The Power of One

What is the value of one young person caring about harness racing?

Think about it for a minute.

A 12-year-old is given the unique opportunity to spend her summer at a standardbred farm, learning about horsemanship. The idea of being at the barn dances through her head as she does her homework and daily chores. She picks up increasingly more knowledge of the work required to care for her horses, and soon falls in love with the speed and thrill of the sport. She is in!

As she becomes a teenager, photos of favourite singers and actors are covered by shots of her horses, pinned inside her high school locker and spread on her social media feed. Her friends hear about this part of her life and come with her on the occasional visit to the farm. She makes a presentation in school about the horses she cares for.

The passion for harness racing is now in her blood. She takes care of horses daily and eventually scrapes the money together to buy one of her own. Perhaps she’ll decide to get her trainer’s license or drive. She experiences the highest highs and the lowest lows and learns more about herself than any office job could ever teach her.

The people she interacts with will learn about her passion and her desire. They will experience the thrill of racing through the shared experiences of someone who gets it. They will pick up on the infectious nature of what these amazing horses have to offer. And they themselves may even get involved.

As she gets older, and has a family of her own, her exuberance for racing will be shared with the people closest to her. Perhaps her husband and children. Maybe her nieces and nephews. And then her grandchildren will visit the farm each year to see Grandma’s foals.

Her legacy will be one of connecting with nature. Of escaping through the bond she has always had with her horses. Of a passion that never seems to wane with time.

And when she eventually passes, her love of the horse will not die with her. It will live on through many of the thousands of people she has touched over the years with her stories and tales. It will live on in her family members - some of whom will take up her passion. It will even live on through the sons and daughters of the horses she cared for and bred.

As I stand at a reception celebrating the horses and people being inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, and look at the tears in the eyes of family members of those who’ve long ago passed away, it’s very clear to me. What is the value of one young person caring about harness racing?

More than we will ever fully understand!

Darryl Kaplan
[email protected]