strong enough to make the journey out west, but even then her eyes were so haunted." Livengood was at Cimarron Sky-Dog when Willow was set free into her new home: a thousand beautiful acres, with twenty-five other mustangs.

"It was one of the most wonderful things I'll ever see, watching Willow literally leap in circles around us. I don't know if I've seen a more joyful horse, and she's still thriving there. She is just one of the reasons I love doing what I do."

"Wild horse sanctuaries can always use help. Here in the southwest the drought has created huge hardships, both for horses still in the wild and for sanctuaries that need to provide hay where grass isn't growing. It's a huge expense."

Livengood encourages those who want to help to sponsor sanctuary horses or make donations for hay and other supplies.

For Livengood, every encounter with a horse is special and photographing the wild ones always a peak experience. "I never take for granted how special it is to be here, doing this. So many people never have the time to get out of the city, rarely see a horse at all let alone a mustang. And most people never have the opportunity and pleasure of watching wild horses do what they do in the wild, it's fascinating!

It's easy to become disconnected from the natural world when you live in an urban environment. I try to bring a little bit of this experience to those who can't get it directly."

Evening comes, the light turns a warm gold and the horses are quiet. It's the magic hour that every photographer waits for, and Livengood wanders off to make the most of these last minutes. Once the sun slides below the horizon, we haul our weary selves back to the truck. "Can you imagine a better way to spend a day?" she says with a sigh.

Tired, sore, dusty, we make our way home.

Kat Livengood can be found most weekends showing her work at Dark Bird Studio, 620 Canyon Road (at the end of Canyon Alley) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Her photos are also on her website at www.katlivengood.com.

www.ahdf.org

www.equinewelfarealliance.org

The Let Em Run Foundation is a non-profit organization in partnership with government, businesses and the community committed to the protection and preservation of the wild mustang and the heritage of the American West.

Call 775~847~4777 www.letemrun.org 501(c)3

BEWARE! You are what you eat Contaminated Horse Meat a Health Risk, According to Study

By John Holland, Equine Welfare Alliance A peer reviewed scientific study tracing race horses sent to slaughter for human consumption has found that 100% of the horses in the study group had been administered phenylbutazone, a banned carcinogen that can also fatally damage the bone marrow of humans. The findings appear to validate the European Union’s recent tightening of traceability requirements on horse meat from third countries.

The paper, titled A ssociation of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk, appeared in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology and calls into question the reliability of the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) and CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) testing programs which have consistently failed to detect the substance.

The manuscript(1), which was authored by Drs. Nicholas Dodman(2), Nicolas Blondeau(3) and Ann M. Marini(4), followed eighteen Thoroughbred (TB) race horses that were identified by matching their registered name to their race track drug record over a five year period and were given phenylbutazone (PBZ, Bute) on race day and were subsequently sent to slaughter for human consumption.

The study also traced records on sixteen TB race horses that were given PBZ on race day and would have also entered the food chain had they not been rescued. The study was limited to race horses because of the availability of drug records, but phenylbutazone is one of the most common drugs used in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in horses.

Because of the bone marrow toxicity caused by PBZ in humans, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set no safe levels of PBZ and bans its use food producing animals, including horses.

While PBZ is but one of the numerous banned substances that are routinely given to US horses, it is one of the most dangerous.

Defenders of horse slaughter have long pointed to USDA testing records which consistently showed no positive results for PBZ. The new study shows that the USDA testing could not have been accurate. Indeed, the study uncovered a pilot test performed by the USDA in 2004 and 2005 that used a different testing technique and found 8.3% of the meat to be contaminated with PBZ. The pilot program had been subsequently discontinued.

The study estimates that sixty seven million pounds of horse meat derived from US horses were sent overseas for human consumption in 2008. If 8.3% of this meat contained phenylbutazone residues, it would translate to over 5 million pounds of contaminated meat.

Opponents of horse slaughter have long warned that US horses are not raised as food animals and mechanisms to ensure the removal of horses treated with banned substances from the food chain are inadequate at best.

Equine Welfare Alliance recently issued a discussion paper with their partners, Canadian Horse Defence Coalition on the serious drug issue concerning North American horses. The comprehensive paper covers concerns over the ability to meet compliance with European Commission regulations on food safety.

