My 2025 Thoroughbred Makeover story starts like most of my stories do — with questionable decision-making skills. I sat in my house scrolling on social media one frigid January evening, a barn full of personal and client horses just a couple hundred yards away. As I took in the dozens of horse-related posts that fill my newsfeed, one made me stop and backtrack. A cute chestnut with four white socks and a blaze caught my eye.

Imposing Ruler (Courtesy of Lindsay Gilbert )

The 2021 Noble Mission gelding was certainly flashy but standing at only 14.2 hands and named Imposing Ruler, I had to take a closer look.

I competed in the 2019 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover on a massive 17.2-hand Roman Ruler gelding named Deadly Ruler. That horse has taught me so much and taken me through the levels of eventing, recently completing our first FEI (International Federation for Equestrian Sports) horse trial in November. This little chestnut with a similar name and complete opposite stature felt like a necessary addition to the barn. Was I considering my full-time job and 13 other horses in my barn when I decided doing the makeover again this year might be fun? Clearly not.

So, after a few traded messages and a phone call with his racing connections, Imposing Ruler loaded up on a trailer to make the trip from Ocala, Fla., to Lexington, Ky. The trailer was scheduled to arrive at 3 a.m. Sunday morning during quite possibly the coldest week of the year. I arranged a layover facility for him for a few hours, and rushed to pick him up as snow unexpectedly started coating the roads.

Pulling up to the barn, I questioned my sanity once again as I was about to load a body-clipped 4-year-old onto a trailer in a snowstorm. As I blanketed him for the 15-minute drive home, I asked the barn manager how he had been to handle. She told me what an absolute saint he was, as the hauler wanted to drop him off at the farm entrance, so she walked him through the farm in the dark at 3 a.m. not even needing a chain. Then she asked me how he was bred, as he reminded her of a Noble Mission colt she foaled a few years prior. Her face fell a bit when I told her his name and how he was bred. “Darn. Not the same guy,” she said. “Noble Mission surely stamps his foals though!”

Lindsay Gilbert and Imposing Ruler (Courtesy of Lindsay Gilbert )

That simple exchange got me thinking. I’ve worked in several facets of the Thoroughbred industry. Upon moving to Lexington in 2016, I worked for The Jockey Club, assisting with creating past performances and maintaining the Equibase website. I spent years processing adoption applications for one of the largest Thoroughbred adoption agencies in the country and a year riding for another accredited adoption program. Now, I manage an equine veterinary practice that specializes in Thoroughbred reproduction and breeding. I’ve experienced the industry in a lot of ways outside of my personal business training OTTBs, and there’s one overriding theme I’ve noticed time and time again — Thoroughbreds are so incredibly important to each person that plays a role in their life.

Here was this one person that I had never met, who happened to offer me a layover stall, hoping that the horse I bought sight unseen from Florida was an old friend she had been excited to meet again. Because that horse, foaled under her care years prior, was still important to her. And I can expect that most broodmare managers, trainers, veterinarians, and even aftercare adoption processors, would feel the same way. There’s nothing more exciting than crossing paths with a horse you knew … getting to give them a scratch again, or watch as they learn a new career, or see how they make someone else smile.

My journey with Imposing Ruler, now known as Henry, is just beginning. He has proved to be sweet, smart, and incredibly athletic. As the ground thaws and Kentucky begins to see the sun again, our training will ramp up and Henry will tell me what he wants to do with his new life.

I’m hoping he will follow the path of his much larger and in no way related brother, Deadly, and find eventing really fun. But I know regardless of where this Thoroughbred Makeover journey takes us, there will be plenty of silent supporters who had a hand in raising this wonderful pint-sized Thoroughbred. I hope we make them proud!

The Jockey Club supports many aftercare initiatives including the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, the only accrediting body in aftercare, and Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.), which encourages the retraining of Thoroughbreds into other disciplines upon completion of careers. View all of the initiatives supported by The Jockey Club.