Patience Pays Off For Sailor At Blenheim Spring Classic III

Los Angeles is notorious for its car-clogged highways. The traffic influences everything from what hour residents leave for work to—if you ride at the Agoura Hills-based Mike Edrick Stables—how much time you’ll spend with your horse after factoring in the commute.

Edrick’s assistant trainer Jamie Sailor says many of her clients barely have the opportunity to hand walk their horses. “Being in L.A., there are not a lot of horse facilities that are necessarily close by, so generally with the traffic, it’s so hard to get to the barn,” said Sailor, 27. “By the time [clients arrive] they literally only have the one hour to ride. Then it’s another hour or so for them to get back home. We have full grooming, which is great when you’re in a rush, but I think it’s so important to really get to know your horse from the ground up.”

Sailor counts herself lucky that she enjoyed unlimited barn time as a child thanks to her mother Jody Buciak’s Stoney Point Ranch in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in the northwest corner of Los Angeles. The 140-stall boarding facility gave her a solid foundation in horsemanship.

Originally Published in The Chronicle of the Horse. Written by Tori Repole. Photos By Alden Corrigan Media