By Genine Hopkins
“I’m not so fast anymore,” admits Beaverton resident Janet Whitmer, but honestly, that statement could be easily debated as false! Whitmer, who at 85 years young, has shown horses most of her life from racing Thoroughbreds in Harrison, to riding Quarter Horses around those barrels and even training Clare champion Quarter Horse Cash 123, a Carolyn Bay/T-Bill Stables horse who retired in the top 50 of all time money winners, only to have Whitmer and her daughter, Angela, train him to barrel race. Whitmer’s love for horses has never faltered and she is proving that age is nothin’ but a number!
Growing up in Beaverton, Whitmer’s passion for horses began when she would visit her grandfather’s farm, riding on top of his big work horses as they ploughed the fields.
“I was only about 3- or 4-years old riding those big horses,” Whitmer recalls fondly, “I drove my mother crazy because all I wanted to do was spend time at grandpa’s farm riding Joe the workhorse, not at home in town!”
Horses can be unpredictable, and even ole, gentle Joe could be trouble. One time when she was riding him bareback – mostly all she ever rode until she began to compete as a teen – she was trotting along his broad back when he decided to stop to graze, and Whitmer slide right over his neck and head, landing on the ground. But as any horse person will tell you, you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get right back on, and boy did she ever.
She continued riding other’s horses until finally, she nailed down a written contract with her father that she would finally get her own horse. It was around the Christmas holidays when she was in high school, and she was asked to bring her dad and his friends some wine which she refused to do, until she drew up a contract and had him place his “John Hancock” on it.
“I still have that paper around somewhere,” she told The Review, “He had promised me a horse for Christmas and I wasn’t letting him off the hook that easy.”
Whitmer received her first horse, Goldie, from her 4H leader, who raised horses. Goldie had just foaled, so the deal included both mama mare and her foal. “It was a two for one deal,” Whitmer laughed. She kept Goldie and the foal at a neighbor’s property until her dad finally bought a 40-acre farm outside of Beaverton. Soon, Whitmer and all her siblings – she was the oldest of nine children – ended up getting their own horse.
But the family wasn’t rich, and they couldn’t even afford a horse trailer to take Whitmer and Goldie to events, so she did what any enterprising young person would do, ride her horse to and from events, often up to 18 miles.
Whitmer competed all through high school and shortly after she graduated from Beaverton she married and had her daughter, Angela. Her husband, Olan Whitmer, was a riding companion, at least for a while. The marriage didn’t last but Whitmer, by then into purebred Arabians, didn’t let single parenthood stop her from continuing to ride and show.
“My favorite stallion was Sensation – Sinny for short – who was a dapple-grey gentle-man,” Whitmer said, “I traded hay to get him, I always found a way to keep pursing having horses and eventing.”
Angela was riding up in front on the saddle from the time she could barely walk, riding with her mom and eventually becoming a horsewoman in her own right.
“Angela travels all over the Midwest for barrel racing,” Whitmer said with pride, “Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, with her husband Ron Sullivan. Their daughter, Jessica, my grand-daughter, who teaches at CMU and is now in her 30s, helps out too. She has helped train Cash 123 for the barrel racing circuit when he retired from the track.”
Speaking of racing, Whitmer has even raced Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses. She re-calls one time in Harrison, at the Fairgrounds, when she was the jockey for a horse but a mishap at the gate cut short any dreams of being a jockey.
“I had ridden the horse a couple times during workouts but was asked to ride him for the race. I’ll be honest I was a bit shaky because I’d never used a gate but we did one run with him and it worked well, the horse knew what to do and I just let him show me, but when the day of the race came, my foot kicked the starting gate as it opened and it pulled my foot out of the stirrup! There I was in that tiny saddle that I was supposed to be in a different position but since I had one foot free, there was not much I could do,” she recalled with a bit of excitement still.
She explained another rider whose horse hadn’t broken at the front slowed down and stayed by her, riding right by her side.
“I thought, this horse is running away with me on him for one full time around the entire track. I saw them moving the gate, which only left me about ten feet to squeeze through.”
Racehorses love to run once they get going, and her horse was having a ball despite her dilemma. Eventually the horse slowed down and she was able to safely dismount. It should also be noted that Whitmer was the ONLY female jockey on that track!
But both thoroughbred and quarter horse racing is non-existent in Michigan anymore, so Whitmer kept to the other show events and barrel racing over the years, and she hasn’t given up even as time went by.
Currently, Whitmer competed in 2024, in the senior division, riding Fester, a 6 year old Quarter Horse. She hasn’t quite been able to find the time – or the right weather – to begin training for this year, but that is definitely on her list.
Whitmer also keeps busy, helping Carolyn Bay on her farm on some mornings. She visits her friends and keeps sharp and in shape, helped of course, by her passion for horses.
