Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: ‘Quirky’ Kubo Cat Dished Out Challenges On Path To Success

Through centuries of the breed's development, the Thoroughbred is athletic, smart, sensitive, forward-looking, and forward-thinking. Being regarded as hot-blooded, the Thoroughbred is extreme in both positive and challenging moments.

Alison O'Dwyer and Kubo Cat offer great lessons about the extreme nature of Thoroughbreds and the challenges and benefits that go along with riding this roller coaster of equine experiences.

O'Dwyer won the 2021 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover in dressage. She also won the dressage discipline in 2019 and 2017, the previous two years that she entered.

Kubo Cat, Alison's dressage champion in 2021, is a 2016 chestnut Thoroughbred gelding bred in Louisiana who raced 16 times in his home state from Aug. 2018 to Dec. 2019. He never won, but he was second five times and third four times.

The five-minute freestyle test that Kubo and Alison did during the Thoroughbred Makeover Finale included a mix of higher-level movements like counter canters that showed off the horse's upper-level potential and foundational movements like simple lead changes fitting for a horse with less than a year of full-time dressage training. Present during the entire test was a calm, steady demeanor in the nerve-wracking competition setting inside the high-stimulation TCA Covered Arena.

Because Kubo Cat was for sale, Alison's phone started, well, I want to say “ringing off the hook,” but I realize we all use cell phones now. You get the idea. The market for OTTBs has grown exponentially because horses like Kubo Cat are tremendous ambassadors for the talent and versatility inherent in the Thoroughbred breed. My last two “Horowitz on OTTBs” columns have explored the nature side of Thoroughbred genetics and nurture side of the breed's development through a first career in racing.

Alison's experiences with Kubo Cat showcase a side of the breed that often gets lost when witnessing the breathtaking mix of beauty and athleticism of a Thoroughbred like him or the other horses that excel at the Thoroughbred Makeover.

For those that love Thoroughbreds, the extremes are worth it. Anybody that gets a Thoroughbred should be prepared for that.

Kubo Cat and O'Dwyer take a victory lap after their Makeover win

“It's a tough conversation to have with people,” O'Dwyer said. “My horse looked so quiet in that indoor. The flood of phone calls was all amateurs, and yes, he's an incredibly different creature than he used to be, but he had a legitimate behavioral problem when he came to our farm that it actually intimidated me.”

Of course, no one, O'Dwyer included, gets a Thoroughbred hoping to be challenged or intimidated that way. It usually starts as love at first sight.

“When I saw one picture of this horse, my gut just said that's a really nice horse,” O'Dwyer said.

We're in the midst of an online-dating-world of buying horses. People have more opportunities to find OTTBs today than ever before through social media and listing organizations like CANTER. Much like online dating, it's possible to fall in love with a horse from a picture and fantasize about what the future holds.

The people that reached out to Alison did that with Kubo Cat, but Alison knew better.

“He came to me very sour—like very, very sour,” Alison said. “I would get on his back, and I could maybe get him to trot one circle a certain direction, and as soon as I would go to change directions, he would just slam on the brakes and come to a complete halt with ears pinned. Then, he would start backing up and gave me that feeling that if I gave him a heavy correction, he was going to go up.”

Remember, this is coming from someone who retrains horses off the racetrack for new careers as sporthorses about as well as anyone.

“My first horse I ever had was a Thoroughbred mare that tortured me when I was a kid,” Alison said.

She laughed saying the word “tortured,” in appreciation of the totality of experiences, positive and negative, that a Thoroughbred can offer.

“I'm not sure I knew any better,” Alison said. “I think she bit me the first day I got her. She was way too hot for what a kid should probably have. It's not something I'd recommend for everybody, but in the end, I had such a wonderful partnership with her because I had to take it really slow and go back to basics.”

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Alison described a “safety net” of rules and working with more-experienced riders that made the partnership work. She and Something Special IV competed up to eventing's Training level of 3-foot-3 in 2003 when the mare was 21 and Alison was 15.

Then, her next horse, Rhythmic Drum, was also a Thoroughbred, a Montana-bred bay gelding who raced 21 times at tracks like Great Falls, Metrapark, and Playfair, won four times, and was in the top-three 11 times. Alison and Rhythmic Drum competed up to the FEI 1-star level.

With Kubo Cat, Alison asked her husband, the racehorse trainer Jerry O'Dwyer, to step in, calling him her “crash dummy, if I don't really know anything about the horse.”

Alison: “When Jerry came and got on him, he just sat on him at first and didn't do anything. I'm expecting fireworks, but he just sat there and took it slow and rewarded him any time he would go forward.”

