By: Amy Luyster
Though his name was bold, his demeanor was calm and reserved. The former director of the Secretariat Center saw something special in both horse and rider and encouraged Amy to give Moses a try. “The first ride on him was magical,” Amy said. “Thoroughbreds can literally read your mind, and I experienced how awesome that was the moment I sat on him.”
Born in February 2010, Holy Moses arrived at the Secretariat Center in 2015 following a respectable racing career that included 19 starts, four wins, and total earnings of $48,934 between 2013 and 2015.
When Amy Luyster returned from a deployment to Afghanistan in 2012, she turned to fitness and running to re-center. That journey led her to the Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon in Lexington, Kentucky, in March 2013. One of the weekend’s activities was a Family Day at the Secretariat Center. Inspired by the mission of the organization and the idea of horse ownership, Amy felt an immediate connection to the work being done there.
The Secretariat Center, located within the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, focuses on rehabilitating, retraining, and rehoming former racehorses.
“I had always loved watching Thoroughbreds race,” Amy recalled. “Although I hadn’t ridden in nearly 20 years, I decided I had to come back to the Secretariat Center and try a few horses. I felt like I owed it to myself to finally explore horse ownership.”
Amy scheduled an appointment, filled out an adoption application, and was paired with several horses to try. But the one who ultimately captured her heart wasn’t on her list that day: a bay gelding named Holy Moses.
Moses wasn’t the first horse to play a role in Amy’s life. Her love for horses began at age four when a horse in a neighboring pasture captivated her. Without land or a family background in horses, Amy found creative ways to ride—borrowing horses through second cousins and friends to use as 4-H projects. She went on to ride all four years on her college’s IHSA team. “I think it kept my sanity,” she admitted.
Even while serving as a Second Lieutenant in the Army and stationed overseas, Amy always found her way back to horses, riding barrels with a local rodeo team “just to be near horses.” Years later, once her family was settled at Fort Knox in Kentucky, she encouraged her own children to take riding lessons.
Now, nearly a decade into her partnership with Moses, Amy is amazed by their journey and how far they’ve come. “We’ve learned so much from one another in these years. We’ve certainly had our challenges, but at this point in our relationship, he really trusts me—and vice versa,” Amy said.
From trail rides and hunter paces to dressage competitions, the pair has tackled it all. “Our goal now is to reach Third Level,” she shared. “I would love to earn my bronze medal on him. Dressage has been so good for him—he loves having a job, and he’s such a beautiful mover.”
“He’s a stoic soldier, just like me,” she added. “He really trusts me, and I trust him. We’ve learned so much from each other.”
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