Off Track Thoroughbreds

Susan Wagner leads Press Exclusive, a big-earner and broodmare who nearly died en route to slaughter, to her new home at Equine Advocates, site of a slaughter conference next month

Susan Wagner, president of Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary, will host the powerful American Equine Summit next month in Chatham, N.Y., which is also home to a horse said to be the poster child of horse slaughter—Press Exclusive.

Veteran television journalist Jane Valez-Mitchell will keynote the 2014 American Equine Summit, which will feature presentations from some of the most prominent equine experts in the country, and include a videotaped message from Vice President Joseph Biden.

“I invited a group of experts to present new ideas for how to stop the slaughter of America’s equines, says Equine Advocates President Susan Wagner, who notes that guest speaker Victoria McCullough has vowed to cull information presented at the two-day conference to form a cogent case against horse slaughter, one she hopes will lead to a ban.

McCullough is an international equestrian, philanthropist and owner of Chesapeake Petroleum, who worked tirelessly in Washington to end horse slaughter, Wagner says.

This was Press Exclusive’s condition after the mare fell en route to slaughter, and was trampled by other scared horses. She was rescued and restored to health by Mindy Lovell of Transitions Thoroughbreds in Canada.

“She met with the Vice President, the Secretary of Agriculture and other members of the executive branch,” Wagner says. “The end result was the insertion of language to the 2014 Omnibus Bill by Vice President Biden to defund horse slaughter in the United States. President Obama signed it into law on January 17.”

Wagner, who agreed to give former race mare Press Exclusive permanent sanctuary after the big-earner nearly died en route to slaughter (please see related story here), is excited about the headway being made against slaughter.

Stating that she is more optimistic than ever that the end of equine slaughter is within reach, Wagner says this year’s summit will provide expert testimony from a wide range of experts, including horse advocates, veterinarians, and lawmakers.

Here is the list of speakers:

• Jane Velez Mitchell – Keynote Address
• The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Vice President of the United States – Special Video Appearance
(In alphabetical order)
• Senator Joseph Abruzzo, Palm Beach County, FL (via video)
• Frank Biden, Former White House Legislative Director for the Clinton Administration, President of Mavericks Schools and brother of Vice President Joe Biden (via video)
• Debbie Coffey, Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation
• Vickery Eckhoff, Writer, Forbes Magazine

John Holland, president of Equine Welfare Alliance, will speak at the slaughter symposium.

• John Holland, President, Equine Welfare Alliance
• Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director, The Cloud Foundation
• Dr. Ray Kellosalmi, Retired physician and Board Member, The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (sic)
• Dr. Kraig Kulikowski, Equine Sports Medicine, Saratoga Springs, NY and Wellington, FL
• Victoria McCullough, International equestrian, philanthropist and owner of Chesapeake Petroleum
• Allen Rutberg Ph.D., Director, The Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy
• George Strawbridge, Jr., International horseman and owner, Augustin Stables
• Susan Wagner, President and Founder of Equine Advocates
Founded in 1996, Equine Advocates is a nonprofit equine protection organization based in Chatham, NY. Its mission is to rescue, protect and prevent the abuse of equines through education, investigation, rescue operations, the dissemination of information to the public and through the operation of a horse sanctuary for slaughter-bound, abused and neglected equines.

Equine Advocates is also home to former race mare Press Exclusive, who earned nearly half a million on the track before becoming a broodmare, and who nearly died en route to slaughter. Press fell down among other frightened horses on a truck headed to Canada and was trampled. She was rescued by Mindy Lovell of Ontario, restored to health, and now resides in Chatham.

For more information on the American Equine Summit please contact them at: equineadvocates.org or call 518-245- 1599.

Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk earned $813,953 on the track. Here he is arriving at Beyond the Roses last June.

Gail Hirt, executive director of Beyond the Roses Equine Rescue and Retirement, reports that her nonprofit charity is in dire straits, and may have to close its doors following a combination of financial setbacks.

