Waukesha Mom Shares Love of Horses With Daughter

Training horses isn’t so much a hobby for Susan and Jessica Schroder as it is a lifelong passion.

They are both Waukesha natives who have grown up training horses, and they both spend a significant portion of their free time training and racing harness horses. But even more than that, the mother-daughter duo share a special bond with one of their most prized horses – a 10-year-old named Starry Night Star.

Back in 2004, Susan earned her first official training win with the then-3-year-old Starry Night Star. Seven years later, her daughter, Jessica, earned her first official training victory when Starry Night Star came away with a win at Scioto Downs in Columbus, OH, on May 22.

“He’s a pretty special horse,” said Jessica.

“We’ve actually had him since he was a baby, since he was born,” she continued. “He’s sort of become the family pet.”

Susan and Jessica’s introduction to horse training came at the same place – Susan’s father’s dairy farm on the corner of State Highway 59 and Oakdale Drive in Waukesha. Both were born there, and Susan began training horses with her father at the age of 13. She still owns a farm house and barn at that location, but some of the land has been sold to the School District of Waukesha in recent years. Jessica has spent almost the entirety of her 27 years around horses, and her early education came by way of her mother and grandfather.

“When Jess was born, she pretty much grew up in the barn,” said Susan.

“We’ve been raising horses for my entire life and most of her life,” agreed Jessica, referring to her mother. “She was definitely 100 percent the reason I am in it.”

Jessica, now an Ohio resident, works as the Assistant Fair Liaison for the U.S. Trotting Association in Columbus. Meanwhile, Susan is heavily involved in the Wisconsin Harness Horse Association and has been a member of its board for more than 20 years. While they no longer work side by side in the barn together, they are still bonded by their passion for the sport and, of course, their unique connection to Starry Night Star.

About a year ago, Jessica decided she wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps and begin training harness horses in her spare time. This past March, she brought some horses down to Ohio and began preparing to race this year. A couple of months later, in Starry Night Star's second race, Jessica notched her first training win.

Strangely enough, Jessica didn’t immediately realize the special connection between her first win and her mother’s first victory.

“When I looked back at the statistics, I saw that in 2004 my mom got her first training win with the same horse,” said Jessica. “In 2004, he would have been three years old, and that was his first lifetime win.”

Susan said she is happy her daughter is involved in the sport and is proud of what she’s accomplishing down in Ohio.

“Now she really has the best of two worlds because she works by day for the United States Trotting Association. After work she goes and trains a couple of horses and gets to race them,” said Susan.

Jessica credits her mother as a source of inspiration and guidance, as the duo talks just about every night on the phone about training the four horses between them.

“She’s been such a teacher about it,” said Jessica.

Neither mother nor daughter plans on slowing down anytime soon. Susan remains heavily involved in the Wisconsin Fair Circuit, which takes up a lot of her time, especially in the summer months.

Jessica, on the other hand, seems content to take harness training day by day and race by race.

“I think as long as I still get that butterfly feeling where I really get nervous before the race and want the horse to do well; I think I’ll just keep doing it,” she said.

“Once you get the horses in your blood, it is kind of hard to get rid of it… not that I’d want to, anyway.”