Become a jockey or exercise rider by understanding the basic weight requirements, contacting a farm that raises or trains thoroughbreds, and starting from the bottom. Develop skills for racing horses as a jockey with help from a former professional jockey in this free video on jockeys.
Hi, my name's Frank Lovato Jr, and I was a professional jockey. So often people will come to me and ask me 'How do I become a jockey or an exercise rider?' I do recommend if you are....if you're not a hundred and ten pounds naturally, or a hundred and fifteen pounds, that you reconsider the idea of being a jockey, just because fighting your weight and trying to handle big, strong thoroughbreds is not a happy type of life to have. And I can speak from that personally. But anyway, to become a jockey or an exercise rider, I do not recommend going to a racetrack getting a job. My best recommendation is to try to find a farm or training center that trains thoroughbreds. You can search the Internet, you can look in your local phone book. Try to find anything with thoroughbred horse trainers. Try to get your foot in the door. Make a few phone calls. They're always looking for help, and people that are willing to work in the stables, especially on the farms. So that you can....you can get a job of the farm. Working on the racetrack is more for advanced riders and advanced stable help. So if you do find a farm that you could start developing your basic skills. You're probably going to have to start from the ground up. No matter how much experience you may have as a rider on the ground on in the saddle, you're not...you're likely not going to be able to just go start riding thoroughbreds. You're basically going to have to learn, starting from the ground up, the basic skills of working with horses before an owner or trainer would be willing or able to just throw you up on one of their expensive racehorses. So, those are some ideas and some advice that I can give you as far as if you want to get into the business, if you want to be a jockey or an exercise rider, those are some of my best advice of what to do.
Specialty: Horseracing/Jockey
