The University of Wisconsin-River Falls has taken a promising step forward in support of Thoroughbred and Standardbred aftercare. In partnership with Racehorse Reimagined, the university launched a class called the Racehorse Retraining Program – students work with an off-track racehorse for 90 days, and the horse is auctioned off at the end of the semester.
The class launched with three students in the fall of 2021; each of the three horses found a new home at the end of the semester. This fall, 12 students signed up.
UWRF already had a similar program in place for reining-bred Quarter Horses, a colt-starting class which runs each spring semester.
Dr. Michelle DeBoer, a UWRF professor of nutrition, conceived of the idea to launch a similar class with off-track racehorses. DeBoer approached UWRF alum Rachel Walker to lead it.
“I've had a passion for Thoroughbreds for a long time,” Walker said. “I've retrained horses off the track privately for years, so Dr. DeBoer said it would be a perfect fit because I already do it for myself!”
The pair was initially waylaid by logistical concerns: of primary concern was how to find and afford the purchase of former racehorses for the program.
It was a connection with Nancy Turner, founder of the 501(c)(3) This Old Horse, which helped solve that issue. Turner's nonprofit joined forces with a host of Minnesota-based organizations to form the Racehorse Reimagined collaborative, their goal to ensure “the commitment and resources to support our equine partners to the finish line and beyond.”
Turner offered to provide the horses for the class through Racehorse Reimagined, giving the program its final push forward into reality.
“It takes a team effort to get a program like this off the ground,” Walker said. “We just needed someone to say yes and let us go for it!”
While it was a bit of a last-minute rush to get the class underway in 2021, the program has evolved into a stronger version in 2022.
Joe Scurto, executive director of the Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project, met with the students early this semester on the backside of Canterbury Park, located about an hour away from the university.
“He hooked us up with a couple trainers to watch morning workouts, and they answered questions about how the horses are trained and what kind of behaviors the students can expect,” said Walker. “It helped to bridge the gap between different training philosophies.”
Back at the university, each student was assigned a horse to work with. There are two lab sessions each week, in which the students work with their horses as a group under Walker's direct supervision. The students keep a training journal and are expected to work with their assigned horse five times each week (can be ridden or on the ground), and the students also develop their own feeding and chore schedule for the horses' daily care.
The 2022 group consists of one Standardbred and 11 Thoroughbreds; three of the horses had never been ridden. By the fifth class, each student was mounted on their horse.
“The students, especially two of them that had done the colt class in the spring, were very surprised to get on their horse and find that it was rideable,” Walker explained. “It's a strange concept because the horse feels rideable but it's not a finished horse; it doesn't know what rein or leg cues mean. These aren't throwaways or rescue horses. They were well-trained to do their job at the track, and now we're learning how to teach them new things and finesse.
“I also talk about how to be fair to your horse. There are some things you can't expect right away. We have one mare, for example, who just doesn't want to stop. I tell the student,' Just direct her feet, she doesn't want to go faster than a walk, so she'll figure it out.'”
There is also an in-class lecture component.
“I don't want to just tell the students what to do,” said Walker. “I love the college age, because you can ask them questions and they'll engage and try to find an answer. I don't have all the answers so what I say for this horse might not be right for that horse.
“For example, groundwork. I made a video and explained what I was doing, because I needed the students to understand what we're aiming for and how to get there. It's a bit of a challenge, because it's an educational post-secondary class, but it's not about something black-and-white.
Among the other topics covered in the lecture sessions are – the differences between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, both what those responses look like and what they horse is conveying with that response; different training methods, including how to apply them both in hand or on the horse's back; and reading a horse's emotions, among others.
“I want them to understand the horse's mental state when they're doing these things,” Walker said, “so that the students can bring the horses through this process while keeping them happy and engaged.”
The students also learn about marketing their charges. They have already completed initial introductory videos, which were posted to the public Facebook page, and will learn how to improve the quality of the videos and how the horses are presented. Those lessons will be implemented in both a mid-semester video and final sales video.
At the end of the semester, the horses will be showcased in a pair of events which bookend an online auction. The showcases are set for Dec. 10 and Dec. 17, from noon to 2 p.m., with the auction ending on the 17th at 5 p.m.
“That way, it gives people a chance to think about the horse, and then come back to see them again,” Walker said. “The buyers will all sign an adoption contract with Racehorse Reimagined, and the funds raised will go back into the program to help make it self-sustaining.”
Turner, Walker, and Scurto are hoping that the program becomes a model for other universities to follow so that more former racehorses can find new homes and new careers.
“Not only do the students learn new, useful skills, but the horses get a better chance at a great life after the track,” Walker summarized. “Nobody's done anything quite like this before, so we hope to be able to make it sustainable and to share the model with others.”
You can follow along with the students' and horses' progress at the program's Facebook page.
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