Susan Salk
Mission Complete: OTTBs near end of USA ride
As the days dwindle down and the finish line of a 3,300-mile ride to prove the valor of the off-track Thoroughbred draws near, Valerie Ashker’s eyes fill with tears. “Every time I think about this ride, I really start crying,” says Ashker, who expects to complete her journey on horseback, from California to Virginia, this Saturday. Along with riding partner and friend Peter Friedman, the pair has climbed mountains and sustained falls and broken bones on a trip that started on clear day in May. “Looking back on the entirety of this, I’d say it’s been the ride of a […]
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Limelight shines on OTTBs at Equine Affaire
Their coats glistening, their tack polished, nine off-track Thoroughbreds took center stage this past weekend beneath the lights of the Equine Affaire Coliseum. During a brief appearance they demonstrated their prowess at a variety of disciplines showing no signs of, in some cases, very troubled pasts. As they trotted around the large indoor arena, moving in rhythm with their riders, a broodmare and racemare who each escaped the slaughter pipeline moved out with the grace of any other show horse attending the three-day equestrian event. “I think it was great,” says Christina Sawelsky of Sharon, Mass. She was one of […]
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Recalling how all hands saved Minn. HOTY
In the end it didn’t matter how many titles Tubby Time earned, or how many fans were charmed by his endearing flourish to finish his turf races, win or lose, with his tail flared out like a champ. But after the cheers had faded and the trophies grown dusty, the racehorse immortalized as the 2011 Canterbury Park Horse of the Year had lost the fine trappings of an earlier life to wind up discarded like trash into the slaughter pipeline. (This story was originally published on June 1, 2015). Looking bewildered and unrecognizable from the horse he’d once been, the […]
