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Ellis Park to Honor Backstretch Workers Who Rescued Horses From Fire

Ellis Park plans to honor Marvin Prado and other backstretch workers involved in rescuing six racehorses and one stable pony during a fire in the track's receiving barn last Sunday. They hope to do so during this weekend's races, contingent on the availability of Prado, whose daughter was born two months premature the day after the fire and is still hospitalized.

The barn was engulfed in flames in a matter of 20 minutes and those on the scene say the man of the moment was Prado, with assistance from fellow Kenneally grooms Cristobal Munoz and Estuardo Godoy. Brendan Walsh's grooms Salvador Hernandez and Jose Garcia also were involved, including extricating their stable pony, the retired racehorse Scuba, from the barn.

“They are guys who have been with us a long time,” Kenneally said. “They are good people, so their natural instinct is to try to help. If there's a situation where you're needed, they're the type of people who will jump in and do the right thing.”

Prado noticed the flames while emptying a wheel barrow and yelled to his coworkers. According to those at the scene, Prado jumped into action and one by one retrieved the six racehorses, getting them out by their halters without a lead shank and handing them to his colleagues, who then found empty stalls for the horses.

Prado estimated it took “two or three minutes” to get the six horses out. Five minutes later, he said the barn was completely immersed in flames. Seven fire departments assisted to extinguishing the fire.

Asked later why he went back into the flaming barn, Prado said: “There wasn't any option. The horse had to get out.”

“Racing is a way of life. Taking care of our horses is a way of life,” said Michael Ann Ewing, owner and trainer of Bold and Bossy who was involved in the fire a day after getting loose on the highway. “These guys who stepped in–most of them I've never met–they're heroes. They just dropped everything. Especially those guys who ran into a burning barn without thinking and saved seven horses. Because it could have been really bad.”

“These acts of bravery are a testament to the real folks who represent this industry in largely unseen capacities and actions,” said Ellis Park racing secretary Dan Bork. “To do what they did, to run into a building engulfed in flames–and then go about their business as if nothing ever happened, like what they did wasn't anything out of the ordinary–they're true heroes with their totally selfless acts of courage.

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TRF’s Kimberly Weir Joins Board Of Directors For HORSEPOWER

Kimberly Weir, the Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF), has joined the Board of Directors of HORSEPOWER, Inc., a New-York based 501c3 organization devoted to the safety and well-being of equines through education, awareness, advocacy and allies.

A resident of Saratoga Springs, New York, Weir has been with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation since 2018 and prior to that served as the Deputy Executive Director of Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) in Washington, DC. A lifelong horse lover, Weir graduated from the University of Virginia with distinction and went on to complete her M.B.A. through the Mason School of Business, at the College of Williams & Mary. Weir and her husband moved to New York to devote themselves to work within the Thoroughbred industry.

“At this stage in my career, I have dedicated my life – personally and professionally – to making a positive impact on the welfare of horses, with gratitude for all they have given me” said Weir. “As a member of the board of Horsepower Inc, I look forward to the opportunity to educate and engage a broad cross section of New Yorkers in the important legislative work required of all of us to keep them safe.”

HORSEPOWER, Inc. was established to protect equine health and welfare, raise awareness about inhumane practices, and effect change in public policy. Learn more at http://www.horsepwr.org

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Can Horses Help Overcome Pandemic-Related Social Anxiety?

Life coach and leadership expert Stacey Warner uses horses to help teach people about themselves and how they interact with others. With COVID-19 restrictions lifting in many parts of the country, Warner sees her classes as even more relatable as people come out of isolation and are learning how to interact with the world once again.

Warner's classes are dubbed “Horse Powered Leadership” and they focus on encouraging team harmony in a corporate setting. The classes are designed to teach attendees something about themselves, how they work with others and how teams work together, the Courier Journal reports.

A California transplant, Warner says classes utilizing horses in this teaching capacity are very common in California and Arizona. Horses offer clear feedback to class attendees in a way not often seen in a work-related setting. Understanding social cues is a skill that has gone mostly unneeded as many people have worked remotely for over a year.

Warner teaches several different types of classes, but the end goal of each is the same: to let the horse expose the attendee's strengths and weaknesses, then to use that knowledge to become more productive.

Study: Your Horse’s Mood Affects His Way Of Going

A new study shows that observing how a horse acts in his stall could offer clues to how a ride might go: A horse that's angry or unhappy in his stall will most likely carry that negative attitude into the arena.

Lead researcher Alice Ruet used 43 lesson horses to test her theory. The study horses were kept in stalls and turned out for one hour a week in individual paddocks. They were used by advanced riders six hours a week for dressage, eventing or jumping lessons.

The study team watched the stalled horses for six weeks, noting their behavior several times each day. The scientists were specifically looking for clues that the horse was in a negative mental state—that he may be experiencing “compromised welfare” from being in a stall. The behaviors they were looking for included aggression toward people, cribbing or other stereotypies, hypervigilance, or a withdrawn posture, which indicated a depressed state.

The researchers then asked the head instructor three questions about each horse's way of going under saddle, including whether he was anxious or fearful, if he seemed uncomfortable, or if he was unwilling to go forward.

The final phase of the study had one rider who was unfamiliar with the horses ride each horse using the same tack. The rider was equipped with inertial sensors on her head and back. The horse wore a sensor on his girth. The ride was recorded, and an independent assessor noted behaviors that may indicate a negative attitude, like head shaking, tail swishing or bolting, as well as the horse's overall demeanor.

The scientists found a correlation between behavior in the stall and how a horse moved under saddle: Horses that were aggressive to humans while in their stalls had choppier gaits while being ridden. They also found that horses that were withdrawn in their stall were more reluctant to go forward when asked. The scientists conclude that a horse in a poor state of welfare is likely to be more unhappy when being ridden, linking welfare to performance.

Ruet suggests additional studies could be done to investigate whether management changes could influence a horse's mood and under-saddle movement.