Kendrick Carmouche grew up the son of a jockey deep in Cajun country, in south Louisiana, where kids climbed on racehorses at an early age to find out whether they had what it takes to be a rider.
His first time on a fast horse, Kendrick was about 8 years old. His father, Sylvester, tied a rope around Kendrick’s thighs and around the horse’s underbelly to keep the kid onboard. It worked … kind of.
“That horse took off on me,” Carmouche says with a laugh. “I was underneath him by the time he stopped. That will make you grow some balls.”