(1) Article is cited as, Dodman, N., Blondeau, N., Marini, A.M., Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk, Food and Chemical Toxicology (2010), doi: 10.1016/j.fct. 2010.02.021 (2) Tufts University, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA (3) Institut de Pharmacologie MolĂŠculaire et Cellulaire - I.P.M.C, UMR 6097, C.N.R.S/UniversitĂŠ de Nice Sophia Antipolis, 660 route des Lucioles, Sophia Antipolis 06560 Valbonne, FRANCE (4)Department of Neurology and Program in Neuroscience, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.

The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues free, umbrella organization with over 100 member organizations. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids. www.equinewelfarealliance.org

www.EquineChia.com

http://thesoulofahorse.com/blog

www.buckarooleather.com

An american Beauty….

Leena Huff “My paternal Great-grandmother, Dorothy, was Cherokee. I am instilled with Cherokee spirituality because of her. It’s my blood and probably why I am so drawn to horses, and especially mustangs, since we share a common native ancestry”, says our October Buckle Bunny, the striking Leena Huff.

Growing up in Chicago, Leena was on a horse in primary school and loved the sensations of the animal and the experience. “When you’re on a horse, with all of that beating power beneath you, you realize how feeble we are as humans. I love riding, everything about it...the horse, smells, sounds, the saddle swaying under you and over your mount...the calm. There’s nothing like it.”

At 19, she decided to move to L.A. to pursue an acting career. “I probably cried every night for the first year that I was here. It was a terribly hard transition to make, but I preserved and survived”, Leena smiles. “I had no expectations when I came out here and that has led to some pleasant surprises.” Her roles have included reoccurring guest star appearances in the NBC sitcom, LIFE, hosting Disney’s 365 for two years, which included international travel, and has recently starred in a romantic comedy with Daniel Bonjour and Mary Margaret Humes (Mrs.Leery on Dawson Creek) called, “Head Over Spurs In Love” due for release this year.

Another of Leena’s passions is Pit Bull rescue and foster. “I had two Pits, Loki and Misu, who I lost in a bitter relationship breakup. They were the loves of my life. I began to foster pit bulls, I guess, as a way to fill the void of losing my angels.

It’s rewarding for me and I am constantly reminded by my fosters what a sweet breed they truly are and what a bad rap Pit Bulls have.”

“Mustangs have gotten a bad rap over the years also from vested interests groups.”, says Huff, “How anyone can annihilate such majestic creatures for their own selfish agenda baffles me. It is our responsibility to protect and preserve our native American Mustangs.”

Our October Buckle Bunny, Leena Huff, an American Beauty.

Shot on location: B and B Performance Horses Aqua Dulce, California Photographer: Bristol MacDonald www.bristolequinephotography.com MakeUp & Hair: Jenny Karl

www.jennykarl.com

Creative Direction & Styling: Cate Crismani

iView with The Barbi Twins, Amy Nelson & Raelynn Nelson

The Quad Squad It happens in life whereby an event, of such great magnitude, such great turmoil and shock, propels people to unify for a common cause and a singular belief. In this case, that cause is the plight of the wild mustangs, horses and burros in the United States and those people are Shane & Sia, better known as The Barbi Twins and their compadres, Amy Nelson and Raelynn Nelson, daughters of Willie, need I say more? Wranglin’ the four women for this interview was no small feat. But persistence got it done and the “Quad Squad” sat down to discuss the pressing issues of mustang round ups, penning and threatened slaughter. tCm: Hello Cowgirls. Thank you for taking the time to discuss animal rights, horse welfare and your involvement with humane and charitable work to eradicate animal cruelty and slaughter and to be the animals voices. How did you gals meet?

Sia: Katrina. Shane and I had pitched in to help the animals as did Amy and Raelynn. It was love at first sight.

Shane: We’re family. Amy and Raelynn are our third and fourth twins.

Raelynn: Or the “Quad Squad”. tCm: The rapport between you is very natural and it makes sense for you to band together to help the mustangs. Tell us about that?

Raelynn: Well, today, there are more horses in BLM holding pens than free roaming. The BLM is operating in direct violation of the 1971 Wild Free -Roaming Horse Act. Not to mention all the land that has been taken away from and for the mustangs.

Sia: There is all kinds of propaganda about the mustangs being put forth by the BLM backed by vested interests like corporate cattlemen.

