The recoilless rifle was six feet long and weighed over a hundred pounds. It often required three or four Marines to carry it across the battlefields during the Korean War. Lugging it was dangerous, but it was necessary, because that rifle, which the soldiers nicknamed “reckless,” could fire a 75mm shell thousands of yards with surgical-like precision. It was one of the U.S. Marine Corps’ finest munitions. But the commander of the Recoilless Rifle Platoon, Eric Pedersen, knew there had to be a better way to use it on the battlefield in Korea.

Coming into the Thoroughbred Makeover I couldn’t have been much more confident in where I was with Maverick. Our final run the week before at Stable View had gone just about perfectly with a fifth-place finish in the Beginner Novice only adding two rails in stadium — one of which was definitely my fault — and a couple speed faults on cross country. Most importantly, down there he was so bold and confident out on cross country and gave me a great feeling coming into the makeover.