Horse News

A New Program to Help Off-Track Thoroughbreds Heal

December 22, 2016

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Photos by Susanna Thomas, courtesy MMSC

The holidays are known as the season of giving. It’s a time when people appreciate and give back to their favorite causes. You appreciate those who surround and support you and reflect on the obstacles that you have overcome. Additionally, many of us examine the goals we have achieved as well as determine a way to give back or pay it forward to the community. Lexington, Kentucky is a city driven by its common passion for horses, and as we ring in the new year of 2017, MMSC’s devotion and dedication to helping horses get adopted portrays the holiday spirit of the close-knit Lexington family.

So far this year the MMSC has located new homes for more than 50 reschooled off-track Thoroughbreds. Now at the close of the year, we are asking you to join us in our stretch to help even more retired racehorses with the implementation of the MMSC’s CLEAN START: Lay Up and Let Down program.

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As the winner of Equestrian Living’s 2016 Gold Medal of horse adoption centers in the nation, the MMSC knows how to transition horses into their new careers. It doesn’t happen overnight. Retired racehorses need two to four months minimum to rest, unwind, gain weight and learn to be just horses again. If they have manageable injuries – a tendon tear, a suspensory strain, a broken bone – they need six to eight months to heal. Only then can they start retraining!

BEFORE: This
warhorse started in 34 races. He won $217,137. Still running at 8, he
was claimed back by his original owners who felt he had run enough.
When he arrived at the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center, he was given the Clean Start that he needed.

AFTER: Four
months later, he began training for a new career and
was adopted.

We celebrate the fact that we have a waiting list of adopters for MMSC reschooled horses. But we don’t have room on our small campus for horses that need lay up or let down. That is why we are launching the CLEAN START: Lay Up and Let Down program. The ASPCA generously granted the MMSC seed money to get the program off the ground, and a select few horses are already enrolled, enjoying the benefits of their let down time and eagerly awaiting their debut in spring 2017. More horses are waiting entry into this new program, if only their financial and physical needs can be met.

Here’s where you come in. We encourage you to join us in continuing our mission through your generosity during the season of giving to support these big-hearted competitors who have run their hearts out for us. Regardless of what time of year it is, we should not stop paying it forward. These horses have earned our respect and deserve our support now.

The tax deductible donation you make today could pay for board on nearby farms, feed, farrier, medicines, supplements, and anything else these horses need before they are ready to come to the MMSC to undertake the rigors of the our Gold Standard Horse Centered Reschooling Program^SM.

Help us to break out of the gate in 2017 with a Clean Start donation today! Your gift will enable us to reschool and rehome more horses than ever before. Visit www.secretariatcenter.org/donate to make a contribution.