Shane: Yeah, like the horses are starving to death. You can look at recent pictures of the wild ones and see how fat and healthy they are so that is just not true.

Amy Nelson and Raelynn Nelson

Amy: They are being fenced off from water by cattle ranchers and yes, then they do die of thirst. Its an unnatural and cruel death. If the horses died naturally in the wild, well, that’s the way nature goes.

Nature takes care of itself.

Shane: Everything has its place in this environment, even people...oh well.

Sia: We are being told that the horses are “feral” animals as opposed to “indigenous”.

Please! Mustangs are as American as the flag.

Shane: She stole that from Willie!

Amy: Yeah, Dad’s been great. He has about 72 rescued horses now. And some from the Three Strikes Ranch travesty last year. Dad really loves those horses. tCm: Do you work with any one particular rescue or sancturary group?

Sia: We are all on the Board of Directors of Habitat for Horses. But Shane and I also have a non-profit for cat rescue and humane treatment. We helped to ban declawing legislatively in California. We will help any animal when it is needed. We are equal opportunity twins!

Shane: Amy and Raelynn are usually shy but they always come out to help animals.

Amy: People have choices, animals don’t.

Raelynn: The BLM is managing the horses into extinction. And that is what we are trying to educate people too…I think if you educate people about these atrocities they will get involved and help.

Sia: Politicians are not leaders, they can be moved by us, we have the power to change things and be more proactive.

Shane: Its like the mustangs are David.

The BLM, and the Department of the Interior , is Goliath...and we all know how that story ended!

Sia: It’s really a shame on us...as a whole, as a people. “A society can be judged by the way it treats its animals”...and that is the truth.

Shane: She stole that from Ghandi!

Amy Nelson

tCm: So whats the solution?

Amy: We need to keep talking about it, to everyone, to the politicians., to the people...make them aware...provoke action by using every media outlet possible. We, my family, including my dad, will be recording a version of the Rolling Stones, “Wild Horses” dedicated to our American Mustangs.

Raelynn: Its like dad said, “Horses are the connection to the spirit world, essentially a connection to God”.

Amy: And he also says, “Put the principle before the personality”.

NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD WWW.SKINTRADETHEMOVIE.COM

A Place To Call Home

by Alise Lemoraux “Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.� ~Christian Morgenstern

Picasso Moon

The idea of connection is powerful. Our nature is to be communal and yet also uniquely ourselves. We strive to find a place where we fit in, a place where we can relax. We have countless expressions defining what home means ranging from domestic dwellings, to navigational points, to a place that serves as refuge for our souls.

Picasso Moon has struggled to find such a place. As he heads into his fourth year of life, he has had little chance to form strong friendship bonds with other horses. Twice he has fallen under the care of horse rescue. Yet his audacious personality has not been squelched. His compass remains pointed towards attracting his kindred spirits.

Fitting in with other horses has caused Picasso Moon some problems in the past. The foster home where he was living when we first met wanted to adopt him, but Picasso Moon could not get along with the other horses there and was beaten up regularly. Understanding space and respecting the space of others has been his quandary both with his equine companions and humans. Coming from a rescue background as Picasso Moon had, it is doubtful that he was allowed to interact with other horses naturally. When he first arrived here, he got himself into some conflicts when he would try to groom another horse and would bite too hard. Despite the consequences, he didn’t modify his behavior. He would nip and bite the others until he would get chased to the opposite side of the pasture where he would be left standing alone.

As time went by, Picasso’s behavior was not improving. To keep him safe, he had been paired with an experienced older mare.

But she found him annoying.

He was not getting the Azure and Picasso horse interaction he needed.

Picasso was becoming hard to handle on the ground while he was being lead to and from his pasture. He would rear, buck, pull on his rope, and constantly push the limits. One day he was so difficult to handle that I was ready to send him to auction myself!

At that point I decided to turn him over to a “higher authority”… and I don’t mean God. I mean a new peer group. A group of horses with well established behavior patterns and a balance of personalities. I figured the old mare had taught him enough about horse interaction for Picasso to survive, and hopefully thrive, in this new group.

And so the change began. Picasso embraced his new situation with gusto. His peers were skilled in the art of the moment, establishing a balance between nature and nurture. They taught, fought, bantered, and groomed him.

