Florida Thoroughbred Rescue
 

I don't know if this is the right section to put this, but since most read this section I thought I would put it here.

I have a friend who just lost her retired thoroughbred mare to colic. She is interested in finding another retired racer (preferrably a mare) that is just off the track. Does anyone know of anyone to contact in South Florida? She doesn't have much money, but will give it a loving and wonderful home. She got her last mare at 4 years old, just off the track and retrained it herself. She even used her in lessons about a year after she got her. She had that mare for over twenty years. She isn't someone looking to retrain and sell. She would really like another mare to love.

So if anyone can help with someone that I could maybe contact. I think she is partial to bays and tall (like 16 hands or taller). She does want healthy though. I think she wants to train it to go on Hunts.

Thanks again guys.

Buffy, I may have a few contacts. I'll let you know as soon as I hear something. I'm looking for the same thing (sometime in the next year or so.)

Thanks Cajun. She still has two rescued Geldings, but she really misses her mare. She misses hunts and I think wants to get back into it. She is from New York where she use to do hunts all the time. Her geldings are too old for that anymore. Her mare was retired from it too. She has been very upset lately and has been talking about getting a retired racer again. She was dead serious about it yesterday and has made up her mind that she wants another mare.

Let me know if you hear of anything. Thank you.

There is an organization called Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation that adopts out former racehorses. Don't know much about them. Their website is www.trfinc.com. their website says that there is a fee involved which varies according to the horse from about $500 to $3000. I think the younger horses that could be used for dressage are more expensive to adopt.

Here you go. This is an excellent place to find ex-racehorses.

http://www.canterusa.org/

It most definitely is, but Buffy wanted retired horses in Florida and CANTER doesn't have a program in Florida that I know of.

You're right, it doesn't...

I wish it did. There are some really nice horses on there. I found one that I want, but she's too far away. :(

I've found several that I like, but it is all wishful thinking. It costs so darn much just to get them transported.

Thats the problem for my friend. She has connections in NY, but not Florida. I thought maybe some of you on here would know of someone or an owner or trainer who had a mare they wanted to find a nice home for. Like I said, she is a trainer (she is actually my riding instructor now), but she has retrained about three or four race horses and loves doing it.


Oh Cajun. I actually have another horse to ride now. Buck's owner would like me to exercise another one of her horses. He is a thoroughbred. She rescued him from an abusive home. He is in his late teens, but it is just to get him some exercise. Just walk/trot with maybe a little cantering. No jumping though. Never a racer though. Funny thing is he and Buck are NOT friends. The two of them are always fighting in the paddock. Buck is not going to like me paying attention to Jackson. Buck got VERY jealous when I gave his girlfriend a bath last week. He whinnied as loud as he could the entire time I was bathing her. I can just imagine what he is going to do when I ride his arch rival. I think I am going to ride him on Friday. Have a lesson on him for the first ride.

Have a good time, Buffy! :D I'm riding in a horse show in October, and have been practicing like crazy...jumped a 4 foot course for the first time in forever last week and I never realized how out of shape I am! I've got a doctor's appt to get my right ankle x-rayed in a couple of days, though. It's been killing me for two months now and the doc thinks I may have a stress fracture since there's hardly any swelling. :eek: I told him I'm not missing this horse show! LOL

HA HA! I said the same thing to my doctor when I had a sinus infection. I told her to give me antibiotics that allow me to be in the sun as I was NOT going to miss my show. Good wishes your way that it is just a strain or something easy in your foot.

Are you going to show jumping or hunters? A FOUR FOOT COURSE? ARE YOU CRAZY? I will stick to my 2'3 thank you. I actually cantered a triple jump last week for the first time in 15 years.

Oh, do you know if they do hunts up your way? My friend has only ridden them up north. She wants to find a place in Florida that does them.

A 4 footer is no different than a 2'3" jump. :D You ride them the same, you just have to trust your horse that he'll jump it or it's a little bit farther down when you fall. LMAO

I've been riding this quarter horse mare (Amber is her name) and she is one of the most talented mares I've ever been on. She finished 11th in the national quarter horse show a week ago (out of a few hundred horses.) She'll jump anything you point her to although she's smaller (only 15.2 hands.)

Anywho... here are some sites for your friend:

http://www.pbhounds.com/

http://www.fwfhunt.com/

http://mistymorninghounds.com/

http://www.southcreekfoxhounds.net/

I had those sites bookmarked as I am interested in doing some hunts myself. I'll probably do a couple of cross country horse shows to really get the feel for it. :cool:

Thanks for the links Cajun. I printed them to give to her. I see one that is in Palm Beach and one in Martin County. She will like that!


I should try the non jumping one. That would be cool. Kinda like a long trail ride.

Oh my goodness, that canter website is fun to look at. I've found three already I wish I could buy... :) Thanks for posting it!

This is sooo aggravating to me. How come every other state has their own "retirement" program, but Florida does not? I am very angry at the Florida race horse program. Where are all the unwanted horses going? Does anyone know?

I really need to win the lottery now. I want to open a farm where they can come be rehabilitated and come down off the racetrack mentality and then adopted out.

Why do we not have this in FLorida?

My trainer gets quite a few from Ocala. Most of the training farms and breeders sell the ones that aren't so fast themselves. I agree though that it is VERY aggravating that we don't have an organization down here in Florida. I don't understand it, actually. We breed a lot of quality thoroughbreds down here... they must be going somewhere. :confused:

All my life I have assumed that these horses get nice homes after they are finished racing. Am I kidding myself? I think I need to go introduce myself to trainers down there and find out. I am beginning this may be a new mission in my life because I am very very angry right now. OK, how can I get back into the barns to start aggravating the trainers, owners, etc... by asking questions.

It's relatively easy down here to get into the barns. If you're a cute chick and you can ride, you're good to go. If I didn't have Daniel, I would be an exercise rider, but it's too dangerous to risk.