Brenda Lamb-Makarov says when she bought retired thoroughbred Perfect Action, she didn’t buy a horse, she bought a teacher.
Brenda purchased the sizable chestnut mare in 2011 from Tanglewood Farm in Belleville, ON for her daughter Maria, then 11 years old. The mare, by a top Ontario sire, Ascot Knight, and a half-sister to the dam of 1998 Rothmans International (Grade 1) winner Southjet, had raced 23 times in her career without winning.
“A lot of my horsey friends questioned my sanity,” said Brenda. “They said, ‘A 16.1 hand thoroughbred mare?’ There were a lot of raised eyebrows. It seemed a big leap from Maria’s 14-hand pony but ironically she’s a lot easier to deal with than that pony.”
Brenda, who lives in Montreal but owns a farm in Vermont, has been a longtime supporter of off-track thoroughbreds and regularly volunteers for CANTER, a successful racehorse adoption network based in the United States.
“I have taken in many OTTBs,” said Brenda. “And Perfect Action defies the bad reputation that thoroughbreds have about being too hot or crazy for kids to ride.”
Bred by Mary Ellen Kennedy, Perfect Action epitomizes a ‘bomb proof’ horse as she was taken to many town fairs for events after the Makarov family purchased her.
“Maria loved those awful fair shows,” said Brenda. “So we needed a horse who wouldn’t freak out with Ferris wheels, harness racing and tractor pulls. Maria and Perfect Action soon were competing in hunter classes over fences and then strutting their stuff in small shows throughout Vermont.
In 2013, Maria and Perfect Action collected first and second-place ribbons in the hunter over fences at the Virginia Horse Show Assoc show in Colchester, VT, as well as placing equitation and English pleasure. She also rode in the Vershire and Danville Horse Trials, placing first and third in the Beginner Novice division.
“She means the world to me,” said Maria. “She is the one thing that gets me up in the morning. Action is my number one teacher and best friend. She is amazing — and knows she is amazing. She may be sassy and arrogant, but I love her more than anything else in the world combined.”
This past winter, one of the coldest and snowiest on record, in eastern Canada and the U.S., Maria and Perfect Action rode through snowy fields and paddocks, jumping snow-covered obstacles, without a saddle.
“Action has no spooking tendencies, which for a mother, is important,” said Brenda. “Maria is so confident because there’s no nonsense. Oh, the mare can be cranky and she can ignore her rider, to her annoyance, but she is the safest horse to ride.”
Interestingly, Ascot Knight is also the sire of 2012 Olympic three-day eventer Amistad (bred by Bernard and Karen McCormack). “It is a very athletic and sane line,” said Brenda. “She has probably only used 25 per cent of her ability so far and is very smart. She is a good mare.”
This spring, Perfect Action and Maria are attending a clinic hosted by Olympian Chelan Kozak. Maria has plans to train in the summer with accomplished horseman Roger Deslauriers, father of equestrian star Mario, in Bromont, QC, and will tackle some children’s shows.
Maria has not yet decided which discipline she would like to focus on with Perfect Action — they have done dressage, hunter and jumper classes — but this pair of 13-year-olds are a perfect fit.