Jerry: “I used to ride very loose on him, let him adapt that he's not going to be grabbed up and be asked to go fast anymore. It was just a case of letting him go forward and enjoying his life. They're very smart, the Thoroughbreds. They're like us, and sometimes they get a little sour to the same things. If you can freshen up their minds a little bit, they're going to work for you again.”

Alison: “I would go really slow and keep everything his [the horse's] idea.”

Jerry will also sometimes apply Alison's dressage techniques to race training to help his racehorses become more supple and evenly muscled. Or, he'll send horses to Alison's farm for cross-training in dressage.

Jerry: “I think the dressage is great for the horses because it does make them turn left, turn right. They get to relax a little bit and put their head down. It is a great benefit.”

Alison: “He'll send a horse in the chute back behind the starting gate and have it just do flat work and figure eights and serpentines with the riders, and I know he sees a lot of value in that.”

The teamwork has paid off for the O'Dwyers.

Kubo Cat and O'Dwyer at the Kentucky Horse Park

“Alison is a very good rider, and she puts a helluva lot of work and time and effort into it,” Jerry said. “What people saw at the Makeover with that horse was hours upon hours of her working with him. She used to take him off the farm to have a look at other things, and the two of them just got on well after that. The proof is in the pudding.”

Making the pudding is hard work, and people that get Thoroughbreds should be prepared to meticulously follow a recipe. Alison uses this mentality with selling her Thoroughbreds that she's trained off the track as well.

“I say I'm going to talk you out of this horse first, and if you're still interested, then you can come ride him,” Alison said. “That was really hard to do, especially with Kubo Cat last year because he looked so quiet, which was great for me because he won, but the flood of phone calls was from inappropriate people. This is not a horse that I can just sell to Sally Sue's mom. He was just a professional's horse, and it was very hard to convince people of that.”

Alison sold Kubo Cat to Leah Lang-Gluscic, an upper-level eventer who has taken the OTTB AP Prime up to the highest level of eventing at the 5-star level at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event in 2021.

“She's got a real love for the breed,” Alison said. “That's where I wanted him to be. I really think he has the talent to be an upper-level horse, and he has the attitude of an upper-level horse. I don't think he's going to be happy just sitting around with someone that just wants to hug him and brush him because he'll bite you. That just worked out perfectly.”

Kubo Cat's first USEA recognized event with Lang-Gluscic was a first-place finish at the Beginner Novice level of 2-foot-7 at the Horse Trials at Majestic Oaks in Florida earlier this month. They finished on their dressage score of 30.6 and had double clear cross country and stadium jumping rounds.

As with any relationship, it's about finding the right match and then putting in the hard work to make the relationship flourish. It's easy to fall in love at first sight with a horse. It's wonderful for the horse racing industry that more people are now doing that with Thoroughbreds. With many great aftercare organizations and resellers, there are many attractive dating profiles out there. But, making a life together takes a lot of hard work. As a standard, wanting a Thoroughbred that's not sensitive would be like wanting ice cream that's not cold.

With their expertise in racing and dressage, the O'Dwyers are the ultimate marriage counselors for Thoroughbred-lovers.

Jerry: “It's about trust for the horse and you and for you and the horse. To gain that trust, you have to go along slowly at the start, especially if you have a quirky one. With a couple weeks in their new discipline, you can see the calmness in their eye and how they settle down and start really enjoying their new life.”

Alison: “If you just take your time and keep the faith, I think all these creatures can come around and be great athletes and be great minds to work with.”

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T.I.P. Announces ’22 Shows & Youth Ambassadors; Expanded Championships at TB Makeover

Edited Press Release

The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.) announced Tuesday that it has approved more than 7,000 awards and classes at more than 1,400 shows in 46 states and six Canadian provinces in 2022.

Awards are available for multiple disciplines, including eventing, dressage, Western and English pleasure, hunter/jumper, endurance, barrel racing, and polocrosse. A full calendar of shows offering awards is available at tjctip.com/CalendarOfEvents and will be updated as show dates are confirmed.

In addition, T.I.P. will be splitting its T.I.P. Championships horse show into multiple events in 2022 and is announcing the dates and locations of two of the events at this time. After a successful Barrel Racing Championships in 2021, T.I.P. and the Retired Racehorse Project (RRP) are partnering to offer an expanded Western Championships and a Central Region Dressage Championships during the 2022 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, which will be held Oct. 12-15, 2022, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. The Western Championships will include divisions in barrel racing, Western pleasure, Western halter, ranch riding, Western dressage, and competitive trail. Dressage Championships will be offered in levels from Introductory through FEI Test of Choice.

The championships' being held with the RRP Thoroughbred Makeover is being announced to assist those considering an application for the Makeover by the Jan. 21, 2022, deadline. Additional dates and locations for the T.I.P. Championships will be announced later this month, and prize lists will be made available for the events in the spring.

