Off Track Thoroughbreds

Farrah Ward was a high-ranking member of her town’s sheriff department before she was incarcerated at the Lowell Correctional Institution. There, she met OTTBs like Cut Music, pictured, and found peace. Photos courtesy Farrah Ward

Beneath the sheltering leaves of a dogwood tree, a once-respected member of a Florida sheriff’s department, stripped of her dignity, her job and her self-worth, kneeled down in her prison garb near a gentle ex-racehorse who himself had never amounted to much.

Pale chestnut Frosty Grin, with no obvious care in the world, lowered his head to snack in companionable silence as Farrah Ward lowered her head to rest it against a park bench beneath the tree. And there on the prison grounds of the Lowell Correctional Institution, she clasped her hands together and prayed.

“I was raised in a very strong Christian family. They were leaders in the church. But when I started living my life wrong, I lost touch with God,” Ward says. “I never felt comfortable praying in prison, with everybody around. But when I found that tree, and was there with Frosty, I suddenly felt comfortable, and I got down on my knees. It was just me and my horse; it was such a relief.”

From the time she was incarcerated in October 2011 on charges related to prescription drug abuse until the day she was released, on Aug. 9, 2014, Ward has been on a journey of personal growth, landing in the depths of despair—“my name made headlines for four days … I was such a disappointment to everyone”—and working her way back to self respect.

Farrah and Carterista enjoy a moment in the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Ocala, Fla. facility.

Though she was afraid of horses before she met Frosty Grin at the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Second Chances program,which teaches inmates horsemanship skills by caring for retired racehorses, a peace soon found her while spending her days grooming the 24-year-old gelding.

“I took care of Frosty for eight months. He was a beginner horse who needed a lot of extra attention because he was at the bottom of the pack, and got run off his feed bowl all the time,” she says. “He was like an elderly person who needed someone to take care of him, and I loved that. I would take him to the back paddock and groom him outdoors because he didn’t like being groomed in his stall. You could do anything with that horse, he was just so sweet and loving.”

As she worked with Frosty, her fear of horses receded and her confidence grew. It wasn’t only the hands-on experience caring for the former racehorse, it was the also the victories she won learning a new skill that boosted her feelings of self worth.

Frosty Grin was the horse Farrah spent the most time with, including moments praying at a tree in the prison grounds.

“It may sound a little weird to say this about a horse program, but the experience has taught me that just because I’ve made a mistake, I’m a better person than the poor choices I’ve made in my past,” she says. “Having to study materials and take tests and pass them gave me back my self esteem.”

Prior to her incarceration, Ward worked in a senior position at a sheriff department in a small Florida town. Though she still faces the scorn of those who say to her, “once a drug addict, always a drug addict,” she has stayed strong in the year she has been out. Focusing on reconnecting with her two teenage children, on finding work, and repairing relationships, she looks back on her time at the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Second Chances program as a pivotal moment in her life.“It may sound a little weird to say this about a horse program, but the experience has taught me that just because I’ve made a mistake, I’m a better person than the poor choices I’ve made in my past,” she says. “Having to study materials and take tests and pass them gave me back my self esteem.”

“My first few months working with these beautiful horses, I was so afraid,” she says. “But it wasn’t long into my journey that I saw my self-esteem begin to build, and my self-worth began to grow. These horses depended on us every day, and we did not fail them like we had done so many people in our past … I began to realize that hopelessness and failure was not who Farrah was. That thinking was not going to define my future. I could and would be a productive human again—I realized I was not a total loss.” — Originally published Aug. 7, 2015.

Seton Hall was given life-saving surgery last year by Rood & Riddle. Few expected him to survive. He is now a treasured pet.

As good as dead last September, a horse whose leg fracture was so severe many veterinarians said it was hopeless, now stands soundly on four good legs; a testament to the “inner fight” the animal showed during the very worst of times.

“I couldn’t give up on him,” says Brittany Wright of Savannah, Tenn. “So many vets told me they couldn’t fix that horse, but he had so much heart that even with his leg as bad as it was, he was dragging me around. I felt like it was his way of telling me to fight for him.”

After calling a handful of veterinarians on behalf of 8-year-old retired racehorse Seton Hall, and being told repeatedly that the slab fracture to his radius at his left, front knee was irreparable —“one vet said that the best that could be hoped for was a horse with a peg leg, but that he’d never be able to bend his knee”—Wright made a last-ditch effort and called Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Kentucky.

Seton Hall
Sire: Lion Heart
Dam: New Jersey
Foal date: Feb. 4, 2007“Finally, a friend of mine told me that Rood & Riddle was the only vet who could fix her horse when he fractured his elbow. She told me to send the films to Dr. Al Ruggles, and I did. He called me right away and said he could fix him.”

So on Sept. 11, 2015, Seton Hall hobbled onto a trailer and rode to the world-renowned facility in Kentucky. Two days later during surgery, Dr. Ruggles inserted three pins and restrung the ligaments of Seton Hall’s knee, changing the fate of a horse beloved among jockeys, exercise riders and grooms in the Louisville area.

“This horse was like a hometown hero in Kentucky. Everybody knew him. One of his grooms sent $300 toward the cost of his surgery—I still have his note. He said he would stop whatever he was doing when he knew Seton Hall was going to run, go up to the rail, and watch him.”

Seton Hall was operated on at Rood & Riddle last year after several vets said his case was hopeless.

The groom was one of several fans and former riders who contributed to an online fundraiser that generated half of the $6,000 veterinary tab. Wright and her family still make payments, happily, that restored an animal once so valuable he fetched $300,000 as a Yearling.

“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Wright says. “This horse had so much fight. You could see it shining in his eyes.”

Seton Hall now lives with a new family in Nashville, Tenn., and gives pony rides to an adoring little girl who sometimes takes an hour to groom her new friend. The family, who was identified and vetted by Thoroughbred charity Second Stride, the same organization where Wright purchased her horse, keeps him in hay and love all day, she says, noting that the family often sends photos.

“That horse is so happy now. When I had him, he was all business. He had a job to do, and he wanted to do it. He was not the kind of horse who liked to stand for grooming,” she says. “Now he has this little girl, and he loves her. The girl and her friends put him on the crossties and groom him for hours!”

— Brittany Wright purchased off-track Thoroughbred Strike a Balance, nephew to Zenyatta, and will compete him at the upcoming Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover.