Keri is a most excellent graphic designer

Keri has started her own clothing company, DirtBunnies Co., which she says is “Established for the Ladies of Dirt Motorsports.” Some of us horse people like the name, too, and have shirts that look great with horse snot on them. She is also training her own OTTB, Reason, and helping Karen with Paris.

Love in the land of OTTBs–Bobby and Paris.

Karen is managing her herd of four, including Paris, and running her own business massaging and training horses to be well-balanced athletes. Paris is due for follow-up x-rays in September and has two people interested pending those results. Paris says she is perfectly sound and looks fantastic–good weight, good muscle and a sassy attitude to go along with her healthy, glossy and shiny outsides.

Milazzo, ready to run!

Devon has been busy with two pre-racehorses in training and her very special big racehorse, Milazzo. Milazzo has been doing her very proud, winning a race in Pleasanton in July, then narrowly coming in second to the great Russell Baze at Santa Rosa in August. This is a big horse with a big heart who loves to run. He is also a sweetheart and would make a great spokes-horse for the industry.

Kiddo looking like a cow pony

Katie is now working four jobs, though after Monday it will drop down to three when her tenure at the animal shelter comes to an end. She liked the work. She is very good at dealing with dogs, cats and even the humans. Unfortunately, too many people are bad dog owners and many dogs end up being un-adoptable, which wore on her heart too much. She is also leading trail rides in Bodega, exercising Arab endurance horses and working at a private stable learning body work techniques. In between all that, she still finds time for her own horse and for Kiddo. Or she was able to do so until an ill-behaved trail horse made her gimpy last week. She is healing, but not as fast as she’d like so she’s also a little grumpy. The horse in question has no idea how much extra training is coming his way.

Jess and Steve at Molokini, Maui–ahhhhh.

And Jess? What is Jess doing? She is back to work full time and recently made a trip to Maui to add another dangerous, expensive hobby to her world–scuba diving. She is also helping Neigh Savers enter the era of Web 2.0 and get some video going to increase the exposure for our fine (and available) steeds. She writes a little more regularly on her own blog and on the Neigh Savers blog than she manages to here, but and hopes to do more on all of the blogs.

So know that we are all still around, still working hard with the horses, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to blog about it all!

What happens when horses are bored? Destruction, that’s what. 

While we were all disappointed when I’ll Have Another pulled out of the Belmont and the Triple Crown dream died for another year, the overall sentiment in our little corner of California was that Team O’Neill did the right thing by the horse. It cannot have been an easy decision and they deserves kudos for putting IHA ahead of everything else.

But full retirement already? Really? What about a little gallop or some dressage every now and then? Would that be so bad?

I know, I know. We’re talking about a horse worth a LOT of money as a stud. But as much financial sense as it makes to retire IHA to stud–just as it did to retire Zenyatta to become a fantastically gorgeous brood mare–there will always be a little part of me that hopes somebody climbs on them every once in awhile. Retirement sounds like a great idea. Days of wandering in the pasture, eating green grass, making babies, having visitors take your picture. Idyllic life for a horse.

Lava Man said differently. As the story goes, they tried to give him the retirement package and he said, “No.” So he’s back at work and doing a great job by all accounts. I think that may be the case for more than a few of these horses. Calabar is happier and healthier with a job. Mind you, he can be lazy and not overly enthused by arena work, but he never once refuses to come out and he’s always better humored when we’ve done something, even if it’s just carrot stretches. In fact, as one story goes, he once jumped out of his paddock–over pipe panels, so we’re not talking low fencing, here–just to go down to the exercise track he could see on the next property.

Yes, a horse that has worked so hard on the track usually needs at least a little down time, but the OTTBs I’ve met are too busy between the ears to just sit and do nothing–not without tearing down fences and walls just for fun, anyway. Or jumping over them.

Which must be why we’ve come together to do what we do–transition these sensitive and intelligent athletes into new careers. It’s not really about saving Thoroughbreds, no. It’s about saving fences and barn walls from sure destruction at the hooves (and teeth) of bored ponies.

Izzie, aka Iona Prospector

When Neigh Savers sent out the email about us, the Sonoma County Satellite, the CEO received an email from Trudy. Trudy had adopted Izzie a year or so ago and was having some issues and asked if we could come see what we thought about the situation

She wanted Devon the fearless to ride Izzie because Izzie had developed a rather strong aversion to work. Rearing, bucking and worse. Trudy’s trainer and her trainer’s assistant had both tried with Izzie and things were not going well. The vet had tried several things to ease Izzie’s arthritis and hormonal issues, but Izzie still insisted that riding was not her favorite past-time. Sometimes Izzie was fine and Trudy’s daughter Lindsay had ridden her quietly around the pasture not too long before Trudy reached out to us, but no one could count on her behavior from one day to the next.

Karen, Devon and I went to visit Trudy and Izzie and found a lovely 23-year old mare who is beautiful and quite fit and healthy-looking. A flea-bitten gray, Izzie is well-built and strong. She raced until she was eight and then became a brood mare, without a lot–if any–of riding between the track and now. (I have so many thoughts about not riding horses after they come off the track–particularly broodmares–but will save them for another post.)

As we talked about the medications Izzie is on and the things Trudy had tried, Izzie listened but fidgeted. There were many things, more expensive treatments, Trudy and Lindsay could do in order to ride this mare. But Izzie seems to be quite sure that she is not interested.

Izzie is not impressed but she is lovely

Telling an owner we agree with her assessment that this horse would be better with some time off–if not permanently retired–is risky. Would Trudy and Lindsay want to give Izzie back? And how hard would it be to find Izzie a home then?

Luckily, they are the types of adopters every rescue dreams of. They not only will keep and continue to care for Izzie–even if they never ride her again–they are interested in adopting another horse, one they can train and ride regularly.

It may even turn out that Izzie can be gently ridden every now and then, all while enjoying semi-retirement.

A huge thank you to Trudy and Lindsay for your commitment to Izzie, to ex-racehorses and to Neigh Savers. If only we could clone you!

Calabar winning one of his races by a nose

The work–the very good work–any horse rescue does is full of peaks and valleys and a rescue that works with ex-racehorses is no exception. There are horses that are adopted out almost as soon as the come off the track and are posted on the site, horses who generate lists of adopters miles long. Having strong healthy horses who can both generate demand and also nearly immediately go on to new careers is a beautiful thing–not just for the horses, but for our program. These horses can also fetch higher adoption fees and don’t put the strain on resources and staff that a horse with an injury does, but it still leaves us looking into the eyes of one of our rehabs and saying, “Not this time, sorry pal.”

The horses who need extra recovery time, these are the horses that touch our hearts–the ones who keep trying, keep moving through soreness because that is what they are made to do–move. These are horses that with just a little more time and effort will be just as good and just as special a partner as a horse who dances off the track and into the show ring.

No matter what, if someone is looking for an instant show horse–instant as in load them in a trailer at the rescue and enter them the following weekend–adopting an ex-racehorse is likely not the best plan in any case. OTTBs don’t really do push button well–unless streaking off at a dead run is your idea of push-button of course–but they are trainable, they love to learn and a lot of them love to do anything else but race. Even with a fit horse, the transition takes time, and of course an injured horse will take more time. The bonus (as I see it) of helping your horse heal is that you’re building a relationship and trust even before the real work begins. There are countless stories (like this one) of OTTBs with mild to serious injuries who have gone on to be very successful athletes in other disciplines and I can personally share two stories where a little time and patience has led to not only new adventures, but a deep bond between horse and rider.

Bobby the wonder horse coming to investigate.

Karen MacDonald’s horse Bobby had fractures and lots of pain at the end of his racing career. She was told by the vet that he would never be anything but a pasture ornament. Three months later, that same vet didn’t even recognize Bobby because–with a little time, some body work and light exercise–he had improved so dramatically he looked like a different horse. Between now and then, he’s learned dressage and done quite well teaching Karen a great many things. He’s 20 now and mostly retired, but he is also healthy and happy and can still do a Piaffe. This was a horse once deemed unrideable. Good thing Karen didn’t listen,  followed her heart instead and adopted her heart horse and greatest teacher.

Jess and Bar working on the art of the turn.

My horse Calabar came off the track in 2004 with a pretty significant bow to his left front tendon. It is not tiny, and it ended his racing career, but it is tight and cold now. His owner and trainer took the boy home and let him loaf around for a few years before I came along and fell in love with him. I don’t ever intend to show him, but we trail ride and he can still move as fast as any horse I’ve ever seen when he wants to. He even jumps, though folks have told me he shouldn’t. Mind you, I have not jumped with him but he has jumped himself quite athletically on more than one occasion–including out of his paddock over at least a four-foot panel once–just because he seems to like it. The bow never seems to bother him much, except sometimes when the weather turns colder. Since I’ve got joints that say the same thing,  I just tell him it’s better to keep moving and rub in liniment. But this horse carried me to the top of Armstrong Redwoods and back down a twisty, steep trail with foot-high (plus) drop-offs on that tendon and only stumbled at the very end–after a full three hours (maybe more) on the trail. That ride was an accident, precipitated by a run-in with yellow jackets, but proved to me once and for all I’d adopted the right horse.

As Bobby proved to Karen, even a fracture can and will heal, and often result in stronger bone than before. This story on offtrackthroughbreds.com tells the story of  Ann Banks–a force for good in the racing world in general–and her favorite eventing horse, Jack. Jack very likely had a fracture to his canon bone early in life and still went on to carry her over many fences in their time together.

A rescue will take any horse, very often has to because no one else will. The hot prospects we have, like Dublin and Kiddo who both have multiple potential adopters lined up, can help us defray the costs for some of our up and coming horses like Ira the Esquire and Paris, horses that have new careers in front of them, but need a little more time to get there. Not all of us are high-level competitors and OTTBs can (and do) become great, sensible trail horses just as well as they become hunter-jumpers.

Waiting for the “perfect” horse may make you miss the right horse, the horse that will teach you as much as you teach the horse. And that might be a real shame for both of you.

Calabar watching for cows

I can’t think of a time when I was trendy, hip, in fashion, cutting edge. Really. It’s never happened for me, not ever.

Suddenly, however, thanks to a certain big brown horse, I am part of a trend of people falling in love with Off-Track Thoroughbreds. Not just falling in love with them, no. There are people competing at very high levels on OTTBs. Like at Rolex in Kentucky, for example, where 21 OTTBs were entered in this very high-level event.

Where Warmbloods (and believe me, I have nothing against big, hunky Warmbloods) have ruled for decades, feisty ex-racehorses are making some inroads. The theory is that with money tighter than it once was, an OTTB is an inexpensive option. As Anna Ford of New Vocations said in this article on offtrackthroughbreds.com, “I believe that equestrians who could easily purchase $10,000 to $20,000 horses before, can no longer afford to. It’s much easier for them to purchase a $2,000 horse and put the money into training,”

And that’s the piece that’s important. Training.

Luckily, there are a lot of great agencies out there taking horses from the track and giving them the necessary transition time to find new careers–Neigh Savers and The Second Race are two of my personal favorites, but New Vocations and Maker’s Mark are another pair that are doing the work to get these horses into new careers and new homes.

This is a good thing for the horses, naturally, but it is also a good thing for the sport. Why? If we can get horses off the track while they are still sound, we can find homes for them. If we can help owners and trainers place horses they can’t use any more, we give them an option that lets them look like heroes. If they look like heroes and the horse goes onto a new life healthy–trail riding, showing, whatever–the sport looks better, too. If the sport looks better, attendance at the track might increase, the tracks make more money and we have more support to get more horses off the track . And the cycle continues, only in an upwards spiral.

That is why the good press, the appearance of happy, healthy, working OTTBs–this renaissance, if you will–is so great. The myth that they only know how to run is being shattered daily by riders all over the world, riders who appreciate their athleticism, their hearts and their minds. Not to mention a few riders I know who take them out on the trail, teach them to explore, rope and chase cows.

May the trend continue ever upwards and more people discover the heart of the Thoroughbred. Just remember who was here on the front lines. Yeah, that’s right. Me.

Happy riding!