“Following the positive reception of the T.I.P. Barrel Racing Championships at the Thoroughbred Makeover, we're thrilled to further our working relationship with T.I.P. in 2022,” said Kirsten Green, interim executive director of the Retired Racehorse Project. “Participating in T.I.P. shows and classes is a great complement to Makeover preparation and a natural progression for Makeover graduates, so we're looking forward to hosting the expanded division offerings at the 2022 Thoroughbred Makeover and bringing more Thoroughbred lovers together for an amazing week.”

In addition, T.I.P. will be offering year-end or championship awards in association with the American Endurance Ride Conference, American Polocrosse Association, Equine Trail Sports, Interscholastic Equestrian Association, United States Eventing Association, United States Pony Club, and United States Dressage Federation.

“The popularity of and enthusiasm for T.I.P. has enabled us to expand to be larger than ever this year,” said Kristin Werner, senior counsel for The Jockey Club and administrator of T.I.P. “T.I.P.'s growth demonstrates the popularity and demand for Thoroughbreds across the country for careers in a variety of disciplines.”

T.I.P. is also announcing its youth ambassadors for the 2022 T.I.P. Youth Ambassador Program. The 13 ambassadors come from nine states and cover multiple disciplines. The following are the 2022 T.I.P. youth ambassadors: Julia Buytenhuys (VA), Lottie Crawford (Returning, VA), Karlie Dennis (PA), Brooke Galvin (FL), Emma Hill (SC), Rylee Koll (MI), Savannah Lacey (MD), Bella Anne Park (AR), Ashlynn Riley (IA), Madeline Rutledge (VA), Connor Stegeman (LA), Emilie Stevens (LA),

Anna Szefc (VA).

Additional information about the Youth Ambassador Program is available at tjctip.com/About/TBYPAM.

Created and announced in October 2011, T.I.P. recognizes and rewards the versatility of the Thoroughbred through sponsorship of Thoroughbred classes and high point awards at sanctioned horse shows, performance awards, and non-competition awards. In addition to the complete schedule of T.I.P.-sponsored shows, other information about the program is available on the T.I.P. website, tjctip.com. Those interested in T.I.P. can follow the program at facebook.com/tjctip.

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New Vocations Opens Satellite Facility Near Ocala For Rehabbing, Retraining And Rehoming

New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program has announced that it has opened a satellite facility near Ocala, Fla., as it continues to expand its aftercare efforts. The new facility will focus on rehabbing, retraining and rehoming retiring Thoroughbred racehorses.

The nation's oldest and largest racehorse adoption charity now has nine facilities in six states.

The newest facility is based at Trillium Sport Horses in Anthony, just a few miles from Ocala. Erin MacDonald, an international three-day eventing rider with years of experience restarting off-track Thoroughbreds in new careers, will oversee the horses' rehabilitation and training.

New Vocations' Thoroughbred Program Director Anna Ford said there's been a need for a Florida facility for several years.

“On average, 60 horses each year are shipped more than 700 miles from Florida to our Lexington facility,” Ford said. “Horses coming from Florida racetracks and training centers will now have a much shorter travel distance and duration as they start their next chapters.”

MacDonald said, “It is so gratifying to help a Thoroughbred smoothly transition into a second career after the races. I am honored to be working with such an outstanding aftercare organization and to join in their efforts to provide Florida-based horses and their connections with a quality rehabilitation and retraining program.”

Ford said an Ocala-area facility has been part of New Vocations' strategic plan for the past couple years, but it has been delayed by the pandemic.

“As the need for our aftercare services continues to grow we will do our best to expand and accommodate more horses,” she said.

The first horses arrived at the Florida facility in late 2021. Thus far, three have been adopted into experience, loving homes. Several more horses are making progress in various stages of rehab and training and will be available for adoption soon.

For information on donating a horse to the Florida facility or supporting its efforts, visit newvocation.org/donate_a_horse, call (859) 252-9574 or e-mail anna@horseadoption.com.

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Australian Thoroughbred Welfare Report Emphasizes Traceability, Need For New Group To Deal With OTTB Challenges

An Australian task force recently released a 141-page report summarizing its investigation into Thoroughbred welfare in that country. The group analyzed data from a number of surveys, collected feedback from more than 180 people inside and outside of the racing industry, and held consultation meetings with more than 50 organizations and individuals since March 2020 – all in an effort to define how Australian racing can improve welfare of its Thoroughbreds.

The impetus for the project was a television feature by ABC's 7.30 program about the gaps in Australia's aftercare system, highlighted by shocking video footage of ex-racehorses being abused prior to being killed in a slaughterhouse. The panel, comprised of veterinarians and government advisors, was supported by an industry working group which included trainers, owners, breeders, and jockey representatives.

