Rick: Today is August 19th. We are on Ridge Road, Farmington, New Hampshire. And we are talking with Jennette.

Jennette: Yes. My name is Jennette Wainscott. Like the stuff on the wall.

Rick: How long have you been in-love with horses?

Jeanette: Since before I could walk. My mom was a horse person, so I was riding before I took my first step. So about 40 years.

Rick: And you can do all of it?

Jennette: Oh, I can do all of it. My Lippitt specifically. He drives. We've pushed cows. We've done trail dressage, eventing, stadium jumping, all all of it. I've ridden him sidesaddle. That was fun. If I can get on we're going to do it.

Rick: What's the name of your horse?

Jennette: Rae. He's a 14 hand liver Chestnut Lippitt, Morgan. He is 16 years old this year. He came to me when he was a four year old with only with 60 days of driving training and nothing else. So everything he can do was because of me with the help of trainers. He's feisty. He's fast. But he's also a mama's boy. If there's anything freaking me out he will come to me. He likes a good cuddle but not in front of people because that would be weird.

He's very flashy and he knows the difference between being in the ring and being outside of the ring, because outside the ring he'll have a hip cocked, practically falling over, snoring. And then the minute the gate opens and it's his turn, hair goes flying. He starts picking it up and we go.

So he's a character. He's usually the calmest Lippitt at Lippitt shows, but still a Morgan at a regular show. Or so I've been told. Because I've had plenty of people at the Lippitt Shows say, "God, he's so calm." As they're flying their kite across the field. And I have him at the end of a ten foot lead. And he's just nonchalant, walking around as gators run by. People are screaming, horses are screaming. And he's like, whatever.

We do the trotting races annually. We didn't do it this year because because of Covid-19. But he does the trotting races annually. We came in second and third last year, which was pretty good for us. We're very excited. We’ve been to the Lippitt County Show every year for the last four years.

He is a breed representative at the Equine Affaire for the Lippitt Club. So he goes into demos. Meets and greets. He is in the breed pavilion so people can pet him and feed him. We actually got to ride in some of the professional rides with the pros last year, which was a first for us.

One of them was the sidesaddle, which was the second time ever he'd been in sidesaddle and then she let me jump. I was the only one crazy enough to do. But I wouldn't trade him for the world when I was looking for a horse before I got him. I wanted a big old hunter because that's what I grew up with, you know, big hunters, big butts to jump things. And he sort of came to me by accident. 

Rick: How was it that came to own Rae?

Jannette: His owner in 2008, right when the recession started, came into my clinic with her dog and ended up having a non resectable cancer of the dog. 

She said, “Hey, you're a horse person. I have a horse I've been trying to sell. I will just give him to you. I just can't afford to keep him anymore. He's a four years old Morgan.” 

At that time I knew nothing about Morgans, completely nothing, I was a Hunter girl through and through. I knew thoroughbreds, warmbloods, and that's all I knew. So I showed a picture of him to one of my co-workers who is considered one of the top three national Morgan trainers at the modern Morgan. And she said “I'd take him.”

So I went up to see him and I watched him trot. And he just has this lovely floating trot, even for a small horse. And I said, "All right, worst case scenario, I will train him and sell him off so I can get the horse I really want. 12 years later, here I am with this cute little Morgan who will do anything for me on a trail. He will jump anything I'd point him at because he loves to do that part. He even tolerates me pointing him at cows. And it turns out he really likes to cut cows. That's a really fun game. Yeah, we cut cows. It was a good time. Every time I ask him to do something new he will pin his ears and sulk about it. But then we just do it and he doesn't hesitate. He just does it, no question.

Rick: What does he do that makes you laugh out loud? Or what is the funniest thing he's ever done?

Jannette: He likes Pop Tarts and Gatorade, specifically at horse shows.

He'll see me eating something. And all of a sudden I’ll have this little nose over my shoulder with this little lips wiggling to try things and I'll feed him little bits. The thing I think I love the most is when I'm really upset about something, if somebody close to me has died, or work was really stressful that day, he's not usually a touchy feely horse, but he will come over and lay his neck across my shoulder and give me a hug. I'll hold onto him and sob it out. And he always knows the moment it's done and be gone. During the winter I wear hats with brims. But he doesn't like hats with brims. Very gently he will knock it off with his little nose, give me a kiss and walk away. He has a big personality. He's really adorable. I don't have to worry about introducing him to strange horses because he just ignores them anyway because they're below him. He's important in his world. He has his priorities.

He can be a very sweet and caring creature. But if other people are around he pretends to be completely indifferent, I not sure I know why, but that's just him. He will give me a back rub but I won't be allowed to pet him back. He's just interesting that way. He trusts me enough that I could blindfold him before going through an obstacle course.

Rick: What an awesome relationship you two have. I could sense something special about him as we were photographing Rae this morning.

Jennette: I've never done anything like that before, it was definitely interesting. I was pleasantly surprised at how well he reacted. I wasn't sure what to expect. But it was very smooth and went really well, I thought.

Rick: I imagine you and Rae have been photographed many times at horse shows.

Jennette: Never like this at the Lippitt Shows. He will not put his ears up.

Rick: I haven't shown you this morning’s pictures.

Jennette: No, you have to show me any of the pictures to qualify my statement. No. But I know you've got some with his ears up, which is the primo opus. Every one who's ever tried to take his picture, including myself, cannot get those damn ears up. He's so in the moment he pins down his ears and focuses so hard he cannot relax enough to put his ears are up. When he's in cart, and especially when he's moving cows, those ears are tight and he is focused like a laser. So it's nice to see him take a moment, relax, take in what's going on and put his ears up!

Rick: Thank you very much.

Jennette: You’re welcome.