Mare goes from kill pen to show ring in 6 weeks
As the thin gray mare stood tied among other slaughter-bound livestock, Ingrid Messineo flipped the obliging animal’s lip to confirm she was indeed a tattooed ex-racehorse. Then carefully, and one by one, picked up all four feet. Nice horse, she mused, as she patted the gentle animal’s neck and whispered, “I hope you find a good home.” Turning her back, she walked away, as the sad-looking creature’s eyes followed her. A moment later, before Messineo disappeared from view, the mare let out a mournful whinny. “She seemed to have this look at me as if she was saying, ‘I can’t […]
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Riding legend to transform luckless racemare
One of the most influential horsemen of the Twentieth Century adopted one of the least likely to succeed racehorses this week in order to give the red mare a second chance. USEA Hall of Famer Denny Emerson, the only rider to have won both a gold medal in Eventing and a Tevis Buckle in endurance, this week welcomed Frosty Lover to his farm. The famous rider, who trains from his Tamarack Hill Farm in Vermont and Southern Pines, N.C., spotted the luckless racehorse in a photo shared online by Parx Racing’s Turning for Home, and soon decided to make the mare’s day. Frosty […]
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From the mouths of babes came an OTTB career
When Kim Wilkins stops to ponder the twists and turns she took before winding up re-training OTTBs on James Madison’s sprawling Virginia estate, she chuckles and admits the seed was planted early. “My first word wasn’t Mommy or Daddy, it was horsey,” says Wilkins, the farm manager for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s (TRF) Montpelier Farm. “My mother fox hunted, and her idea of good babysitting was to put me on a pony at age 3, put me on a long line, and take me out hunting.” Brave from the get-go, Wilkins went on to do a stint with the Army […]
