‘Disastrous’ search leads to an OTTB mare
Jennifer Sponseller Webster spent two disastrous years trying to find a horse. A friend loaned her a handsome gelding in 2010, and Webster, four months pregnant at the time, was promptly bucked off. Next she tried a lease that didn’t work out, had another go lame, dealt with two who were plumb crazy, and all this to find a fox-hunting prospect to replace a horse she had trained to the hilt, and resold. By the time April 2012 rolled around, was kicking herself for thinking it would be easy to find another fox hunter, and none too optimistic when she […]
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Horses seized in Va. case blossom at prison farm
Two ex-racehorse Thoroughbreds rescued last year in a raid on a Virginia farm filled with starving horses, have blossomed under the gentle care of inmates who learned horsemanship and life skills through the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s (TRF) Second Chances program. Since arriving at the James River Work Center, where Second Chances trains inmates to care for and love former racehorses, OTTBs Clem (JC: To Clem) and Ollie (JC: Oligopolist) have regained weight, had the shine return to their coats, and in one case, even started re-training as a riding horse. “Both horses are absolute sweethearts,” says Brooks Clement, a professional Thoroughbred […]
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Brave OTTB rides from Calif. to Ala.; indomitable
The chips were already stacked against Ray’s Storm before he entered the post parade at the California track. Then his luck got dramatically worse. As the gate sprang open, another horse slammed into him, hard. He stumbled. He appeared to almost to fall. But rather than quit, like so many horses might have, Ray’s Storm dug deep and fired his “back burners,” recalls Maureen McKenzie. And just about a minute later the racehorse who’d been a bettor’s long shot that day rocketed across the finish line in first place, winning a little money, and a lifetime place in the heart of an instant fan. It […]
