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 […]
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Woman, 73, opens farm to ex-cons; 2nd chance
A 73-year-old Virginia woman who boasts a connection to Kentucky Derby winner Day Star, is doing something absolutely stellar with her modest horse farm. For the last bunch of years, Anne Tucker has taken “a big leap of faith” and welcomed former inmates to her farm, providing a roof over their heads, rent free, and a path to transition from prison to society. “At first, my family was not as enthusiastic about the idea as I was,” Tucker says. “My husband had some reservations and my daughter did too. But in 2009, I welcomed Tamio Holmes to come live on the […]
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Q&A: Horses help inmates heal and move on
William Cox freely admits he’s one of “those people” who really was raised in a barn. And all these years later, after college, law school, and launch of a successful legal career, it is in the barn where he has witnessed daily miracles proving that second chances really do work. “I’ve seen inmates come in here who have no skills, no relationships, broken homes—the don’t have anything or anyone. And then they build a relationship with a horse, and it has a profound effect on them,” says Cox, chairman of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s (TRF) program for inmates and retired […]
