At Outside In, OTTBS Bring Needed Comfort

Jennifer McVoy is a Licensed Master Social Worker and the founder of Out Side In, located in Grand Haven, MI, who grew up riding and showing Arabians. Her first educational degree was in business and she began her work life in the corporate world, but, early on, she decided that it wasn’t for her and went back to school to earn her Master’s Degree in Social Work. For 15 years, she practiced traditional therapy in a public-school setting and was always aware that horses could make a difference for people in need. Just over 10 years ago, she made her first foray into equine-assisted work. The enhancement to her traditional practice was so profound that she expanded and brought in a second horse, an off-track Thoroughbred that she found in a classified ad. McVoy’s practice took off, so she purchased a 25-acre farm, has incorporated an average of 18-22 OTTBs at a time, and has become a Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance-accredited aftercare organization.

The mission at Out Side In is threefold. The organization focuses on providing psychotherapy, a unique 12-week program for veterans, and Thoroughbred aftercare. The majority of the clients participating in psychotherapy and the veterans’ program are severe trauma victims with post-traumatic stress disorder. Many have attempted suicide or have had suicide ideation. Many clients are referred to Out Side In because they are considered treatment-resistant, meaning these women, men, teens and children have refused treatment, or that other therapies have failed for them.

“We take the hardest cases and we have success where other therapists do not,” said McVoy. “In many situations, I say just get him or her here and if need be, I bring a horse to the car.”

Out Side In employs six therapists and all have a deep background in horses. On the first visit to Out Side In, the therapist and client go into the pasture to meet the herd of Thoroughbreds. To ease the client into the treatment process, they ask questions related to the horses which bring out answers about themselves and the issues they are facing. Inevitably, one horse will be especially interested and pick that person.

“We don’t really know why one horse connects with a certain person,” said McVoy. “All it takes is that one moment when the horse comes over and chooses the client. In that bonding moment, the walls in the person just come down.”

Over its almost 10 years of operation, Out Side In has grown and become established in the community for its unique success rate, serving 150 people per week. Because they practice traditional psychotherapy, enhanced with the participation of horses, client care is often covered by insurance and Medicaid for uninsured or under-insured clients. With the help of local supporters, Out Side In grew from one pasture with a port-a-potty to a state-of-the-art facility with a more-than 20,000-square foot indoor arena, six treatment rooms, a waiting room, and 16 stalls. Thoroughbreds are the only horses helping with therapy.

“After nine years, the Thoroughbreds still amaze me every day,” said McVoy. “I will only do this work with Thoroughbreds. They are intelligent, perceptive and they love to be with people. Especially with the difficult cases we handle, there is so much to work with.”

The veterans program, Heroes for Horses, pairs three veterans at a time each with a horse, recently off the track, for 12 weeks. Together, they work through their many common experiences.
“Just like veterans, foster kids, survivors of abuse and trauma, and all people, racehorses have life experiences that shape their personalities and how they interact with others,” said McVoy. “We can watch the herd and talk about how the horses adapt to their circumstances, like being moved from one home to another and having to become part of a new herd or family.”

Often previously treatment-resistant veterans will ask to stay and volunteer to help other horses when their 12-week program has ended. One such veteran suffered from severe PTSD and had tried therapy at the VA that was not successful. He wife pressed him for three years to visit Out Side In. Finally, when she gave him an ultimatum, he agreed.

“He bonded early on with one mare, Theteflonwarrior (Killenaule), and completed the program,” said McVoy. “He lives close by and he still comes and helps early in the morning before we open. He even had a picture of the mare and our logo tattooed on his neck. He said she saved his life.”

Out Side In retrains and adopts out two to three OTTBs a year to make room for new rescues. Esla Mambo (Black Mambo), the second OTTB to enter Out Side In, came through CANTER. He ended his racing career with 38 starts and close to $50,000 in earnings at Hawthorne Race Course. He is the herd leader and the calm quiet type–often the gateway horse to ease the initial fears of new clients.

“Esla Mambo is our go-to horse when people are nervous about horses,” said McVoy. “It’s funny because he is the biggest horse but he is a gentle herd leader and we can trust him around everyone.”

