trainer/jockey

Question
I have had a passion for 45 years to ride. My folks were against it. I road through my grammer years and thru high shcool. Not to bad too.
i dream is to be there in the throes of it all. in the eightys offshore for 8 years to keep my bodt fit an strong then in the geotechnical field for another 9 years. I have agreat rephore with horses and konw their phychi. I am not looking for a paid position just the opportuity to be ther and gleen all the info I can. I thik I would be a gerat asset to to crew as I am jovial and some say even nice and likable. I am 5 feet tall and weight 105 lbs. My goal Is to be one of the few women jockies in the business. Can you help? If not send this e-mail to all you may think can respond favorably.
Thank you for your tim and I hope to cross paths at some time in the futurr

Answer
Elizabeth,

While I applaud your goal, you have to realize that you're embarking on a very difficult road, at a very advance age for the sport.  At our age, we don't recover and heal as well as we used to, and our reactions generally aren't what they used to be, either.
But if this is what you want to do, then go for it!  You're best bet is to find a training farm somewhere close that will allow you to start getting on a few babies here and there, or riding the stable pony, even, just to start.  No matter how fit you are in general, riding uses muscles that don't generally get used for much of anything else, so it takes time to get fit, and getting fit is far easier on an unfit baby, than on a fit older horse who already knows how to pull.
Once you're fit enough to ride 10 head or so a day, then ask to start breezing a few, then work your way up from there to galloping and breezing at the track, either on the farm's horses, or ask for a reference that they know on the racetrack, and get a job with them.  Once you've proven that you know how to ride, are good at getting speed out of your mounts, and know your way around the racetrack in good fashion, you can start looking for mounts to ride in the races.
If I run across anyone looking for someone like yourself, I'll pass this along to them as well.

Best of Luck,

Stephanie Frost
www.alchemybloodstock.com