'People at Work Contest: Jockey

Comments: 18

Faith H. Oct 16, 2006, 9:15am EDT

Delightful, Mary. Seems like the girls are the winners here!

Mary C Legg Oct 16, 2006, 6:01pm EDT

I try-- some of the pictures here were my first attempts to shoot horses and I wanted to do a story on the ladies. thanks for compliments-- If I had releases I would think of selling some of the portraits for sure.

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Magi the magical poet is riding the wind again Oct 16, 2006, 7:03pm EDT

What an interesting article and a real role reversal - in Oz, there are very few women jockeys. The pics add interest, Mary.

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Mary C Legg Oct 17, 2006, 11:14am EDT

very few women jockeys in lall of the US, but I think here it is really a woman's sport because the Czech ladies are petite and tough. But it also seems to be a glamor sport because if you look at anyone of these pictures, you'll see that grooming and appearance is very strictly controlled.

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Michael A. Oct 19, 2006, 8:29am EDT

We've had a huge increase in the number and quality of women riders here in the US due to the Hall of Fame career of Julie Krone. As a punter, I no longer have any qualms about playing a horse with a female jock, who used to always have a significantly lower winning percentage.

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Mary C Legg Oct 19, 2006, 10:16am EDT

Michael, well now you know where to find or send ladies who want to be jockeys becaue there is a training program at the Velke Chuchle racetrack that is intended to attract international riders-- and the ladies here are really good. It must be a great advantage to be petite as a jockey and they are tough competitors. I wish I knew more about this sport, but I am terribly impressed by the skill these ladies possess and the tendency to ride withut crop and with --sorry am an idiot--but a tongue-like saddle which is more like a slip of plastic or leather than a saddle.

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jessie voigts Oct 19, 2006, 9:30pm EDT

so cool, mary! great photos. it is hard for me to imagine doing this - i was thrown from a horse when i was in JR high, and i got back on and rode home, but that was abt it for me. i got on a horse once again a few years ago, when ed and i went on a trail ride. i asked for the oldest, slowest horse. it was fun. i think that horse got ridden abt 3x a year, he was so poky. all good.

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Michael A. Oct 19, 2006, 9:52pm EDT

The first hurdle for them to overcome, Mary, is the natural bias of trainers to hire male riders. Once they get a foot in the door, and get on the best horse in the race, their ability does the rest. But even the best jockeys will run up the track on a bad horse, and for years, female jockeys couldnt get a "live mount" unless they were sleeping with the trainer. That has changed now.

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Mary C Legg Oct 20, 2006, 6:05am EDT

Michael, not here-- over 75% of the jockeys enrollled in the school are ladies. In the US there may be bias, but not here.

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Mary C Legg Oct 20, 2006, 6:09am EDT

Jessie, I can't imagine it myself, because racing is a very dangerous sport and these horses are eager to hit the track and many of the riders use the absolute minimum amount of gear on the horse with only very small tongue-like saddles that sem to be made of felt or light leather. I can't imagine being on something that moves that fast and hs a will of its own... it's really incredible.

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Mary C Legg Oct 21, 2006, 5:26am EDT

well-- I can't ride a horse at all and so I love to watch people with all their different skills. If you came here, you could learn dressage or jumping becaue I think that Prague probably ahs the most horses per capita of all cities in the world and no matter where you go here, there's a stable. horses in my neighborhood constantly-- and there are Czech rodeos, so you'd feel right at home.

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barb w. Nov 5, 2006, 1:56pm EST

Enjoyed your photos. I love to watch horses as well. In my thirties we usually went to a horse show every Sunday, whether my daughter was competing or not.

Prague would have been heaven-all the stables you mentioned.

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Mary C Legg Nov 5, 2006, 2:10pm EST

thanks Barb, but I know nothing about horses and just admire them-- and yes, it would be heaven here for your daughter because the lessons are relatively inexpensive, too. And people keep horses in Prague-- so different from US urban mentality where every corner had to be blacktopped and grass made from astroturf-- I know that's an exaggeration, but you would never see horses in downtown Seattle unless they were the mounted police and not even in Shoreline-- but there are stables and horses and chickens all over Prague. And pheasants that parade in my neighbor's yards-- so is a different way of life.

and really I don't know anything about horses but just stand in awe of them. They are such intelligent animals...

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