ReRun Gives Retired Racehorses a Leg Up in Life

As most of the readers of this blog know, the welfare of suffering, abused and neglected horses is one of most passionate causes. Today I am excited and honored to welcome my very first guest blogger, my friend Christine Orman. Christine is the Resource Development Director of an amazing organization called ReRun. One day I hope to take many horses off her hands. This is a photo of her and North Flash.

Thank you, Frank, for inviting me to tell your readers a bit about the work our organization, ReRun, does to help Thoroughbred racehorses. Let me first begin by throwing out some not-so-fun facts about the racing industry and the beautiful horses involved so that everyone can get a feel for the importance (and challenge) of ReRun’s mission. 

 Did you know…?

 

• There are over 100 racetracks in the U.S., with at least one track located in 2/3 of the states. 

• The Thoroughbred horse is bred primarily to race competitively.

• On average, 30,000 Thoroughbreds are born EVERY YEAR to owners and breeders who hope to raise a champion racehorse.
• Less than 2% of the young colts and fillies that even make the cut to enter into competitive racing achieve star status during their careers and retire to lives of luxury.
• The primary reasons for retiring a horse from racing are because of an injury or they don’t run fast enough to win any purse money and, thus, “earn their keep”.
• For the vast majority of Thoroughbreds racehorses, their fate after retirement is uncertain and often very sad.  Some are lucky enough to get privately sold into a new and happy home or find their way to programs such as ReRun. But the unlucky ones (and there are many) ultimately end up in kill pens, waiting to be transported across U.S. borders for slaughter in Mexico and Canada; a trip that in and of itself often causes serious injuries, illness, and even death to the horses (but that’s a whole other story!).
• Over 100,000 horses are slaughtered each year and it is estimated by the USDA that 15,000 (likely more) of them are Thoroughbreds. 
• Most racehorses’ careers are over by the time they are 5 years old, and Thoroughbreds can have a healthy lifespan of 30 years.

Retired racehorses need homes…and that is why ReRun (www.rerun.org) was formed. We are a nonprofit Thoroughbred racehorse adoption program whose mission is to rehabilitate, retrain, and find loving, adoptive homes for Thoroughbred racehorses when their careers on the track are over. We work closely with racehorse owners, trainers, vets, and other members of the racing industry in order to get the horses into our program straight from the track or training farm before they end up some place bad. We then transport the horses to our foster farms where they receive a prolonged period of rest, any rehabilitation needed for injuries or health conditions, and retraining for second careers when they are ready.

Back in the early 90^s ReRun pioneered the concept that when Thoroughbreds’ racing days are over, they don’t need to go to public livestock auctions or slaughter houses but can be re-trained to lead productive lives in second careers as jumpers, hunters, eventers, and simply pleasure/ trail horses. Our retrain-and-adopt-out model is the predominant business model used by racehorse rescue organizations today

ReRun is headquartered in central New Jersey and maintains foster farms in New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, as well as Kentucky. We serve horses that come from racetracks and training facilities throughout the Mid-Atlantic and East Coast regions, and we serve as the on-site aftercare program for Monmouth Park (NJ) racetrack’s retired Thoroughbreds. 

Though there are many owners who do care about their horses and try to place them in programs like ReRun, there are unfortunately even more owners who see the horse as disposable and choose to do the wrong thing. Here’s an example of a young Thoroughbred who would have been slaughtered a few weeks ago if ReRun had not been around.

Fagedaboudit Gal

ReRun received a phone call at the end of July about a 6-year-old mare found in a feed lot (public auction) in central NJ. Her last race was in May of this year and she showed track workouts up until late June, but then she was unceremoniously dumped at the auction. Of course, no one bid on her so she was put on the list to be picked up by the slaughter trucks and waited in the kill pen. 

ReRun does not purchase horses from auctions, so we contacted one of Gal’s former trainers who paid her purchase price. We immediately picked her up from the auction and brought her to our rehab foster farm.

We were told she was sound (which we always take with a grain of salt), but within hours it was clear she was very lame and quite uncomfortable. Our vet found that she had a strained suspensory in her hind leg and will need to be on stall rest for awhile. She will also be on bute for pain. Gal was also extremely thin—clearly not fed much in a while. 

As it turns out the last owner of Gal, who didn’t want her anymore, gave her to another owner who is well known for sending his horses to auction/slaughter…and that is exactly where Gal showed up only a few months after her last race. It can happen just that fast. Fortunately ReRun got to her before she ended up going “From stable to table” in some European country at only the age of six (you can read more about Gal and other ReRun horses on our blog: http://rerunhorse.wordpress.com/)

Gal is just one of the 43 Thoroughbreds currently in our program who are waiting for adoptive homes. Many have riding limitations, and some can no longer be ridden (but are young and otherwise healthy). We remain hopeful that we can find each and every one of them good, well-matched homes, but we can’t continue to care for them and still be able to accept new horses into our program without the needed funds. It costs us an average of $4,500/year to board and care for one horse. So, please, if you can make a donation or provide a loving home for one of our horses, I would be forever grateful to you. You can visit our website www.rerun.org to learn more about ReRun and how you can help.

Oh, and you are all invited to our ALL-THOROUGHBRED HORSE SHOW & FESTIVAL (http://www.rerun.org/horses/fallHorseShow.html) on October 23^rd at the Horse Park of New Jersey. Come enjoy the fun and see Thoroughbred ex-racehorses shine in their second careers!

 

 

 

Comments

[Barb Fulbright]

Great job getting the info out, as usual, Christine!

[Michele]

This makes me want to move to a farm, just so I can give these horses a place to live. Such beautiful, smart, strong animals. I'm hoping any little bit will help because I would love to make a donation.