Okay, this is an interesting one, I know. My friend explained to me what a “Roman Empire” was a few weeks back and asked what mine was. Without hesitation, I said horse jockeys. Of course, they all started to laugh as anyone would hearing that, but once I got to explaining, we were in a heated discussion accompanied by deep Google searches.
I have been to the Saratoga Race Track a handful of times and have always been intrigued by the sport and the hold it has on people. The amount of people that go watch horses run around a track, while dressed to the nines, betting tons of money on something so trivial, is mind-boggling. There are loads of celebrities who even OWN horses: Toby Keith, Dave Portnoy, MC Hammer, Bobby Flay, and the list goes ON. My hands are already shaking just writing about this and I haven’t even got to the juicy part.
I genuinely don’t even know where to start with this. I have spent ungodly amounts of time researching and reading about horse jockeys. For starters, the normal horse jockey is around 100-115 pounds and between 4’10” and 5’5”. The main reason jockeys are so small is for the benefit of the horse. They don’t want to put more strain on the horse and the horse will be able to go faster with less weight on its back. However, the way jockeys maintain this size, or even achieve this size in the first place, is terrifying. It’s normally characterized by restrictive eating, maybe not eating at all. This sometimes even starts at a young age to delay development and stunt growth. The culture amongst jockeys on the job is horrific as well: not eating or drinking for a day, or even days, before a race, puking before and during races, sitting in saunas, hot tubs, and sweat suits just to lose water weight. Jockeys are malnourished, dehydrated, and starved. This is crazy. This is literally a profession that people choose to do. I will never understand it, I will forever be baffled not only by horse jockeys, but by horse racing in general, and it will continue to be my “Roman Empire.”