The nonprofit charity with 15 horses in Ohio and Michigan saw funding sources dry up this year, and other attempts to bring in money to support war horses — who earned a combined total of $4 million on the track— have failed, she says.

The charity is down to its last $5,000, Hirt says, and she is actively considering the heartbreaking decision to close the doors to the certified nonprofit by June.

“I’ve been lying in bed thinking, ‘What the hell am I going to do?’ If it doesn’t get better by June, I won’t be able to continue this.”

Prior to starting Beyond The Roses, Hirt was a national board member of CANTER USA and the secretary for CANTER Michigan. During her tenure with the national Thoroughbred charity, she fostered and rehabilitated 42 horses from 2003 through 2011.

She branched off on her own in 2008 when she rescued the famous poster-child for racing warhorses, Top Bunk. Foaled in 1997 by Dixie Brass, the racehorse earned $554,284 in 90 starts, before Hirt joined an effort with Alex Brown of Alex Brown Racing Forum to get the hard-knocking horse retired.

An unidentified Thoroughbred whose lip tattoo was obscured, came to live at Beyond the Roses and is now called Rocky.

From that point on, the name Top Bunk was adopted on a racehorse watch list, called the Top Bunk List, which kept an eye on seasoned campaigners, who, like Top Bunk, had earned more than $500,000 and were still racing.

Despite numerable successes retiring and re-homing horses, Hirt says her charity, which was officially certified as a 501 c 3 in 2012, has hit hard times. A key reason for the evaporation of financial support was due to restrictions enacted by past funding sources, which made her ineligible for funding help this year, Hirt says.

“Some of my grant-funding sources changed their rules to require that charities be a certified nonprofit for three years,” she explains. Although Hirt’s work with Beyond the Roses extends back longer than the requisite three years, she has only had her certification for two. The result is that Hirt can no longer turn to donors who helped her in the past, she says.

Beyond the Roses’ yearly operating budget is $70,000. Some $58,000, the lion’s share, pays for the upkeep of the animals, including regular veterinary care, dental care, feed, transportation, etc. The remainder is used to pay a reasonably priced trainer to school horses for new careers, Hirt says.

Ebben Estoora (the gray) grazes with Top Bunk at After the Roses Equine.

“I’ve got $5,000 right now and I have four horses that need to go into training so they can be eligible for new homes,” she says. “My trainers don’t charge a lot, it’s very minimal.”

Hirt adds that a generous donation from After the Finish Line, which provided funds for hay, is a big help, but that her other efforts to raise funds, through both applications to donors, and Facebook campaigns, have been shockingly disappointing.

“I asked on Facebook for some help with vaccines, and posted three announcements,” she says. “I didn’t get one dollar. In the past, when I’ve posted for help—I only ask when I absolutely need to—I get help.”

Horses currently under the care of Beyond the Roses include, Fuhrever Dancing, Skippy Due, Greatest Star, Distorted Groom, Harley D, Nurse Merf, So Busted, and Flyingwiththebeat. Sanctuary horses are Rocky, Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk, Twisted Wit, Top Bunk, Ebben Estoora, Mighty Win, and Untamed Irish.

“The thing that’s so sad about all this is that together these horses earned, for the industry, $4,335,697 in 904 races. Over $4 million,” Hirt says. “These horses all had their place in racing, many were stakes winners; many were the sons of well-known stallions like Distorted Humor, Tiznow, Devil His Due, Black Tie Affair and Dixie Brass.”

Top Bunk is the horse that started it all for Gail Hirt, back in 2008. A Wendy Wooley Photo courtesy of Gail Hirt

She adds, “Our financial status is good until the end of May. Then we’ll have to make some hard decisions. One of my board members keeps saying, ‘God’s watching over us, and every time we need help, something comes through.”

Hirt hopes and prays she is right.

Donations to Beyond the Roses, a certified 501 c 3, are tax deductible, may be made in one of three ways: A credit card may be accepted over the phone at 586-321-6780. Via Pay Pal to: Main@beyondtherosesequine.org, or through the general mail to: 11621 Bryce Road, Emmett, MI 48022.