Todd began working for his father, Jake Pletcher, as a hot walker at the age of seven.

So he became a hot walker.

A hot walker's job consists of, among other chores, cooling down the horse after a workout and feeding him.

After quitting school, he became a "hot walker," a stablehand who walks horses after exercise runs.

He broke horses on training farms in California, became a hot walker and worked his way to an assistant's position.

The Knott's had ingeniously converted a hot walker into a kiddie ride.

The horses on the walker go in a circle, and the hot walker can be set to go in either direction.

He had to let some workers go and hired his mother as the hot walker.

He soon followed his older brother Joe to the local race track as a hot walker and stablehand.

After working as a groom, hot walker, and exercise rider, he began riding professionally in 1953.