This fall, KHS junior Carolyn Wolf competed in the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover National Championships competition in Lexington, Kentucky.
The national competition tasks trainers from all over North America to train and compete with horses who have recently retired from the race track. The event, hosted at the Kentucky Horse Park, is the largest event of its kind and attracted 396 competitors this year.
Carolyn acquired her racehorses from Monmouth Park race track in New Jersey in September of last year. Carolyn spent more than a year training her two retired racehorses, teaching them how to compete in dressage and show jumping. She competed in the junior division and earned second place in dressage with her horse Antonov and third in show jumping with Royal Urn. Overall, she placed 28th out of 101 dressage riders, most of which were professionals.
“What was most exciting was seeing all the hard work pay off, because these are horses that I’ve trained myself,” said Carolyn. “They’re like my kids, I’m constantly worrying about them, and caring for them. It consumes my life. They give me more of their heart when we go out there to compete, and that’s really cool.”
Growing up in Kingsley, Carolyn’s passion for horses started when she was in second grade and joined The United States Pony Club. She’s been active in the equestrian community for more than ten years and travels to state competitions on the weekend and national competitions in the summer. She has even trained under Olympic rider, Boyd Martin.
“It would be awesome to go to the Olympics one day,” said Carolyn. “I don’t know what will happen, but when you put the hard work in, it does all come together.”
Congratulations, Carolyn!
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