They created and released pressure and in the end, they showed him his place. His energy began to blend with theirs. Rebalancing the community was underway. Picasso still pressed the limits. Every action was met with a reaction. Picasso began to speak “horse” and understand the principles of social justice. He gave respect and he was beginning to get respect in return. go to page 50

www.horseboymovie.com

A percentage of sales proceeds will be donated to the International Society for the Preservation of Mustangs and Burros. www.ispmb.org

Cont. from page 45

As it turned out, the community Picasso was searching for had been waiting for him just inside the gate of his new pasture. Picasso found that mysterious connection that links individuals together despite their vast differences. One horse in particular seemed to connect with Picasso Moon. Azure seemed to recognize a kindred spirit in Picasso. Azure had been was much the same way. Azure came to me from the same rescue organization as Picasso did. Azure was 6 years old at the time with little training. He didn’t know much about being a horse either. He too had a community of horses to teach him. Those wise horses have passed on, so things are coming full circle and it is Azure’s turn to lead by example.

Picasso Moon is learning about social signals and learning to feel safe among the among his peers. He has food, shelter, and friends he can count on. He knows where his place is now. Picasso has found his home: a place where his spirit is matched and he is understood.

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One Jockey’s Life Maria Remedio

By Chris Forbes When most athletes retire from any career sport, only 1% return to that sport by staying involved as a television announcer or getting a job with ESPN or any of the multisport networks on cable TV. Most just ride off into the sunset to carry on with their lives.

This is the story of one jockey, Maria Remedio, who retired in 2010 to become a mom of two and then returned to the Sport of Kings. Since her return, Remedio has been putting up some incredible numbers.

Currently in the United States there is a total of 1,623 jockeys riding in races.

Remedio ranks 105th in purse earnings for 2013.

Being a female in a male dominated sport is never easy. You have to have both mental and physical toughness otherwise your tenure as a professional jockey will be short lived.

For the neophytes, a jockey is a paid, professional rider in a horse race.

Most are anywhere from 5'0" to 5'5" tall and weigh between 105 to 120 pounds.

Growing up a tomboy in Wilmington DE, Maria Remedio attended Glasgow High School where she wrestled for the boys JV Wrestling team at 103 lb. weight class and logged a 9-3 record. She became a key player on the boy’s lacrosse team. She joined the US Girls Wrestling Association and won individual titles in Pennsylvania and Washington, DC and second in Virginia.

The thought of being a jockey did enter her mind at a young age. She had always lived on a farm. She started riding as soon as she could sit in a saddle. She competed in Western Gymkhanas: barrel racing and speed events. Her mother, Patti Remedio says, "We knew we were in trouble when she would come out of the ring and say ‘I need a faster pony.’"

Remedio’s step-dad and trainer, had her galloping thoroughbreds at the race track at the tender age of fourteen. He would tell her "put your goggles on keep your head down and don't talk to anyone on the track". For the next 4 1/2 years she rode any horse anyone would let her ride. She rode amateur flat races having to make weight (130lbs) by soaking her saddle towel with water and hiding rocks under her saddle.

For the next 2 ½ years she exercised horses to get herself familiar and proficient at being a jockey.

Before becoming a jockey, every potential one must be an exercise rider, or ex-rider. The length of this term varies from rider to rider depending on riding skill and horsemanship, and sometimes, luck.

Remedio did most of her ex-riding for a trainer named Graham Motion.

She rode her first race for Motion at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. When asked what her thoughts were on this race she said it was a rush, but not mind blowing and she liked it a lot. She said the jockeys up at Monmouth Park were good to her and helped her out as much as they could before and after the race.

Remedio’s first win came on her nineteenth birthday, October 20, 2004 aboard “Semtex Sally” for trainer Paul Layton at Penn Nation. She said it was mind blowing and she won the race by nine lengths. She was actually kidding when she said, “if I don’t win this race I am never riding again”. The other jockeys ritual first win “congratulations” included pouring 3 buckets of water, shaving cream, powder and eggs on her.

