On October 5, 2017, hundreds of Thoroughbreds with their trainers descended upon the Kentucky Horse Park to compete in the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover. Among them, Canada’s Horse Whisperer, Lindsey Partridge, with her three Thoroughbreds and 15-year-old student, Franny Galvin-Hynes.
The Thoroughbred Makeover is a competition where trainers choose a recently retired racehorse and train them to compete in a different discipline. There are 10 options to compete in. The trainers can choose a maximum of two disciplines for their horse, and are allowed to compete a maximum of two horses.
The disciplines are hunter, jumper, dressage, eventing, barrel racing, freestyle, field hunter, polo, ranch work and trail. Lindsey, from Pontypool, Ontario, is a veteran of the competition, winning the Trail division in 2015 and 2016, as well as the Freestyle in 2016. She is also the only trainer to have both her horses finish in the top three of both their disciplines. Her record at the makeover is extremely impressive. In 2015, she was first and second in Trail, third and 10th in Freestyle. In 2016, she was first and third in both Trail and Field Hunter.