Retire & Rehome
Whichever way we ride or however we are associated with horses, we can all agree that horse welfare and rescue is extremely important. Learn about these caring places in our Rehome section, where money and time can be donated to help horses find, or remain, in their forever home.
Many charity events help fund the good work of equine rescue organizations. Parties and auctions to benefit rescue are included in the Calendar of Events for Retire & Rehome.
Have an old friend to retire? Find a place where your horse can live the life of leisure in our Retirement section.
Do we need to add an event or rescue? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!
Go behind the scenes for the Australian Firefighter's 2022 Calendar Photoshoot!
Your purchase helps support the US based Greater Good Charities Rescue Rebuild programs.
From its humble beginnings, The Australian Firefighters Calendar was established in 1993 to support the Children's Hospital Foundation, providing funds for research into childhood burns. Now in its 28th year, The Australian Firefighters Calendar has raised over $3.2 million for various charities. The "Horse Calendar" edition features beautiful photography.
Your purchase helps support the US based Greater Good Charities Rescue Rebuild programs, Healing Hooves and Reason to Thrive.
Read more: Australian Firefighters Calendar - Merry Christmas
From its humble beginnings, The Australian Firefighters Calendar was established in 1993 to support the Children's Hospital Foundation, providing funds for research into childhood burns. Now in its 28th year, The Australian Firefighters Calendar has raised over $3.2 million for various charities. The "Horse Calendar" edition features beautiful photography.
Your purchase helps support the US based Greater Good Charities Rescue Rebuild programs, Healing Hooves and Reason to Thrive.
The firefighters were kindly allowed to spend time with and take photos with all the horses, ponies and donkey featured in this calendar. 29cm x 24cm (11.42" x 9.45")
Healing Hooves Inc. rescues horses bound for slaughter and that come from traumatic backgrounds. They lovingly rehabilitate them for use in Therapeutic programs that assist those suffering Mental Health disorders, addiction, Autism, ADHD, emotional and physical disabilities.
Reason to Thrive provide Equine assisted activities that promote physical, mental and social health. These programs have been developed to assist a variety of groups such as at-risk or disengaged children and youth, children with special needs and women and children who are survivors of domestic violence.
All the gorgeous horses and ponies mentioned above feature alongside a handful of privately owned and loved pets. We must make special mention of Woodchip the Donkey. Woody is the first Donkey to appear in this calendar!
You can buy this calendar now online to support these worthy charities and enjoy the beautiful photos every month of the year!
BUY NOW.
Read more: Australian Firefighters Calendar - Supporting Horse Rescue
The moments -- and horses -- that took our breath away at the RRP’s Mega Makeover by Natalie Mayrath
FALLING OFF CAN HELP YOU WIN… ?
If you’d asked Lindsey Partridge how her day was going with Thunderous Affair (aka “Lissy”), she would not have suspected it would end with the pair being named 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion, sponsored by Churchill Downs. “I literally fell off,” she says, explaining that it was a “rough morning” at the Retired Racehorse Project’s Mega Thoroughbred Makeover, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, an event that fit two years into one, displaying highly competitive and talented groups for both the 2020 and 2021 classes (read further to experience just a taste of the magic).
Lissy, who had made it into the finale in two divisions (Freestyle and Competitive Trail) and went on to earn blue ribbons that day in both categories, is highly sensitive to the energy of other horses around her. While riding at a walk that morning, they encountered another horse, and Lissy reared and sprung into the air. Partridge tried a quick abandon-ship dismount but didn’t quite land squarely on her feet, lost hold of the reins, and Lissy proceeded on a free gallop through the cross-country area before somebody caught her.
Partridge laughs now that running loose may have contributed to her 4-year-old’s calm composure in the show arena that afternoon. “She was extra-tired after galloping through the horse park in the morning… Maybe that’s everybody’s new plan, is to let your horse loose in the morning!”
Read more: Ex-Racehorses Prove They Can Do It All Off The Track
The 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, was an historic event with competition years running for both 2020-eligible and 2021-eligible horses, due to the postponement of the 2020 event. Competition years competed separately across three days of preliminary competition, vying for a total of over $100,000 in prize money, with each competition year crowning its own Thoroughbred Makeover Champion.
Forthegreatergood, trained by Laura Sloan, is your 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion, sponsored by Churchill Downs!
Ten discipline winners from what was hailed as one of the strongest Thoroughbred Makeover competition years yet awaited results in a picture-perfect lineup at the Kentucky Horse Park this evening at the Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America — but there was only one 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion, sponsored by Churchill Downs, and that was Forthegreatergood, trained by Laura Sloan.
Forthegreatergood (Scipion - No Peeking, by Langfuhr) is a 2015 16.1 hand gray/roan gelding who was bred in Maryland by Donna Lockard. Lockard also trained and raced the horse herself for his 22-race career, hitting the board five times at Maryland tracks for total career earnings of $46,734.
Sloan, a professional hailing from Southern Pines, North Carolina, teamed up with Forthegreatergood for owner Donna Verrilli, who wanted to produce a horse for the Makeover in honor of her late husband Richard who passed away in December of 2020 of pancreatic cancer. A Master of Foxhounds, Richard had been Sloan’s employer.
“I’m so glad that I can do this for [Donna],” Sloan stated. “The Thoroughbred is just such a great breed. It’s amazing how you can have ten of these horses in the same race, and they can go into ten different disciplines. The versatility of this breed — they could have all raced together, and then one’s a barrel racer, and one’s a fox hunter, and one’s a dressage horse. It’s pretty cool.”
Read more: Forthegreatergood is 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion
The 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, was an historic event with competition years running for both 2020-eligible and 2021-eligible horses, due to the postponement of the 2020 event. Competition years competed separately across three days of preliminary competition, vying for a total of over $100,000 in prize money, with each competition year crowning its own Thoroughbred Makeover Champion.
Thunderous Affair, trained by Lindsey Partridge, was selected by the panel of judges of the Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, as the 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion, sponsored by Churchill Downs.
The 2017 16.2 hand gray/roan mare was bred in Kentucky by Jim Williams. She never made a start, but did train to race. By Liaison out of the Thunder Gulch mare Thunder Fan, Thunderous Affair was placed through CANTER Michigan.
Lindsey Partridge, a professional based in Pontypool, Ontario, is no stranger to the Thoroughbred Makeover — she won the overall title back in 2015 with Soar — but this particular journey has not been without its challenges.
“She didn’t trust me in the beginning,” recalled an emotional Partridge. “I really had to slow down and just go to events, and just not make it about competing. Just the fact that she was so calm and relaxed here and able to trust me to do everything — gosh, I’m going to start crying!”
Partridge, who has made a name for herself with her unique brand of horsemanship and crowd-pleasing freestyle routines, trained Thunderous Affair to not one but two discipline championships — Freestyle, in which the pair played with Partridge’s signature big blue tarp and other props, and Competitive Trail, in which Thunderous Affair’s easygoing demeanor impressed judges and spectators alike.
“It’s all about putting that relationship first,” Partridge described, reflecting on her past Makeover performances and her road to success. “I’ve done ranch and field hunter and trail and freestyle, but it all comes back to that partnership first.”
- 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover Discipline Champions (in order of go):
- Eventing, sponsored by Tipperary Equestrian: Legend’s Hope, trained by Jazz Napravnik
- Show Jumper, sponsored by Excel Equine: Canton Comet, trained by Samantha Fawcett
- Show Hunter, sponsored by Beyond the Wire: Still Dreaming, trained by Charles Hairfield
- Field Hunter, sponsored by Masters of Foxhounds Association: Zapper, trained by Cameron Sadler
- Dressage, sponsored by PTHA’s Turning For Home: Elbow Room, trained by Helen Pianca
- Polo, sponsored by United States Polo Association: That’s My Bertie, trained by Willowbrook Polo Team
- Freestyle, sponsored by New Start: Thunderous Affair, trained by Lindsey Partridge
- Barrel Racing, sponsored by SmartPak: Czraina Maria, trained by Jessica Frederick
- Competitive Trail, sponsored by Godolphin: Thunderous Affair, trained by Lindsey Partridge
- Ranch Work, sponsored by MidAtlantic Horse Rescue: Aussie Prayer, trained by Raechel Ramsey
Read more: Thunderous Affair is 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion
by the EIE Editorial Team
It was a great day for Eye Luv Lulu on December 4th at Aqueduct Racetrack. Lulu, a stakes winner and also graded stakes placed gelding, was claimed by his breeders, the Newman family, and retired to be sent to the place where he was foaled. Lulu was followed closely on social media and celebrated when the 9 year old veteran found a soft landing. His impressive career of 61 starts included 11 wins and finished 16 times for place and 10 times for show – earning an impressive $931,174.
Equine Info Exchange learned from Adam Newman that his father, Donald Newman who passed away in December of 2014, was involved in the horse racing business for 45 years ago in the mid 70’s. “We grew up in Queens, NY, and horses were foreign to us. But my father got involved at first by claiming horses and then breeding. We had modest stock at first but his involvement grew over time. He got out of claiming and would buy horses privately and breed at a higher level – which mirrored the growth and evolution of the New York breeding program,” says Adam Newman. “It was really an achievement for our family as small breeders to have bred a horse which earned almost a million dollars.”
Fast forward to Eye Luv Lulu, the horse was named after his dog Lulu. The horse is also as sweet as his canine namesake. The New York Bred didn’t have a fancy pedigree. He was by Pollard’s Vision out of Honkey Tonk Trick by Phone Trick and was the first foal of the mare his father purchased. The mare won a race but was injured and retired. She wasn’t big but always tried - a heart that Lulu clearly inherited.
Read more: Eye Luv Lulu – Home Again After an Illustrious Career
In times of economic strife, it's not hard to find them – ads on Craigslist or posts on Facebook (despite its ban on the sale of animals) advertising horses “free to a good home.” Sometimes they're just “free.” Of course, for every horse that isn't publicly advertised in search of a new placement, there are those who are given away or sold for low prices to acquaintances of acquaintances.
For one small breeder in Central Kentucky who asked to remain anonymous, it was something of a relief when a longtime friend offered to take 23-year-old pensioned broodmare Procession. The mare was on the farm, having been retired from breeding a couple of seasons before. The friend was in a pinch, having lost a mare she had needed to fill out a stallion season. It turned out Procession was no longer fertile, so she continued living the retired life with slightly different scenery.
One day, local horseman Tommy Browning came to Procession's new home to collect one of his nurse mares, who he had leased out as an artificially-induced lactating mare (meaning there was no foal produced to stimulate milk flow). Browning took an interest in Procession. He was looking for more mares to help him meet the demand for foal-free nurse mares for next season, he said. Both breeders had had nurse mares from Browning before, and those mares seemed to arrive in good physical condition, so neither had serious concerns about giving him Procession.
Browning also picked up 20-year-old mare Tack Room as a freebie from another farm after telling her owner the same story.
Browning has been charged with animal cruelty twice in the state of Kentucky, though both times charges were dropped. One charge stemmed from an incident in January 2019 in which Browning's trailer broke down along I-75 and Browning allegedly left a mare tied inside with no food or water from mid-afternoon until the next icy-cold morning when a policeman was called to check on the trailer.
In 2014, concerned neighbors took to social media to accuse Browning of starving mares kept on a dry lot in the middle of spring. Browning told the Georgetown News-Graphic he was keeping the mares off grass to avoid exposing them to tall fescue, which can be infected with a fungus that can be harmful to lactating mares. Browning said he fed the mares hay and had every financial incentive to keep them in the best of health.
In 2011, Browning pleaded guilty on six misdemeanor charges of failing to dispose of equine carcasses on his property in Stamping Ground, Ky.
One month after Procession left her owner's farm, she and Tack Room would be discovered in a pen owned by a Pennsylvania-based contractor for a Canadian horse slaughter facility. They were part of a group of seven Thoroughbred mares who all arrived at about the same time.
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- Retired Racehorse Project’s ASPCA Makeover Marketplace Transitions to Virtual Event
- The Rehabilitation Process at New Vocations: Meet London House
- Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Accreditation an Involved Process
- Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Continues to Expand Reach
- Twelve Things to Remember When Bringing Home an OTTB
- Aftercare Should Not Be An Afterthought: Solutions For The Future
- Emptying The Ocean With A Teaspoon: The Challenges Of Aftercare
- A Decade In, How Are We Doing With Thoroughbred Aftercare?
- On Aftercare: Jordan Uses Hall of Fame Cutting Horse Technique to Better Transition Thoroughbreds