A brilliant blue sky and friendly hosts greeted two dozen riders from SIRE, their families, and SIRE volunteers at the Sam Houston Race Park on MLK Day. SIRE is a non-profit changing the lives of people with special needs through therapeutic horsemanship in three locations around Houston. So the SIRE visitors already adore horses and eagerly accepted the Race Park’s invitation to compare race horses and jockeys to their own therapy horses and riders.
As the afternoon proceeded another happy coincidence revealed itself. It really seemed liked family day. Many of the SIRE visitors came with family and were met by speakers who had grown up in horse-racing families.
First up and accompanied by oohs and aahs, racehorse PicturePerfectCat (PPC) walked calmly into the winner’s circle with her handler Sarah Davidson. In addition to owning PPC, Sarah’s mother and father had owned the horse’s dam (mother) and sire (father). Including PPC, they are training 27 horses this season at the Sam Houston Race Park, their favorite track. The audience asked many questions about pretty PPC including her age (5), breed (thoroughbred), specialty (turf sprinter), and record (15 starts 3 wins, 3 places, 3 shows). Then SIRE clients crowded in close for the chance to pet her.
Jockey Lindey Wade was the next to enter the winner’s circle, Both Lindey’s mother and father were jockeys. Questions came fast for Lindey, with visitors asking how he was assigned horses, his strategies, his attire and so on. As for that last question, SIRE rider Ainsley Alley was eager to compare her riding boots and pants with Lindey’s.
After Q and A time, many of the SIRE visitors took the opportunity of the warm weather and Sam Houston Race Park’s gracious offer to stay for a day at the races.
