Greener Pastures

I was recently contact by an organization called A New Leash on Life that places shelter dogs with prison inmates for training and socialization and then adopts them out. It is a wonderful national program that is launching here in Philly in June and I suggested that they investigate a similar program that the Thoroughbred Retirement Fund has had in place for years with inmates at correctional institutions across the country.

The TRF program is extremely successful both in training the inmates to become skilled stable workers and in caring for the retired animals. Like all nonprofits it is facing difficult times, but the organization's track record (no pun intended) should go far to convince donors of the success of the program. A recent New York Times article apparently reported that some of the horses in TRF's care were too thin, but the organization has refuted these claims.

In the meantime, the plight of retired racehorses remains a blight on the industry as a whole. Not every owner pensions his animals, like A. P. Indy's, and not every race horse has a successful career at stud. Nonetheless, a horse is a lifelong investment and deserves to be cared for regardless of his/her success on the track or in the breeding shed.

Avalyn Hunter makes the point most eloquently here. Bravo to those who have stepped up to their responsibilities and shame on those who don't. Horse racing has enough strikes against it without irresponsible owners and trainers adding their own.