In the late 1960s, Eilene Poole faced an unexpected fork in the road. After relocating from the North Shore of Long Island, she was living in Denton on Maryland's Eastern Shore when her husband's early passing left Poole and her 10-year-old son Jimmy facing an uncertain future.

What she did know was horses. A pleasure rider since early childhood, Poole maintained the hobby as an adult in Maryland. That interest prompted her to respond to an employment advertisement in The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.

The ad was placed by Sylvia Hechter, a trainer and instructor who established Winters Run Farm in Harford County, Md., in 1959.

"When I called her, she said the position was filled, so I told her my little plight," Poole said. "My husband passed away, my house sold quicker than I thought, and I needed a place. I knew nobody up here; I was just grasping. She said, 'A friend of mine is just coming back from Ireland, and I know she's going to need somebody.' That was Sara Secor, so Sylvia gave me her number. I've always loved farms -- small farms, big farms. I've been around them all my life. And I had my son, so I had to have a live-in position. You don't find that everywhere."

Poole found it with the Secors in Monkton, Md. It was a seamless fit; Jimmy assimilated easily with Secor's same-age children.

"When I got there, she had 28 horses and ponies, her four children and then my son," Poole said. "There were five children in the house. And all the kids had friends there all the time . . . it was a zoo. But it was great."

Exposed to racehorses for the first time, Poole learned from Secor. Handling, managing and galloping were all components of her on-the-job training. Those years led to positions with several Elkridge-Harford Hunt Club masters, among them Turney McKnight.

"I did a lot with Turney," Poole said. "From there, everything evolved; just working with different masters and racehorses on the side."
For the past 24 years, Poole has been employed by the late Bob Kinsley and his wife, Anne. Owners for many years, the Kinsleys were avid supporters of foxhunting and jump racing.

"I live at Hanlon House. Bob passed away a few years ago and his wife has kept all their properties here," said Poole. "She has let me stay on in basically the position I have, but who knows what it is. I have no title. You just do what you've got to do. I do the gardens, a little of everything. And I have a beautiful little cottage that Bob built here for me. But the main thing is that Anne Kinsley did not have to keep these horses for me to hunt. She has been wonderful."

The horses at Hanlon House with Poole are Kinsley's top earner No Wunder (GB), now 14, and 25-year-old Actxpressive. And it's the elder statesman Actxpressive who quickly formed an enduring bond with Poole.

Bred in Florida by Randy Mills, the chestnut was foaled Jan. 23, 2000. Mills trained the horse's sire, Noactor, and the son of Theatrical (Ire) won the Bowl Game Stakes at Aqueduct in 1991. Actxpressive is out of Sunny Castle, an unraced daughter of Sunny Clime.

Actxpressive began his career for his breeder and trainer Gary Cortolillo at Calder Race Course June 15, 2002. After two starts, his ownership changed to Donald Souder while remaining in Cortolillo's barn. Still winless after eight starts in Florida, Actxpressive shipped north to Pimlico and made his Mid-Atlantic debut June 5, 2003, with Souder as owner and trainer.

The gelding won three times for Souder until Sept. 16, 2005, when he was claimed by Charles L. Frock for $5,000 at Laurel Park. The chestnut gelding never raced for his new owner/trainer, re-emerging in spring 2007 as a timber horse for Bob Kinsley and trainer Tom Voss. Two early point-to-point tries at Cheshire and Elkridge-Harford led to a maiden timber at Virginia's Foxfield meet April 28. He finished fourth going 3 miles for jockey Cyril Murphy.

"Actxpressive and a lot of Bob's horses were trained by Tom Voss," Poole said. "Bob adored him. Tom was a teenager when I got here, and he grew up right across the road from the Secors' place. Oh my goodness . . . I could tell you some stories. He was always Tom."

Even treated with Lasix, Actxpressive bled in his races, and Voss suggested that Kinsley give the horse to Poole to remake as a foxhunter. His official Equibase record shows 56-3-8-12 with $96,475 earned.

"Tom said, 'He's gonna make a great foxhunter.' That's how I got him," Poole said. "I had said I didn't want to do it anymore because I was getting a little too old for this. But they talked me into it. I started riding the horse and I just loved him."

“I’ve had a lot of wonderful
horses through the years, and he
 is one of the best jumpers I’ve ever been on. He had that ability.
He is clean-legged; absolutely
not a pimple on him. And he
has been the soundest horse you
could ever have in your barn.”
– Eilene Poole, about
foxhunter Actxpressive

 

Eighteen years later, Actxpressive is a great foxhunter, and Poole is still riding him . . . although others rarely have. His chestnut coat is now dense with white hairs, but his attitude and opinions have changed little. He and Poole ride second field and no longer jump, which Poole attributes to problems with her balance.

"I've had a lot of wonderful horses through the years, and he is one of the best jumpers I've ever been on," she said. "He had that ability. He is clean-legged; absolutely not a pimple on him. And he has been the soundest horse you could ever have in your barn.

"Act is just a cool horse, just the best. He would love to keep jumping, but he's old. You get near a log and he's like 'I'm gonna go . . . I'm gonna go.' He's a very hot horse in front of a jump, and you have to know how to ride that. But I don't care what jump I've ever presented to him -- at an angle, at speed, anything, it was always a safe jump. Some horses it's like 'OhmyGod, I got over it.' But not Act. You were always safe. He has terrific instincts. And he's a character in the barn. He'll take your hat off; he'll eat a banana. I have a picture of a friend of mine giving him coffee out of his mug one morning."

One of the horse's most alarming "issues," as Poole said, is his penchant for heading back to the trailer at top speed after hunting. It's a mysterious trait that has occasionally frightened a few in the field. Regardless of how long they've been out, he'll stand quietly at checks and while hounds are picked up. The second they turn and head for home, "he gets seriously crazed." Poole likens it to the homing instincts of a hound. No matter where they're hunting, the horse knows his way back to the trailer and wastes no time getting there.

"I learned how to deal with him. He has scared some people, and he's scared me a couple of times. But the minute you get to the trailer, it's 'OK, here I am.' It is odd; I've never had a horse do that to me before. He's just different that way."

He's much more calm about it, but Actxpressive also exhibits a fondness for the trailer when it's time to go foxhunting.

Fully tacked with a cooler over his long frame and a lead rope draped over his neck, he walks -- alone -- on a gravel driveway to the trailer's side door. He pauses for about a second, steps up the ramp and into the trailer, moves forward to clear the corner with his left hip and backs into the stall alongside No Wunder.

You can't hear him, but he's thinking, "All right, I'm in. Let's go."
His quirks are minor inconveniences to Poole. At 25, Actxpressive is in great health, sharp as a new pair of scissors and still loves his work. And at 84, the same is true of Poole.

Pausing, she said, "Aren't we fortunate to do what we love and be able to survive on it? When you love it and put your heart in it, it's totally different than when you're just doing it as a job. And why would you stop?"