Faces at the Races: Kirsty Luft-Nault

Exercise riding racehorses is not a job to be taken lightly and no one knows that better than Kirsty Luft-Nault. Not only does she exercise ride, but Nault also instructs potential gallop riders and jockeys at Olds College in Alberta. “It’s an every day job and early mornings. So it’s very physically demanding and you don’t get weekends off. When you’re a racetracker you are there every day,” she said. Working in the horse racing industry since the late-‘90s, Nault is well versed on the daily ins and outs of track life. Starting as a groom for Dale Saunders, she then moved onto ponying and post parading before learning how to exercise ride at the track. Striving to always learn more, she took her trainers test around 2002 and has spent most of her career working out west. Over the last three years, she has been working with students from…