Archives by date

You are browsing the site archives by date.

Retired Racehorse Training Project rocks it!

Every seat was filled. And still, people streamed into the arena.

They congregated four- and five-people deep, at the fence surrounding the arena, or peered down from above, hoping to glimpse the action from a mezzanine.

Little children hung over the railing and stretched as far as they could to get closer to the horses who were the center of attraction.

Four ex-racehorse Thoroughbreds, fresh from the track and retrained for the public demonstration, did not disappoint as they showed off their new job skills at the Pennsylvania Horse World Expo last weekend.

A quirky gelding eases grief, cracks her up

On the face of it, Ollie and Jaguar Hope had little in common.

Jag, as he was called for short, had the dark, sexy looks of a matinee idol. Ollie, on the other hand, was fair-haired and cute, but nothing like his glamorous predecessor.

And yet, both ex-racehorses, with looks and personalities on opposite ends of the spectrum, came rushing into Wendy Wooley’s life with equal panache and equally compelling back-stories.

As fans of Wooley’s blog From Racehorse to Showhorse know, Jag was immortalized in Steven Spielberg’s film War Horse. An image of him frolicking in a paddock was incorporated into War Horse promotional material, including hats and a coffee-table book. (Read more about Jag’s influence on War Horse here).

Donna Brothers helps champion OTTBs

She was a mere eighth of a mile away when the gallant gray filly snapped her ankle after crossing the finish line at Churchill Downs. And then she snapped her other one.

Riding toward Eight Belles on her way to interview the winner of the 134th Kentucky Derby, NBC Sports broadcaster Donna Brothers had to avert her eyes as she came upon the beautiful horse.

“I could see out of my peripheral vision that she’d broken her ankles, and I never looked again,” says Brothers. She couldn’t. To do so would have reduced her to tears.