“We have a wonderful therapy client who my daughter is now teaching to ride on Esla. It was always her dream to learn to ride. She is 82. She started therapy with us when she lost her husband a few years ago.”

Out Side In serves many children and teens who have been abused and are now in the foster care system.

“I just did an intake of two children who witnessed their father shoot their mother in the head,” said McVoy. “She survived and brought them to us. For them and for many others, being with the horses becomes the only good experience in their life.”

“So many kids have done nothing wrong and no good situation exists for them in their home or in being removed from their home. At Out Side In, in spite of everything, they can have an hour of happiness. I always let them sit on a horse and then a kid who has nothing good in his life to talk about can go to school the next day and say `I rode a racehorse.'”

For more information about Out Side In, visit https://www.outsideintherapy.com/

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Stronach Group, Maryland Horsemen Reach Agreement On Lasix-Free Pilot Program, Racing Dates

The Maryland Jockey Club, The Stronach Group and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association have reached an agreement for a Lasix-free pilot program through 2023 that will facilitate Lasix-free races for 2-year-old horses, Lasix-free graded stakes, a minimum number of racing days per week during any Maryland Jockey Club meet and a substantial increase in committed funding for the Beyond The Wire aftercare program.

The program, which was the result of weeks of good-faith discussions among all parties, was reviewed and approved subject to the adoption of emergency regulations, which will hopefully be advanced in short order, by the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) at its July 16 meeting.

Under the agreement, in 2020 Lasix will not be administered to 2-year-olds within 48 hours of a race. From 2021 through 2023, 2-year-old races and graded stakes will be carded Lasix-free. As a result of COVID-19, live racing has been held only twice a week since Laurel Park reopened at the end of May. This agreement provides for a minimum of three live racing days per week during all Maryland Jockey Club meets at current purse levels beginning July 23.

The agreement also calls for a study with respect to Lasix-free racing and states, “The parties agree to discuss in good faith, in consultation with the MRC, the development, implementation and funding of a study and related protocols for post-race scoping of horses to obtain relevant data. The protocols for such study shall include, but not be limited to, establishment of study research parameters and objectives; identification and selection of the horse population for the study; development of scoring, criteria and other scientific methods; selection of persons to conduct the study; and other matters relevant to the study.”

Importantly, the joint agreement paves the way for an enhanced commitment to racehorse aftercare in Maryland through the Beyond The Wire program, which relies heavily on an $11 per-start contribution from owners. That revenue wasn't generated when Laurel was shut down for two-and-a-half months because of COVID-19 restrictions.

The post Stronach Group, Maryland Horsemen Reach Agreement On Lasix-Free Pilot Program, Racing Dates appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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On Aftercare: With Pardo At the Helm, Aftercare Charles Town Stays on Track

Aftercare of Charles Town (ACT) was founded in 2013 under the corporate name of Equine Encore Performance at Charles Town. ACT’s stated purpose is the rehoming, repurposing and retirement of Thoroughbreds that have raced and trained at Charles Town Races located in Charles Town, WV. The program was started with a fund from the Charles Town Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and is supplemented with a paddock fee (start fee) of $5 per start. Until last fall, the paddock fee contribution was $2 per start. In 2019, ACT assisted 43 horses. The program operates with just a small volunteer board and no employees. I caught up with Georgiana Pardo, the current volunteer president who guides the organization and maximizes its tight budget while maintaining high standards in their careful placements of the Thoroughbreds entrusted to them.

DP: Georgiana, what is your background and how did you come to this post at Aftercare Charles Town?

GP: I have a small general practice law firm in Charles Town. I’ve ridden most of my life and had off-track Thoroughbreds as my riding horses. In late 2016, a friend of mine was on the board and she contacted me to ask me if I was interested in serving. I said yes right away because it was something I care about. I became the president in 2018.

DP: What makes you most proud about serving on the board and as president of ACT?

GP: ACT may be a small program, but we have high standards and insist on quality programs for our horses and I think we can hold our head up, even among some of the more well-funded heavy hitters in the track-based aftercare realm.  We are down in the trenches doing the actual hard work of dealing with the needs of each individual horse and creating good outcomes. It is very satisfying to see the horses and their new owners happy and connected.

DP: Can you give us an overview of how the program operates?

GP: Horsemen file paperwork with us to accept horses that have raced or are racing at Charles Town. Because most of the funding comes from the horsemen at Charles Town, we have guidelines that allow us to serve the horses that have primarily raced here. We also require vet records to help us get a picture of the horse’s soundness and what sort of second career will be most appropriate for the horse. Based on the horse and its potential, we arrange for it to go to one of our placement partners where the horse will be rehabilitated, retrained and adopted out. We provide a stipend and pay for procedures that are needed to make a horse sound for a second riding career.

DP: How do you choose your placement partners?

GP: We work with non-profit organizations who are experienced, do follow-up and provide a safety net if that horse is returned. Each horse is a unique individual with personality and potential. I am not sure that everyone understands the amount of time and effort and skill it takes to give a horse the best chance of ending up in the right place and in the best condition. We look for partners who have experience and care about identifying the issues, doing the appropriate rehab, making full disclosure to the potential adopters and then matching the adopter to that horse and what conditions the horse may have.

DP: Did the COVID19 pandemic affect your organization financially?

GP: Yes, when racing stopped our income from paddock fees stopped so that has seriously impacted our budget.

DP: When the track was forced to close, did you see an increase in requests to accept horses?

GP: Surprisingly, no. We expected that we would receive more requests to place horses, but we did not. I think that the Horses First Fund relief effort as well as generous in-kind donations from Triple Crown and Blue Seal helped horsemen to feed their horses and hold on to their stables until racing started up again.

DP: How did the relief program work?

GP: We partnered with Thoroughbred Charities of America, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, the Charles Town HBPA, Southern States, Gower’s Feed and Triple Crown to aid trainers facing economic hardship due to the cancellation of racing, with horse feed and forage.

DP: What is your greatest challenge going forward in 2020 and beyond?

GP: Our greatest challenge is that our funding is limited even with the supplemental private donations that we receive. With better funding, we could place more horses. We also need to convince more horsemen that aftercare should be their first choice when a horse is ready to retire from racing.

DP: What do you see as the greatest opportunity going forward?

GP: After Care Charles Town is a great example of how a racetrack and its horsemen have stepped up to help provide reliable equine retirement options. Racing’s image with respect to horse welfare is only as good as the latest story out in the public on aftercare. It doesn’t matter to the public if the horse is a champion or never broke its maiden. So, every story should be a good one. Every racehorse deserves a safe and secure retirement. They don’t know if they made $2 or $2 million. The horse that never managed to break his or her maiden tried just as hard as the multiple graded stakes winner, and they are equally valuable and deserving of a good life after racing. Adequately funded aftercare at every track for every horse is achievable and it is a worthy investment for all involved: the owners and trainers; the horses; and the horses’ new owners/adopters. Everyone wins in this scenario.

For more information on Aftercare Charles Town and to reach Georgiana Pardo, go to tbaftercare.org or email tbaftercare@gmail.com.

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American Pharoah Halter Headlines Iowa Aftercare Auction

Ashford Stud has donated a halter won by its resident Triple Crown winner American Pharoah for an upcoming online auction to benefit Hope After Racing Thoroughbreds (HART), an Iowa-based aftercare organization.

The silent-auction fundraiser will be held exclusively online beginning at noon Friday, June 26 and will conclude Friday, July 3, at 8:30 p.m. Central time. The auction features other memorabilia, services, photos, paintings, tack and more. All the proceeds go to HART’s care, rehabilitation, retraining and rehoming of retired racehorses from Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino. Those wishing to donate outside of the auction may do so directly through HART’s website at iahart.org.

“We’re so grateful to Ashford Stud for donating this halter worn by one of the all-time greats,” said HART president Jon Moss. “This is a chance for a racing, horse or sports enthusiast to own this priceless memorabilia while helping horses that don’t have a set future when they are through racing. HART finds safe, loving homes for our retired racehorses, preparing them for second careers in the show ring, eventing, trail riding or simply as pleasure or companion horses.”

To view items, create an online account or for more information, go to www.32auctions.com/hart2020.

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