Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: The Problematics of Pairing the Words “Rescue” and “Thoroughbred”
“[Thoroughbreds] are desirable in their own right. No saving necessary.”
Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on why it’s problematic to refer to off-track Thoroughbreds as rescues.
#WinnerNotARescue is a hashtag I have come to enjoy. I love seeing it when friends and acquaintances pick up a horse from the track or purchase a successful Thoroughbred and kick off a show career. The hashtag casually combats the pervasive and honestly often-innacurate-and-therefore-irksome idea of Thoroughbred “rescue.” The discourse around of idea of “rescue” is bound up in imagery of hardship and need and the ideal of “saving” something. All good there, but not really accurate here.
Charlie (Dr. Lloyd) ran 54 times, taking home five wins. Photo by Izzy Gritsavage.
“Rescue” is also tied to the notion of the horses being undesirable — a charity case. Sure, some might be (see the discussion of Major Spin below). But most of them come off the tracks in pretty good condition, with their owners and trainers hoping to do well by them and get them to a great home. Somehow “rescue” has become so deeply intertwined with Thoroughbreds in the American conscience — probably alongside the demonization of racing horses in the first place — that rehomers (folks who buy, assess, train and resell Thoroughbreds) regularly get thanked for all that they do.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that folks care about getting horses from the track to good home. I appreciate that they recognize that it is hard work and that we definitely are not doing it solely for the money that we manage to make from it. (Hell, I had a rehoming friend joke that we should maybe should move over to seemingly more-successful world of selling sweatshirts instead of horses after another Facebook account clone jazzed up all sorts of logo-wear interest). But, I think I can speak for all of my friends in this side of the horse business and note that yes, while we do this because we love it, at the end of the day, bringing horses home from the track and setting them up for sale to an appropriate home is part of the business, no ‘saving’ necessary.
Early morning on the backside at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, KY. Photo by author.
From the track these horses might sell outright to an ammie owner, a rehomer like myself, or be donated to a non-profit organization that helps find them a home for an adoption fee that supports the challenging or rehab cases they receive. While the last century might have, at points, been a wild and unpleasant ride when racing careers needed to be done on the backside. But it is getting rarer that the verb “to rescue” is the most relevant verb in moving a horse from the track to its first post-track home.
**Please note the caveat that proper “rescue” organizations absolutely exist — and they need all the credit and credence the term carries. But usual rehoming, where we buy or take on lovely horses to be able to bring them into their second careers, is not the same thing. Just because it raced does not make the Thoroughbred a rescue.
Alfredo (Making Amends) came from the track looking this good. Photo by Sarah Hepler.
Celebrating the choice to buy or adopt (depending on where one gets them from) a Thoroughbred is different. And somehow, the semantics matter. They matter because the breed is not one that needs saving to be useful or desired. The “feel good” part of buying the Thoroughbred should not be that because of that purchase they no longer have to run on the unsavory American imaginary of what a race track is assumed to be, but that they are outstanding partners who have the huge heart, try and athleticism. They are desirable in their own right. No saving necessary.
CC (Coragescontender) strode from the track to my barn reasonably chunky and needing only the skills to get him to a second career. Photo by Sarah Hepler.
To put this in perspective, in the myriad Thoroughbreds that I purchase for resale each year, right now, only one is what I would consider a true rescue. The rest come in fit and usually quite healthy and ready for a quick ride to see what they have to offer and what jobs might suit them best.
But one — yes, just one — falls in that rescue category and checks all the narrative boxes: Meet Major Spin.
Spin was running at Fingerlakes under a trainer who has a reputation for not being the shining gem of the backside. When Spin first walked out of his stall for a listing with the Fingerlakes Finest Thoroughbreds organization, he hobbled out on three legs. The track trainer helping to list the horses was like, “Please just bring a trailer and get him out of that barn.”
The day (July this year) when I first met Major Spin. Photo by author.
Spin’s issue was his knee. Various vets have looked at the knee since we radiographed it and can assume that he may have slab fractured, continued to run on it, chipped, and and developed pretty significant arthritis both on the front side and rear sides of the joint. Compounding the problems, another reputable rehomer had recently seen Spin sitting in icepacks on the knee before heading to the race paddock to run on it. S*&$ like that makes my blood boil.
So Fingerlakes Finest Thoroughbreds volunteer and friend, Sarah Hepler, suggested we get the track vet to do radiographs to see what we’re working with. The vets went so far as to donate them. The knee is a mess (see description above). But the trainer didn’t want to give him away, he “had a buyer in New Jersey” who wanted him… maybe to keep racing, maybe to retire (I find that dubious), who knows? So I did what was financially irresponsible at the time and ponied up the funds and got him out of there.
You can probably see the chip, but the bigger issue is the arthritis. Radiographs courtesy of Farmington Equine Associates.
My hope with Spin is that we can get the knee to cool down enough that he’ll make a nice lower level horse — unfortunately, he’s not a surgical candidate. Multiple reputable surgeons have looked at the rads and noted that we could make the knee look better cosmetically, but that’s not going to change the biggest problem — the arthritis.
So in the meantime, while I sort out his next move, he’s turned out with a couple of calm Thoroughbreds currently and getting the rest, calories and down time he needs. The plan is to restart him in the late fall/winter and see how he holds up to light work. In the meantime, this kiddo has gotten fat, shiny and patently handsome.
Major Spin packing on the pounds (shown here in September) before we moved down to Lansing. Photo by Lily Drew
Spin is a rescue case in my books. I won’t profit from his sale. If I have Stall 13 (my non-profit wing of the business) set up by the time I am able to move him along to his next home, any income from Spin will offset caring for another one in potentially similar condition. That said, unlike the many others that I get lucky enough to spend time with here, it is only Spin who fits in the rescue group straight from the track.
Check back next week for more nerdy discourse discussion about where the conversation needs to change (spoiler — it is not about their track life) as I dive into the post-second-career quandaries for these horses.
Spin (left) with his buddies at home in Lansing, NY. Photo by author.
In the meantime folks, go ride your racehorse — celebrate their wins as much as their retirement.
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