Finding Opportunities at both the Local and International Stage

Glens Falls native Makaia Carpenter has found a career as an exercise rider started at Saratoga Springs and brought her to Saudi Arabia

Makaia Carpenter always had the passion for working with horses since she was younger, but she needed opportunities to make it happen.

For more than a decade, the Glens Falls native has found those opportunities, building a career as an exercise rider – whether at Saratoga, other racetracks across the United States, or even in Saudi Arabia.

Carpenter has been galloping horses each morning for a variety of trainers, including Richard “Kerry” Metevier, Anthony Dutrow, and Michelle Nevin. She also ridden horses for Saratoga Springs native Jen Paragallo and Marialice Coffey.

“I’ve been pretty lucky,” she said. “Everything has taken off. I’m so lucky to just wake up and do something every day that I absolutely love.”

One of the people who has been supportive of Carpenter’s love for horses is her mother, Suzanne Carpenter, who asked a familiar question that is applicable to many younger children.

“I was three years old when my mom asked me what I want to be when I grew up, and I told her a cowgirl,” Carpenter said. “She did buy me little boots and hats, so I can say that my mother, since day one, has been supportive.”

Carpenter’s trail into riding horses didn’t happen immediately. Like many middle school and high school girls, she tried other sports, but she struggled to find success. Knowing that other girls were taking riding lessons, she began convincing her mother about this venture.

“I was terrible at school sports like soccer and basketball. I couldn’t do anything with a ball, a goal, or a bat. I really want to take riding lessons. I had heard a couple kids in school take riding lessons. That’s what I want to do.”

However, Carpenter faced a common challenge for families whose children are involved in youth sports, including equestrian riding: a 60-minute private lesson that can start at $100 or more, depending on the instructor.

“I didn’t come from a lot of money, and horses cost a lot of money,” she said. “My mother said if you want riding lessons, then we’re going to have to work something out.”

To help cover riding lessons, Carpenter and her mother, who still works as a special education teacher during the school year, worked for Bill Johnson and his Stonegate Stables in Fort Edward during the summer.

Once Carpenter graduated early from Glens Falls High School, she began working with horses for Jeffrey Tucker and his Stone Bridge Farm in Gansevoort. Over the next four years, she learned how to handle Thoroughbreds, particularly yearlings preparing for the Fasig-Tipton sales. 

“I was good with the horses on the ground. They utilized me where I excelled, which was on the ground with young horses,” she said. “There’s a lot to be said for learning from the ground up.”

However, just 18 years old at the time, Carpenter wanted more – especially the chance to ride.

“I saw the exercise riders out on the track, and it dawned on me that I could have a career where I just rode horses every day,” she said. “I kept dreaming about being a rider. I became kind of obsessed with the idea of being a rider. However, you cannot just walk in and become a rider.”

After six years of working on farms, Carpenter began to worry that her dream might never become reality.

“People start galloping horses when they’re 18 years old, and I’m going through my whole life with just a dream. I didn’t want to do that,” she said. 

Carpenter took an unorthodox approach by visiting barns on the Oklahoma Training Track in search of an opportunity. After receiving no offers beyond hotwalking, she caught a break from Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito and veteran outrider Lance Cronk.

Together, they helped Carpenter become an exercise rider with her first horse – Heavenly Lucky.

“She took great care of me. She was so sweet,” Carpenter said. “I took her out to the track. I pointed her in the right direction. She knew what to do. At that point, I had talked to a couple of people about what I was supposed to do. I was going in a little bit blind.”

“Lance also took me kind of under his wing and said, ‘Makaia, make sure you mind this about the traffic,’” she added. “He went over some key points with me early so that I wouldn’t go out there and get myself in trouble.”

From Saratoga, Carpenter followed Zito’s stable to Keeneland, Churchill Downs, and Oaklawn Park before branching out to other trainers that included Paragallo, who brought her to Belmont Park and Aqueduct before going to Tampa Bay Downs for the winter.

Earlier this year at Tampa Bay Downs, trainer Greg Sacco needed an exercise rider for Just Beat the Odds for the Grade 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia.

Sacco contacted Carpenter, about working with the 6-year-old gelding for a couple of weeks in Saudi Arabia as preparation for the race. Leaving the country for the first time, Carpenter took the opportunity and helped prepare Just Beat the Odds, who finished just behind winner Imagination.

“That was the experience of a lifetime. The racetrack experience was incredible,” she said. “Though, it was a little bit like culture shock for me. I did a lot of reading before I went to kind of learn what was expected of me. Going to Saudi really made me realize that there’s a lot more out there.”

Now, Carpenter continues to wake up at 3:45 a.m. to commute from South Glens Falls to Saratoga. For her, it’s worth it, especially if there are more opportunities, whether it is riding horses or assisting in the training.

“I’m kind of happy to stay where I’m at,” she said. “However, being in different barns, I feel like there are so many opportunities.”