The final report laid out 46 recommendations for change, many of which the panel believed could be handled by a new organization it tentatively called Thoroughbred Welfare Australia. Although Australian racing is governed differently than racing in the United States, there were a number of familiar echoes in both the challenges identified by the group and potential solutions.

The report's authors, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Welfare Working Group (TAWWG) tackled head-on the philosophical challenge that divides some in American racing when it comes to off-track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs). TAWWG acknowledges that “many Thoroughbreds will spend the vast majority of their lives outside the industry” and also that in many cases (including the actions of the slaughterhouse workers featured in the ABC piece), acts of abuse or neglect are perpetrated on ex-racehorses by people who are not licensed by racing authorities. Many of those people may end up with racehorses years and multiple degrees of separation after the horses' retirement from racing or purpose breeding. Nonetheless, TAWWG points out, the public does not seem to recognize a change in the racing industry's responsibility towards these horses simply due to their change in careers.

As in American racing, TAWWG and others have found it difficult to come up with micro-level solutions for aftercare challenges because there is not sufficient recordkeeping on current or former racehorses. One of the group's biggest suggestions was that the industry improve traceability of Thoroughbreds, ideally as part of a national system for traceability of all horses. In Australia, as in the States, horses considered by governments to be livestock in some contexts, but not others. For the purposes of traceability, they are not monitored the same way as animals more commonly entering the human food chain like cattle, whose migration between farms and facilities must be traced for food safety purposes. As such, it is difficult to know how many horses retire from racing in need of homes, how many successfully find long-term second careers, how many are slaughtered, how many are ultimately part of neglect cases, etc.

Australian racing authorities, like The Jockey Club, do require check-ins from owners and trainers at different parts of the Thoroughbred's life cycle. TAWWG commissioned a series of surveys to learn more about how accurate this check-in data was, and also to try to gain a sense of how many horses were coming off the track in need of new careers.

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In a 2020 study, Dr. Meredith Flash and the Australian Thoroughbred Wellbeing Project at the University of Melbourne took a look at birth records, race records, and retirement records for Thoroughbreds and found that 28 percent of horses of registered horses had not officially entered training by the age of four. Of those, a survey found 38 percent had died, 29 percent had been diverted to new careers, and 24 percent were in unofficial training by an unlicensed trainer. The survey was only answered by a fraction of potential respondents, but the data could indicate as many as 10 percent of Australia's foal crop dies before the age of four without ever racing.

In somewhat more encouraging news however, a separate study found that by the age of eight, 65 percent of racing Thoroughbreds were retired and rehomed. Fifty-nine percent of retirements were voluntary (not due to injury) while 28 percent were due to injury.

Overall, Flash's research found that the median age for retirement was five. Interestingly, there was also an increase in the percentage of the foal crop that raced at three between 2000 and 2016, suggesting improved health and welfare for the foal crop overall. When pulling together available data on breeding activity, Flash and others estimate that 66 percent of each foal crop would require aftercare options. Based on current Australian foal crops, that results in about 8,535 horses each year that will leave the industry in need of rehoming. That figure does not include horses that retire to breeding careers, nor horses that retire from breeding careers later.

The report also tackled the question of whether slaughter was an acceptable end to a Thoroughbred's life. While some members of the industry were accepting of the concept philosophically, TAWWG pointed out that ethical slaughter of horses has specific requirements for facility set-up and handling to minimize stress on the animals if it is to be done humanely. (Slaughter, both for human consumption abroad and for use in animal products, is legal in Australia.)

The report indicated a need for universal welfare standards for horses, to better enable enforcement action from Thoroughbred regulators and law enforcement for mistreatment of horses, including ex-racehorses.

The new group would be charged with establishing a “national Thoroughbred safety net” for any horse who may need rescue from poor welfare situations, working with local, state, and national authorities to create a national traceability register, create diverse opportunities for Thoroughbreds in new career, build a consensus welfare standard, develop training continuing education for licensees to ease a horse's eventual transition to an off-track career, and more. And where would the money come from for such a system? Mandatory fees for breeders ($300 on foal registration), owners ($300 when a horse is registered as a racing animals), trainers (1% of earnings), jockeys (1% of earnings), the breed registry ($1 million to $1.5 million), donations, and sponsorships. Altogether, the report estimated the new organization would have $9.9 million to $10.8 million in funding, based on current numbers.

“Without the contribution of its horses, everything from the major racing carnivals that attract international attention, the 80,000 jobs the industry supports nationwide, through to the hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes raised each year, do not exist,” the report's authors wrote. “It is therefore incumbent on the industry to take all reasonable steps to ensure the welfare of its horses, including those that have retired from the racetrack and the breeding farm. Indeed, the very future of the Australian Thoroughbred industry is at risk if lifelong horse welfare is not addressed.”

Access the full report here.

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