Wyatt Long: harness racing, calf roping, equine dentistry

There’s a saying in harness racing that “you’ll never forget your first win.”

That’s certainly the case for 18-year-old Wyatt Long, who got his first pari-mutuel victory on March 28 at Rosecroft Raceway. The young driver, who also trains and rides rodeo horses, and works as an equine dentist, was making just his 14^th start of the season when he struck gold with the pacer Do Ya Think (Ponder) for trainer Scott Warnick.

“I’ve known Scott for a while from just being around the track,” Wyatt said. “Scott has always been someone I could talk to, and who was always friendly to me. I only had one drive that night and my horse ended up not being able to finish the race, so I was leaving earlier than normal, and was in the process of packing my truck to leave, when I noticed a commotion on the track, so I went back to the paddock to see what was going on.”

Do Ya Think, a 7-year-old gelding, had unseated driver Scott Woogen on the backstretch.

“I got on the winner’s circle golf cart and went to help,” Wyatt explained. “I brought the horse back to the paddock and Scott says, ‘get your colors on, you’re driving him.’ So, I threw my colors on and jumped on the bike and went straight to the gate. I saw the horse was eight to one, so I knew I had a shot, but I never had time to think about anything or even get to know the horse a little bit, but everything just worked out for us.”

Wyatt positioned Do Ya Think fourth on the rail, steadily moving his charge up before pulling him first up at the three-quarter mile marker.  The gelding put in a :29.1 final brush to just nip rival Never Easy Z Tam (Rockin Image) by a neck at the wire in 1:55.

“I wasn’t one hundred percent sure if I was going to catch him or not, but my horse just dug in,” Wyatt explained.

The young reinsman, who wears the blue, yellow, and tan colors of his father and uncle, with his grandfather’s design on them, was unprepared for what happened next.

“I’m unhooking my bike from the horse and trying to get the stone dust out of my mouth and the next thing I know I’m getting a barrel of water dumped on me,” he laughed. “Then I had to figure out what I was going to wear on my drive home, since all of my clothes were soaked.”

Wyatt is a fourth-generation horsemen, who grew up in the barn, working alongside his father Wayne Long and his mother Paula Kohout.

“That’s what started my love for horses,” he said. “Everything that’s involved with horses has been a love since day one. I started rodeoing when I was nine years old and have groomed for my parents since I was very young.”

On the weekends, Wyatt participates in team and calf roping at the local and regional rodeos. This season, he will compete for the first time as a professional in PRCA (professional rodeo cowboy association) events all up and down the East Coast. This comes after years of competing in the Youth and Junior leagues, as well as in the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA) contests.

“During the summers my mom and step-dad would take me to the national high school rodeo finals out west,” Wyatt recalled. “The finals move from year to year, so we went to Oklahoma, then Nebraska, and this past summer to Wyoming, to compete.  This year is a step up, where I’ll be competing against the ‘big boys,’ for the first time.”

Wyatt has a trio of rodeo horses that he uses for team and calf roping events, and will travel from May through September, throughout the northeast rodeo circuit.

“My plan is to race harness horses during the week and rodeo on the weekends,” he offered. “For the team events this year, I have an excellent partner, his name is T.R. Serio, and he lives in Kenneth Square, Pennsylvania. He’s a farrier by trade, but has taught me so much when it comes to the calf roping sports, and it’s fantastic opportunity to be paired up with him this year.”

Wyatt says he will be driving horses at Rosecroft through the meet, then had to Shenandoah Raceway in Virginia, when that track opens, and return to driving at Ocean City later this Spring. Though he’s cut his teeth on the half-mile ovals, Wyatt says he prefers being on a five-eighths mile track.

“The horses just go faster, and are able to stretch their legs out a little more than on a half,” he stated.

Besides his horseracing and rodeo activities, Wyatt’s day job is as an equine dentist.

“My parents basically put the idea in my head,” he offered. “I knew I didn’t want to be a farrier because I’m not too fond of shoeing horses, but the dentistry really appealed to me, and now I do about ten to 12 horses a day, four days a week. I’m super busy and find it difficult to keep up with my clients needs at this point, but I really enjoy the work. I’ve seen some horses that were long overdue to have their mouth worked on, and I’ve also seen the benefits of getting their teeth straightened out. I’m a little surprised that people don’t always think about how important the horse’s mouth is to their overall health and well-being.”

Wyatt says that while enjoys caring for horses and training, he plans to concentrate on the driving aspect of the business.

“The driving part of racing definitely appeals to me more,” he said. “When you put the time into this business and things work out, it’s so rewarding. And, I notice that a lot of things I’ve learned with the racehorses are beneficial to the roping horses and vice versa. I can definitely see the influence of each sport on the other; specifically, I take way better care of my roping horses joints then I used to because I never really realized how much the wear and tear of the sport affected them, but working with the Standardbreds, I see the benefits of addressing those areas. I’ve seen a lot of improvement with my roping horses as a result of taking care of our racehorses.”

Wyatt, who now has amassed $18,194 from his driving gigs, says his main goal is to make sure all the horses that he deals with are happy and healthy.

“Happy horses are good horses, no matter what discipline you have them working in,” he stressed. “I try to do everything to keep my horses happy, like giving them lots of time in the field to run and play. It makes a big difference in their attitude and how they’re willing to repay you with an effort either on the track or in the rodeo pen.”

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink