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Early Estimate: Over $140,000 Raised Through New Vocations Breeders’ Cup Pledge

New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program announced today that the early estimate of funds raised during their annual Breeders' Cup Pledge will be more than $140,000. Authentic's win in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic was one of seven winning pledges during the event; Authentic's connections, all of whom pledged, include owners Spendthrift Farm, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables and MyRacehorse as well as trainer Bob Baffert.

Additional pledges and final donations are still being received, but the program is thrilled with the overwhelming support of the fundraiser. This marks the Pledge's 11th year, with over $790,000 raised since 2009 and 100 percent of funds going directly to support the program's rehabilitation, retraining and rehoming efforts.

“We are truly thrilled with the increased participation for this year's Pledge,” said Anna Ford, New Vocations Program Director. “All of our other fundraising events had to be cancelled this year, so more than ever, we needed the Pledge to be successful and raise funds. To have seven pledged contenders win was incredible. We are very grateful for the support from all the generous owners and trainers who joined the Pledge. All of the funding raised will go directly to support our program and will allow us to serve the increasing number of horses needing aftercare.”

A total of 50 Championship contenders with prominent connections pledged a percentage of their Breeders' Cup earnings. Pledge participants included Albaugh Family Stables, Bass Stables, Bethlehem Stables LLC, Bob Baffert, Breeze Easy LLC, China Horse Club Inc, CJ Thoroughbreds, Michael Dubb, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, eFive Racing, John and Diane Fradkin, Gatsas Stables, Tim Hamm, Harrell Ventures LLC, Head of Plains Partners LLC, Heider Family Stables, R.A. Hill Stables, Michael Hui, Klaravich Stables, Robert V. LaPenta, LNJ Foxwoods, Madaket Stables LLC, Richard Mandella, Maximum Security/Coolmore, Michael McCarthy, Peter Miller, Monomoy Stables, H. Graham Motion, MyRacehorse Stable, Todd Pletcher, Repole Stable, River Oak Farm, Kirk and Judy Robison, Sackatoga Stable, Domenic Savides, SF Racing LLC, Siena Farm, Jack Sisterson, Spendthrift Farm, Starlight Racing, Stonestreet Stables, Damon Thayer, The Elkstone Group LLC, Three Diamonds Farm, Wertheimer et Frere and WinStar Farm.

New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program Awarded 2020 Lavin Cup By AAEP

New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, the largest racehorse adoption charity in the United States, received the 2020 Lavin Cup from the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP).

Known as the AAEP's equine welfare award, the Lavin Cup recognizes a non-veterinary organization or individual that has distinguished itself through service to improve the welfare of horses. New Vocations was recognized Dec. 9 during the AAEP's 2020 Annual Convention & Trade Show, held virtually.

Founded in 1992, New Vocations' mission to rehabilitate, retrain and rehome retired racehorses has led to the placement of over 7,000 individuals, with nearly 500 retirees served by the program each year. With facilities in five states—Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Louisiana—New Vocations serves over 40 racetracks, working directly with owners and trainers in need of equine aftercare options.

“New Vocations has a longstanding commitment to the health and welfare of the equine athletes that deserve help in transitioning to a healthy and productive second career,” said co-nominators Dr. Jeff Berk and Dr. Wesley Sutter. “In every sense, they have partnered with us, the equine veterinarians who seek the same goals for our patients.”

Despite COVID-19-related shutdowns in the spring that prevented potential adopters from visiting New Vocations' farms in person, the charity found suitable homes for a record number of horses in April and May through social media. Potential adopters undergo a thorough application process, and as adopters' circumstances may change, New Vocations remains committed to each horse with a lifetime open-door policy for returns.

For more information about New Vocations, visit https://www.newvocations.org.

The post New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program Awarded 2020 Lavin Cup By AAEP appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Decreased Turnout Leads To Increased Risk of Colic

Cold and rainy weather sees many horses moved from their fields and pastures to spending more time indoors in stalls. This sudden decrease of turnout time may increase stress on the horse, including physical stress, and lead to an increased colic risk.

An English study by Drs. Williams, Horner, Orton, Green, McMullen, Mobasheri and Freeman followed seven horses as they transitioned from living out 24/7 to being constantly stalled and only out of the stall to exercise regularly.

The researchers determined that the horse's gut motility slowed significantly in the first five days after the transition, putting them at rick of colic: horses with both impaction and strangulating colic show decreased intestinal contractions.

For the study, the horses on full turnout ate only grass and had no structured exercise; the horses were placed in individual paddocks for 24-hour periods twice during the study for researchers to determine each horse's water intake and manure output, which was analyzed for moisture content. Ultrasound was also used to measure the horse's gut activity, which was determined by the amount of intestinal wall contractions.

The horses were then moved into stalls, transitioned to a diet of grass hay and worked twice a day. The horses were monitored for 14 days after the transition with the same data collected.

The scientists discovered that horses drank significantly more water when they were stalled, but that they produced less manure, which was drier. This shows that the horse's bodies are trying to adapt, but the differences in the diet were so significant that they couldn't. None of the study horses developed colic, but two horses that had the greatest physiological changes did have a history of colic.

Each horse's gut motility slowed significantly in the first five days after the transition. The team noted that a variety of factors could come into play to cause this, but one is that chewing and food in the stomach and intestine stimulate motility, so a horse grazing all day would have a more-regular motility rhythm.

The team says that this study reinforces the importance of making management changes gradually. If a gradual change isn't possible (for instance, because of an injury), horse owners and care takers should keep a watchful eye on the horse in the first five days after the transition to pick up on any colic signs.

Read the study here.

Sad Circumstance Allows Researchers To Study How Feral Horses Perceive Death

Researchers in Portugal who witnessed the decline and death of a foal in a feral herd were given a unique opportunity to see how wild horses reacted to the situation. Drs. Renata Mendonça, Monamie Ringhofer, Pandora Pinto, Sota Inoue and Satoshi Hirata watched the foal, who had been injured in a presumed wolf attack, for six hours; they noted his behavior as well as that of his dam and other herd members in the vicinity. Every two minutes, they recorded things like the distance between the horses and the injured foal; every five minutes they recorded horses moving, resting, eating and interacting with others.

The herd walked during the first several hours and the foal moved when prompted by his dam. He eventually went down and could not rise. His dam stayed near him and nuzzled him occasionally. After 15 minutes, the herd left the mare and foal behind. The stallion returned and attempted to move the mare from the foal, and succeeded on the seventh try. The dam whinnied to the foal 10 times and the foal responded once.

A second group of horses arrived and stood within 20 yards of the foal for 40 minutes. Though all members of the group were interested in the foal, two mares remained interested after the others had left to graze. These mares licked and sniffed the foal for several minutes, while the foal's dam watched from a distance.

During this interaction, the dam whinnied for the foal 44 times, but the stallion prevented her from returning to her foal. The foal responded only once after the other mares had left.

The dam returned to the foal once and fought with bachelor stallions who were interested in her. She left the foal to join the herd that was about 200 yards away. The foal stood and called for her one time after she left, then fell and died within an hour.

The research team notes that the mare moving away even though her foal was alive makes sense from an evolutionary context; it ensured her own survival, which allows her to reproduce again and benefit the species. The scientists were surprised by the reaction of the other two mares toward the foal. Traditionally, horses are antagonistic toward foals that are note their own; that the two mares were not could mean that they perceived something different about the foal.

Though there is still much to learn about how horses perceive death, the research team advises that owners and managers take equine emotions and reactions into account when dealing with the death of a domesticated herd mate.