From that win forward, Remedio did most of her riding at Delaware Park and Phila Park (now called Parx ) in Pennsylvania. She also rode at Laurel Park, Pimlico, and Monmouth Park. In 2004, she rode in 45 races for the year and won 4 races and had 3 second place finishes and 5 thirds (4/3/5). go to page 56

Remedio ~ from pg 53 The same year Remedio also became an apprentice jockey. An apprentice jockey is a race rider who has ridden less than 40 winners or less than two years since first having been licensed in any racing jurisdiction, and who otherwise meets the license qualifications of a jockey. The apprentice has to ride in three races before he can carry a whip. In the racing program a 10 pound apprentice would have this symbol (***) next to his name. The apprenticeship of an apprentice jockey shall automatically terminate one year from the date of his or her fifth winning ride, or on the date of his or her 40th winning ride, whichever comes later. No apprenticeship shall extend for more than two years from the date of the fifth winning mount, except for good cause the Board may extend the termination date of an apprenticeship or amend the conditions under which the apprenticeship is granted.

After she lost her “apprentice” title she became a “journeyman” jockey. A journeyman is racing term for a jockey that has lost his apprentice.

While an apprentice rider, Remedio suffered two serious injuries. One was a broken collarbone and the other was a broken foot which kept her out of the saddle and in physical therapy readying for her return to the races.

In 2006 she rode in 533 races: 64/70/78 thirds. On October 25, Remedio won on a horse her mother Patti trained at Penn National.

Excluding 2013, Remedio’s biggest career year to date was in 2007, riding 530 mounts, she won 91 races most of them at Parx Racing. Fully enjoying her 91/70 /73 racing record, her purse earnings were almost $2 million dollars that year.

She won three Grade 1 Stake Races at Delaware Park which was very special for her as she grew up in Delaware.

In 2008 Remedio had another outstanding year riding 403 race; 71/59/47 and another year of nearly $2million dollars in purse money.

In 2009 her first child, Caleb Dominic was born October 21. With the new baby, Remedio planned to ride part-time. She rode in only 55 races that year winning 4 of them.

In 2010, still riding part-time, she rode in 65 races and won just 7 races. She soon realized that juggling her life as a mom and a jockey was starting to take its toll on her.

A typical day for a jockey: Up at 5:30am, getting to the track around 6am, when it opens, for training, exercising and breezing (prepping) horses for imminent races. You do this till 10am, or so. If you are riding that day, you go home for an hour, or so, hopefully to get some rest and then head back to the track to ride races.

The name of the game in horse racing is to win races. If you are not winning races then your days of being a jockey are numbered as the only “guaranteed money’ you get is $100 mount fee. You also have to be 100% dedicated to being a jockey, disciplined physically and mentally to stay fit and healthy. This is one sport where everything falls upon your shoulders as you are the only one up on the horse when it counts. And if you’re not winning you can, and will, be replaced.

On August 9, 2011, Remedio’s second child “Arabella Danette” was born.

Thirty-nine days after giving birth by cesarean section, Remedio thrilled her mother by winning on her horse King Kobe at Delaware Park. “I was at the track the day that she won that race and believe me for a jockey, after being away from riding for so long and then going through what she did, to win a race less than 40 days after giving birth, is an incredible story in itself,” says Patti. go to next page

In the fall of 2011 Phila Park put on another female jockey challenge and after it was over it was decided that she was going to move to New York to live with her fiancé at the time, Jockey David Cohen. Shortly thereafter and after deep soul-searching, Remedio decided she was going to retire and put her family first.

When she went to the jock’s room with her valet to clean out her locker a few days later, Remedio was very emotional. Riding was her life. Cohen, understanding how she felt, said she could always go back to riding as nothing was set in stone. She had no second thoughts with her decision and she knew what had to be done.

She shed a few tears on her way out the door.

In New York, Remedio tried to be a stay at home mom but this wasn’t agreeing with her. Racing was in her blood. She returned to Bensalem, Pennsylvania in 2012 to resume her riding career. She wanted to look her best but this took longer and was harder than she anticipated after her absence from the sport and her daily physical regiment. In her heart, Remedio knew this would be her last chance to ride as a jockey.

Remedio’s perseverance paid off. She did return to racing and having her best year yet. Riding with confidence, Remedio puts in 110% effort on every horse she mounts.

In March, Maria was involved in a racing spill and took off the remainder of her mounts that day. The next day she ended up riding three mounts and won the very last race of the day. The following day, she won the first four races on the card, making it five wins in a row, which is quite an accomplishment.

Maria Remedio is fast approaching 400 career wins. Although she knows every jockey’s riding career eventually comes to an end, she is where she wants to be taking one day at a time.

Photos courtesy of Nathan Perkel. Copyright 2013 Nathan Perkel. All Rights Reserved.

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