TFH is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which financially supports us, as well as provides office space, etc. Without the horsemen’s group and its Exec. Director, this could not have been done.
We do have a veterinary panel. It is the only way to provide complete and honest info to a potential adopter as well as the non-profits with which we work. Even still, horses sometimes are “different” within three days of their arrival to the farm. I wish the trainers would be a little more upfront, because we do not turn any horse away, and go by a waiting list according to the date they are placed into the program UNLESS an approved adopter sees one on our website, or we have one at the track that can go to a new home immediately (because then we do not have to pay). We are limited only by funding–we have had plenty of offers from farms to take our horses, but not for FREE!
I average four horses into the program/week.
I thank our trainers and owners for their patience, and especially to those who understand our costs and throw extra money our way when they win a race, or who are happy to reimburse us for veterinary or surgical fees when we have seriously injured horses.
We do have a lot of horses which are not sound, sadly enough. We give them all a three month rehab period, where everything is done to get them pasture sound. They get brushed, loved on, played with, worked with by the volunteers at either place we use, but if their condition deteriorates so badly that they cannot be comfortable with turnout, then, yes, we do have a euthanasia program. I am sure you are all familiar with some of the conditions that we may be dealing with in this situation.
We also work very closely with Dr. Patty Hogan, who does surgery on any horse that will become riding sound with said surgery. We do all the rehab at two farms which are not non-profits, but can be carefully monitored by me, and are only a stone’s throw from Hogan Equine. Quite a few of these horses have already gone on to very productive careers and are well loved.
We have taken 390 horses from Pha in over two years. Not all of them went on to new homes–about 8% had to be euthanized and we sweated over each and every decision. I meet every horse that comes into the program–I photograph him or her and look them all in the eyes. Anyone that knows me knows that we do not make these decisions without careful thought, and veterinary consultation, and if you know me REALLY well, you know the toll these decisions take on me.
Regarding rigoletto’s comments about “bad places,” or however she worded it–well, with 390 horses, two adopters have turned out to be irresponsible. Both horses were recovered and readopted. I will never say we can do it all alone–without representatives from other rescues keeping an eye on dealer lots and auctions, we may have never known. But isn’t that why we are all here?
A few others from Pha may have ended up at auction, but it was because trainers opted to give them away and not go through Turning For Home. They were held accountable for their actions. I wonder how many we do not know about, and wish there was a way we could protect them all. Because of all the activist groups that haunt the dealers and kill buyers, the communication between dealers and rescue groups is poor, and I’d be very naive if I did not think that horses were by-passing the sales ring and heading straight to slaughter. From any track–not necessarily ours. That is another very big issue.
People call me all the time about “other” horses from other tracks, etc. I try to help them as well as I can. I am proud of the network we all have created. I also can guarantee that we do follow up every horse. Not sure where you got that idea rigoletto.
We ONLY work with nonprofits that tell adopters UP FRONT that they will take the horses back if there is ever a need to return them (thus the reason we only work with two programs so far!). SJTR has taken back quite a few (as we work closest with them, and they have handled the most adoptions). The reasons are many: people having lost their jobs, horses that turned out to be a little greener than the adopters hoped for, (in which case SJTR offers further training or wor with both the adopter and the horses; we also give all adopters, should they want it, info on others who are happy to help retrain for FREE! and are great friends of TFH.)
Anything else?
a bill of sale would solve that.
