Love and Patience brings the 20th win for quirky veteran

At the age of 12 and with 190 starts under his belt, veteran Gelding Golden Jaylet (Allamerican Ingot) Has been the racing horse of your life for South Australian Harness Racing Trainer Kathryn Pickering.

Although the couple is now the best friends, things unmistakably came to a somewhat rocky start when the quirky Pacer arrived at her stable more than six years ago, given to her by owner Waylon Hornhardt.

“Dani Hill had trained him, but Waylon had asked her to move him further and Dani thought of me. She said you will love him – but he has some peculiarities that not many people would tolerate,” laughed picking.

“I discovered the very first day when I started putting the breastplate on him – he is shocking to use!” she said.

“I thought he would kill me. Even now on the races, he is still a bit grumpy when you start using it, he can bun a little and continue. But once you have the equipment, and you are in the bike, he is the safest horse I have ever had.

“I always think he is a bit on a child that always means no – but as soon as you have them there, they see that they have fun.

“I just like working with him, and racing with him is a bonus.”

Golden Jaylet won his 20^one Race for Pickering in Globe Derby On Saturday evening (August 16) thanks to a perfect front ride from Hill, who, together with another Sa Reinswoman Lisa Ryan, did most of the race on the veteran.

Pickering said that both had been integral to get the best from Golden Jaylet.

“Horses with ‘problems’ are especially mentally, are my thing. I find them a challenge and I love that process to work with them to reverse them,” she said.

“I am very lucky that I have good whores in Terry Hoare and a good vet in Toby Ryan and very good drivers and that makes the difference.

“Golden Jaylet is a bit precious, I think, and you have to encourage him and be patient with him. Dani and Lisa both understand him that way and have been great.”

The passion of the 68-year-old for horses is lifelong, but her introduction to hands-on involvement came late.

“As a child I loved horses – other children had pictures of pop stars on their walls, and I had pictures of horses! But I never had the chance to have one when I was young, so I was 36 when I finally got my first horse,” said Pickering.

That first horse was a Palomino Quarter Horse Mare who had been bought by a friend of a sale and had important behavioral problems.

“I wanted a horse and they offered her to me. The only thing I knew when I accepted her was that horses had four legs and a tail. It was about!” She laughed.

“(Globe Derby -trainer) Merv Alcorn warned me of her – he said she was dangerous and that” green people and green horses don’t mix “!”

But Pickering submitted itself in Horsemanship articles and advice, in particular from NSW Horseman Phil Rodey.

“I read everything I could about horse behavior and worked with her and finally I learned to ride her,” she said.

“Eventually that horse followed me around like a dog. When I finally had to let her put down (because of the age), I followed Phil and called him to thank him, because everything in his articles helped me to understand her. She was great, the most beautiful horse.”

A switch to Harnas Racen came later, via Alcorn, who worked at the school where Pickering taught. Through Merv she met trainer Jill Neilson, started to help with her stable and eventually took the reins herself.

“Jill asked me one day if I wanted to ride. I said yes, and that’s how it started.”

Pickering, who trains from the Salisbury stables by Ingrid and David Smith, has always been a trainer with one horses and the bond with Golden Jaylet continues to deepen even after more than six years.

“Every day since I got him, when I go to his paddock to catch him, he turned his back and walked to the far corner,” Pickering said.

“But just last week when I go, he stopped eating, I saw myself with the barbell and came to me. The first day he did it, it brought a tear to my eye.

“Lisa Ryan once said to me: Isn’t it great that you found each other? And I think that’s true. I just love him – he’s a pleasure.”

From Terry Gange for Harnesslink