West Point Thoroughbreds will be represented by not one, but two graded stakes winners at the 2024 Thoroughbred Makeover: Cavalry Charge and Decorated Invader! Their Thoroughbred Makeover trainers, Erin Knehr and Mary Termer, will be telling the stories of these two winners in a joint blog entry each month.

Erin Knehr:

After competing in the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover in 2018 with Conquest Pacemaker, I knew that I wanted to go back again. Having young kids, I decided to wait a few years so that they could be part of the process. But I started looking for the right horse almost immediately. My husband, who works in the Thoroughbred industry, always kept an eye out for me if he ran across the next “one.” I only had one requirement: something slow. Preferably something that never raced or finished last in every race. Maybe something that trotted out of the starting gate.

Cavalry Charge, aka 'Calvin' (Erin Knehr photo)

So after looking at dozens of horses, Cavalry Charge was suggested to us by a friend who worked for West Point Thoroughbreds. A winner of the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Stakes and owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, “Calvin” is a son of Honor Code who was bred in Kentucky by Glencrest Farm and sold for $375,000 as a yearling at the Saratoga Select auction. Far from slow on the track and not aligned with my previously list criteria… but perfect for this retraining project? When we looked at him, West Point insisted his temperament and way of going would be perfect for the show ring. It was hard to tell since he was coming off stall rest, but we went for it. 

Calvin entered our life and quickly adapted to life on our farm. I picked him up in May 2023 and knew we would have plenty of time for him to adjust to life off the track since retraining could not start until December. So we spent time grooming and getting to know each other. Calvin sticks his tongue out when he drinks water and will drink from any source of water. His stall is next to the water hose and he enjoys sampling the water getting filled, including the cat’s water bowl and other horse’s buckets. He also loves to take his bell boots and halter off in the field, at least once a week. One week, I went on a scavenger hunt and found two halters and three bell boots, all still intact. Calvin serves many additional purposes on the farm including pasture buddy to a couple of yearlings. Hopefully he is explaining to them how to win a stakes race!

Finally, the first week of December came around and I couldn’t wait to get started. Of course, thanks to Kentucky and its unpredictable weather and the field I ride in, I sat on him only once that first week. 

I would like to say that everything is going smoothly, but as a working mom and farm owner time quickly disappears. I traveled the last two weeks for work and the days home were rainy while the days away were perfect Kentucky spring days. I look forward to sharing Calvin and my journey with you over the next few months, and hope to show that this mom of two can juggle everything to make it to October. 

Mary Termer:

I’ve been an avid horse lover since birth. From Breyers to my first pony, to my OTTB Devin (Devin’s Bad Boy) and every one in between, I can’t live without them. It was through these horses that I found my love for dressage. I purchased my first horse as an adult in 2014, a 3 coming 4-year-old Thoroughbred just a few months off the track, for $2,000 over margaritas. Devin was not the horse I went to look at, but when this tall, dark and handsome boy came out of his stall, it was love at first sight. Devin spent the next year learning to be a horse. After lots of love, turnout and hacks down the road playing in the water, he quickly became Mr. Personality!

Decorated Invader during his racing days. (Eclipse Sportswire)

So began our dressage training. When we entered our first show, it had been almost five years since I had been in the show ring. Being a bit nervous myself, Devin and I managed to jump out of and back into the ring twice on the same circle. We came back and successfully rode our second test to a third-place finish followed by two blue ribbons at our next show. A year later we made the move from Florida to Kentucky. Working with an amazing trainer, we worked on Devin’s tension and lateral canter. It’s never been normal, but we have made improvements in his gait and have been able to win high points and TIP awards, even earning our USDF Bronze Medal in October 2020.

Two months later and over the course of the next few years, we dealt with a series of devastating injuries: a broken pelvis from a fall in the pasture, a suspensory tear and ligament tears in both front feet. None of these happened at the same time; rather, all were separate causing much doubt, depression, and heartache along with inconsistencies in our training. Between injuries, bone scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, shockwave, X-rays, injections, medications and lots of stall rest, we did manage to get back in the ring. We even managed getting our fourth-level scores towards my USDF silver medal, as well as fourth-level TIP awards.

Not knowing whether Devin would even be able to retire during these times, or worse, have to be put down, I began a slow search for my next mount. However, with the new horse budget and more being spent due to Devin’s expenses, the options were greatly limited – until last fall, when I received a call from my trainer that friend and fellow rider, Erin from West Point Thoroughbreds, had the horse for me. Grade 1 winner Decorated Invader was being retired. He was big and gorgeous. I immediately said yes, without even thinking about how I was going to manage my full-time job and farm and now trying to ride and train two horses. But two weeks later, just gelded, Decorated Invader arrived.

So here our journey begins. The routine Decorated Invader, now known as Finn, has known since birth is no longer followed. Now he has a new barn, new horses, new schedule, a new and different type of rider with a new and different style of training. The “new” is for me too. I’ve never completely retrained a horse myself, let alone one right off the track. I hope to do Finn and all of his connections proud. So, we navigate this journey – one foot and hoof, in front of the other.