Holy Moses, born in February 2010, arrived in the secretariat center in 2015 after a respectable racing career with 19 Starts, four wins and the total income of $ 48,934 between 2013 and 2015.
When Amy Luyster returned from a bet to Afghanistan in 2012, she turned to fitness and ran to center herself again. That trip led her to the Run The Bluegrass Half Marathon in Lexington, Ky., In March 2013. One of the activities of the weekend was a family day on the Secretariat center. Inspired by the mission of the organization and the idea of horse ownership, Luyster felt an immediate bond with the work that was done there.
The Secretariat Center, located within the Kentucky Horse Park In Lexington, rehabilitating, retraining and repeating former racing horses.
“I had always liked watching thoroughbred race,” Luyster recalled. “Although I had not driven almost 20 years, I decided that I had to come back to the secretariat center and try a few horses. I felt that I owed myself to finally explore horse ownership.”
Luyster has planned an appointment, an adoption request filled in and linked to various horses to try. The one who finally caught her heart was not on her list that day, a bay gelding called Holy Mozes.
Although his name was daring, his attitude was calm and reserved. The former director of the secretariat center saw something special in both horse and rider and encouraged Amy to try Moses.
“The first ride on him was magical,” said Luyster. “Thoroughbrreds can literally read your thoughts, and I have experienced how great that was the moment I was sitting on him.”
Holy Moses was not the first horse to play a role in the life of Amy. Her love for horses started at the age of 4 when a horse fascinated her in an adjacent pasture. Without a country or a family background in horses, Luyster found creative ways to ride horses borrowing through second cousins and friends to use as 4-H projects. All four years, she went to drive in the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) team of her college.
“I think it kept my common sense,” she admitted.
Even while he served as a second lieutenant in the army and stationed abroad, Luyster always found her way back to horses and drove barrels with a local Rodeo team ‘just to be near horses’. Years later, as soon as her family was located in Fort Knox in Kentucky, she encouraged her own children to take driving lessons.
Now, almost a decade after her partnership with Holy Mozes, Luyster is surprised by their journey and how far they have come.
“We have learned so much from each other in these years. We certainly had our challenges, but on this point in our relationship he really trusts me – and vice versa,” she said.
From trail rides and hunter paces to dressage competitions, the couple has tackled it all.
“Our goal is now to reach the third level,” Luyster shared. “I would like to earn my bronze medal on him. Dressage has been so good for him – he likes to have a job and he is such a beautiful mover.”
“He is a Stoic soldier, just like me,” she added. “He really trusts me and I trust him. We have learned so much from each other.”
The Jockey Club supports Many aftercare initiatives Including the thoroughbred Nacare Alliance, the only accrediting body in aftercare and thoroughbred Incentive program (tip), which encourages the retraining of thoroughbreds in other disciplines after completion of a career. View all the initiatives supported by the Jockey Club.
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