Maryland Rider MHSA Hall of Fame Inductee: Terry West


by Katherine O. Rizzo Last November, Terry West walked into the


Maryland Horse Shows Association’s (MHSA) annual banquet with a friend not expecting anything other than being at the event to sup- port her friends and students. Little did she know that she would be inducted into MHSA’s Hall of Fame that evening. “I had no idea it was going to happen. No one


told me!” West explained. “It’s like the coolest thing. I’m on here with all these great people. It really is such an honor.” During the presentation, MHSA President


Miranda Grabill stated that West is, “the ul- timate exhibitor and a fierce competitor.” She went on to describe West’s most notable at- tribute to be her “great at- titude and genuine smile.” Honorary MHSA board member Streett Moore stated, “Terry West is a wonderful exhibitor who really enjoys showing and always has a smile on her face.” He added, “How- ever in the ring, she is a fierce competitor. Basical- ly, the other exhibitors are riding for second place if she’s in the class.” All of these characteris- tics have helped West not only achieve this great honor, but also have a successful show career for more than 50 years.


Show Family Terry West was born into a horse loving fam-


ily whose parents always had horses. “We lived in D.C. and my father showed a little,” she said. West first started showing when she was five years old, mainly on her father’s ponies and po- nies that were sent to them to train and show. “We always had show horses so I think I just stemmed off that,” she added when asked why she competes in hunters and jumpers. As a junior rider, West traveled up and down the East Coast show circuit competing in such prestigious shows as the Hampton Classic, Devon Horse Show, and Washington Interna- tional Horse Show. One of her favorite shows that West keeps going back to year after year is the Upperville Colt and Horse Show in Vir- ginia. “Who doesn’t like it there!” she said. “Te ambiance of that place is just special.” One of West’s fondest memories competing as a junior rider was with a small Toroughbred named Mod Squad. “Everyone thought he was a pony cause he was just 15 hands,” she said. www.equiery.com | 800-244-9580


“He was a great jumper and we competed all over like Washington, Devon, Harrisburg and up at Lake Placid.” Watching West and Mod Squad compete at


WIHS was a memory that former jockey An- drea Seefeldt Knight also remembers fondly. “I saw her at Washington in the junior jumpers on Mod Squad racing around so boldly that is really stuck with me,” Knight stated. “Ten I walk into the jock’s room at Laurel a few months later and there she was! I was star struck.”


Female Jockey During the 1970s, West divided her time


between showing horses and exercising Tor- oughbreds at Maryland tracks. Ten in 1977, she became one of the first African Ameri- can female jockeys to hold an official license. “In the 70s it was


hard,” West said, add- ing,


“especially as a


Terry West competing Mod Squad at Lake Placid in the 1970s.


black female. Certain trainers would give me more rides than oth- ers but really I made money exercising horses in the morn- ing, not really riding races.” West noted that things got a “bit” better for female jock- eys in the 80s.


Her first race was at Charles Town on July 1,


1977, where she rode Going West to seventh in a Maiden Claiming race. She spent that summer traveling back and forth from Charles Town to Timonium and logged her first win on November 17, 1977, riding Lymond at Charles Town. Lymond was a Virginia-bred


Terry West riding All Night Long at the Maryland State Fair All-Thoroughbred Show in 2017.


that ended up being West’s top earning horse with $13,327 in earnings. “It was very hard to be a female jockey at that


time,” Knight remarked. “We rode what horses the boys wouldn’t ride and Terry was such a good rider that she mostly rode the bad horses that the boys didn’t want to ride!” During her 10-year career as a jockey, West


logged 318 starts for 27 wins, 23 seconds and 21 third place finishes. Her career earnings were $97,636 with her best season being 1985 when she rode to $20,262 in earnings. West finished her career on the track on


the Maryland-bred Rainbow Tour (Gasp x Hills Gem) at Laurel Park on June 20, 1987. “I just kind of felt done,” she said. “I would go back and still gallop from time to time in the spring.” She added with a laugh, “For me, it’s easy and for me, it’s fun to gallop racehorses.”


From Amateur to Trainer


West joined MHSA as a kid and has been a member ever since. “For me, I was fortunate enough to have horses of our own, so I didn’t have to rely on others to give me rides really,” West stated. Tough she did often ride ponies for others in the area too. “Tere are far more black people showing now then when I got started,” she added. West served on MHSA’s Board of Directors


from 2019 to 2022. She explained that being on the board during the 2020 COVID “lock continued...


Terry West riding Maryland-bred Jolly Holly to a win at Laurel Park on November 3, 1984 (left) and heading into the jockey’s room at Bowie in the early 1980s (right).


THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | FEBRUARY 2023 | 13


Maryland Jockey Club photo


Courtesy of Terry West


Courtesy of Terry West Katherine O. Rizzo


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60