Northview Stallion Station, located in Chesapeake City, Md., has partnered with Beyond The Wire to provide financial assistance for “sanctuary” horses—retired Thoroughbred racehorses that cannot move on to second careers. It is a major step forward for Maryland's Thoroughbred aftercare program.
Beyond the Wire is an industry-wide initiative between the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, the Maryland Jockey Club, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and Maryland jockeys designed to facilitate safe and enriching placements for retired Maryland-based racehorses.
Northview, which stands nine stallions including Great Notion, the current leading stallion in Maryland, was launched in 1989 by the late Richard Golden, Dr. Tom Bowman, and the late Allaire DuPont. For the past few years, Golden's son, Michael, has overseen operations at the farm. David Wade, general manager of Northview, said Michael Golden has had a passion for retired racehorses and was looking for mechanism to generate financial support for them.
“Sanctuary horses need funding,” Wade said. “Some of them spend the rest of their lives at a farm because they're not adoptable. Northview wants to help fund that effort, and we'd like to challenge other stallion farms to do the same.”
Wade said Northview will donate 5 percent of the stud fees it collects from contracts. It can do so from stallions wholly owned by Northview or from the shares it owns in other stallions that stand at the farm.
“This program is such a critical part of the progressive efforts of the Maryland racing industry to support all of our retiring horses, whether they can have a second career as a riding horse or not,” said Laurie Calhoun, who operates the Union Bridge, Md.-based Foxie G Foundation, a Thoroughbred Aftercare Association-accredited facility that works closely with the Beyond The Wire program. “It concentrates heavily on horses with past racing injuries that need extensive rehabilitation. Given enough time and careful management, the majority of these horses can live a comfortable life in our sanctuary program if they are not adopted out as companions or used in ground-based, equine-assisted therapy programs.
“Since 2018, Foxie G has had five horses in an equine assisted therapy program at the Baltimore Agricultural Center, serving veterans and first responders. We will also begin a new equine-assisted therapy partnership in 2022, where up to 10 of our sanctuary horses will be used. Horses are natural healers and they can give back so much to our community. Northview's generous, lead gift in support of these horses will literally be life-changing for horses that have not had many options in the past thanks to the caring efforts of Michael Golden and David Wade.”
Beverly Strauss of MidAtlantic Horse Rescue, another TAA-accredited farm that partners with Beyond The Wire, agreed with Calhoun.
“Maryland racing does a good job filtering horses off the track and into TAA-accredited facilities, but the number of horses needing sanctuary care that are not rideable is significant,” Strauss said. “It puts a strain on each (partner) organization. These horses need ongoing support from the racing and breeding industry—we owe this much to them.”
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