by Victoria Howard

Being the daughter of a horseman can have a lot of perks, such as traveling and living in many different states. Just ask Chris Tallman Fout who at one-time lived in Vermont, Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, Maryland and Florida.

Born in Scranton, PA, Fout is no stranger to our sport for she is a fourth generation horsewoman. Starting with her great-grandfather who was a horse trader, his son PJ Tallman followed as did her uncle Jim Tallman, who was killed in a plane crash flying home from The Meadowlands, and her father, Tom Tallman who was actively in harness racing until he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

Luckily for us, Fout fell in love with the horses and has kept the lineage going.

“My siblings and my son unfortunately did not share in my enthusiasm and chose different paths in life,” Fout said. “My sister is a dental assistant, my brother went into the Navy and today is an electrician, and my son is a Marine, but, ‘It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.’ I’m hoping that one of my grandchildren will get involved and continue our legacy.”

Fout’s father is largely responsible for her lifelong trajectory.

“My dad first sat me on the back of a horse when I was 7 years old, and I never got off,” she said with a laugh. “Well maybe enough time to get married and have children.

“I began training horses at 9, then I groomed, matinéed, managed a tack shop, worked in a race office and today, I keep track of all the racehorses that Winbak Farm owns, what tracks each horse is racing at in both the United State and Canada, the purse money, licensing, and whatever else needs to be done.

“Decades ago, my father trained at Spring Garden Ranch in Florida every winter beginning in 1970. That is when I fell in love for the second time, the first was with the horses and harness racing. I met my husband of 35 years at Spring Garden Ranch and today we live in Chesapeake City, Maryland.”

Her husband is longtime horseman Jeff Fout, who has also been involved in harness racing for many years. Renowned in the sport, especially in his home state of Ohio, during his career Fout had 4,563 driving wins and amassed $23,255,000 in career earnings.

“Presently, Jeff is the trainer at Winbak Farm in Chesapeake, MD,” Chris said with the sound of pride in her voice. “Although we don’t personally own any racehorses at this time, my husband trains about 45 and oversees another 80 horses or so that are with outside trainers in the U.S. and Canada. So much for retiring anytime soon.”

According to Chris, over the years, she has owned a lot of “favorite” standardbreds.

“One of them was Gambler’s Lair,” she said. “Although he wasn’t the greatest racehorse, he was and will always be very special to me.

“At that time a friend of mine who also owned racehorses asked to buy Gambler’s Lair, and although I didn’t want to sell him, my friend made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, so eventually I sold Gambler’s Lair to him. Although I really loved my horse, I exchanged him for something I needed much more at the time — a truck — so I exchanged Lair’s registration papers for the title of the truck.

“Several other horses that have won my heart were Western Hanover, Artsplaced, who my husband drove, and the one and only Shady Daisy who paid a lot of our bills. What a great filly.

But it was a 2-year-old Appaloosa that Chris’ father bought her when she was 9, that tops her list.

“The horse’s name was Shawnee, and he was my best friend for 28 years until he crossed the Rainbow Bridge at 30,” she said. “He was by far the most amazing equine ever and did everything from ponying colts for my dad, outriding, jumping, barrel races, etc. When I was younger, like many other children, I was grounded a lot and gave my parents many grey hairs with my sidekick Shawnee, riding in the torrential rain and in the dark.

“One time my parents couldn’t find us and when they did, I got grounded, but to me, it was all worth it. He will always own a big part of my heart. Now that I’m a mother I put myself in my parents’ shoes and regret having giving them worries and anxiety like that.”

Having been in the sport for decades, Chris said she’s certainly seen things change and there are some things she’d like to see change.

“There’s been some really drastic changes,” she said. “I think we need to draw in young people and let them know that harness racing still exists and is the most exciting 2-minute sport out there. Sadly, when casinos opened, they kicked us to the curb.

“The casinos do zero advertising for harness racing, thus most people that are sitting at the slots or at the tables don’t have a clue that there is exciting horse racing going on outside the walls. Most racetracks don’t promote our sport by advertising. It is shown to other horsemen and tracks, but we need to get on local and national television so that the non-horsepeople can see it.”

Chris pointed out a couple of trainers that she admires.

“As far as a female trainer, I would say Linda Toscano,” Chris said. “She’s very successful in a man’s world and always has her horses ready for the big dance. Linda is very kind and never fails to stop and take a minute to say ‘hello.’ She’s a very classy lady.

“As far as personally impacting me, it would have to be my father. Not only did he pass the ‘love for horses’ gene to me, but he taught me so much more. Sadly, we lost him on Aug. 10th [last year], and I miss him so much.”

Ten years ago, Chris said she came to understand the special relationship she has with her horses.

“In November 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer,” she said. “2016 was very difficult with surgery and treatments and although it was one of the most difficult things I have gone through, every day I would go to the barn or just sit in the field with my riding horse whenever I could. It was the best therapy and helped get me through the scary situation. So, yes, horses are the best medicine.”