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Carterista, 27, and Esposito met at the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's Second Chances program in Florida. The meeting changed the life for the former inmate, who now works for the Florida Horse Park.

Horses under rainbow show inmate a new path

By on May 13, 2016

A former inmate who had lost almost everything when she was sentenced to four years in a Florida jail found “some peace” in her life and a path to a new career after embracing the surprise opportunity to participate in a prisoner/racehorse program. After taking a leap of faith that her prison’s Thoroughbred program could somehow help right her ship that had sailed so off course in life, Kelly Esposito, 51, of Ocala, Fla., graduated the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Second Chances horsemanship program and landed on solid ground. In January, after she was released from jail, Esposito began work at the […]

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Hadifly became a therapy horse at the New Mexico Center for Therapeutic Riding shortly after meeting a patient in a wheelchair. Photo courtesy Ashley Armijo

An OTTB finds his ‘calling’ helping people in need

By on May 12, 2016

The once excitable Thoroughbred gently lowered his head to accept the embrace of a legally blind man, who reached up from his wheelchair to share in the strength that stood before him. As if understanding how the man yearned to be close, the ex-racehorse reached over and sniffed the rubber and metal contraption. “And then instantly a softness came into his eye,” says Ashley Armijo, who had never seen her feisty Thoroughbred Hadifly react so gently to anyone. Witnessing the tender moment on the grounds of the New Mexico Center for Therapeutic Riding two years ago, Armijo realized her novice-level Eventing prospect […]

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Valerie Ashker and her boyfriend Peter Friedman set out Monday on a 3,500 trek across the USA.

OTTBs set off on 3,500-mile trek across USA

By on May 11, 2016

And they’re off! Sixty-year-old equestrian Valerie Ashker set off Monday morning for a 3,500-mile ride on her off-track Thoroughbred; raising awareness about OTTB’s from California to Maryland. After doing interviews with major media outlets and making final preparations, Ashker and her boyfriend Peter Friedman saddled up and departed from her property, Crow’s Ear Farm, in the foothills of Sierra, California, covering 13 miles in the first day. Speaking from horseback, with the sound of hoof beats echoing in the background, Ashker sounded optimistic as she and her 7-year-old OTTB Primitivo embarked on the second day of what is expected to […]

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