The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is our industry's oldest charitable organization devoted to aftercare, launched in 1982 by Monique Koehler and providing sanctuary or second careers to thousands of horses in the decades that followed.
Aftercare has grown significantly since the TRF's founding, in the number of organizations that provide opportunities for retired Thoroughbreds and in awareness among many in the industry that it is simply the right thing to do,
TRF's Kim Weir joins publisher Ray Paulick and news editor Chelsea Hackbarth in this week's edition of the Friday Show to talk about the TRF's Second Chances program that teams ex-racehorses with incarcerated men and women as part of a rehabilitation and vocational effort to get those individuals prepared for life outside of prison.
Weir is especially excited about an upcoming Horse Show on Oct. 21 that will be streamed live to showcase some of those inmates and the horses they care for. Go to www.trfinc.org for details.
Hackbarth had the opportunity recently to see real-world results of the program, writing about former Blackburn Correctional inmate Josh Ison, now working at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. (Read the story here.) “The TRF Second Chances program at Blackburn taught me patience with horses, and people,” Ison said.
Paulick and Hackbarth review Woodbine Star of the Week God of Love, Mark Casse's third consecutive Cup and Saucer Stakes winner. The 2-year-old colt is the 99th stakes winner for Eclipse Thoroughbreds, a partnership that had its first runner 10 years to the day before the Oct. 10 Cup and Saucer.
Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Woodbine, below:
For the first time in his life, Josh Ison loves coming to work in the morning. It's a blessing he never could have imagined during the early days of his four years behind bars.
“Sometimes I can't believe this happened for me,” Ison said reverently last week, leaning against a bale of straw in the quarantine barn at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky.
He looked down for a moment.
“It's different from anywhere else I've worked,” he continued. “They take care of me, no matter what, whatever I need. Like, when I got out, [my boss] came and got me and took me to get clothes and all that. I mean, who else is going to do all that?”
Ison, 40, is a graduate of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's Second Chances program at Blackburn Correctional Facility. The eight-month program utilizes a herd of more than 50 retired racehorses to help inmates build life skills while participating in a vocational training program. Inmates learn to work with the horses one-on-one in a round pen, to trim their feet, and to provide daily care, as well as taking lessons on equine anatomy and physiology in a classroom.
“The TRF Second Chances program at Blackburn taught me patience with horses, and people,” Ison said. “You're locked up, you know, and there's all kinds of different people. But when you get down there, it's a whole different story. You're not locked up anymore. It's freedom.”
Considering his role on the facilities maintenance team at Rood & Riddle, Ison acknowledges that his time in the Blackburn program helped him become the kind of man he wants to be. Now, it's the support of his boss and his coworkers at Rood & Riddle that are helping him to continue that growth.
“Why do I like working at Rood & Riddle? It's a family,” Ison said. “We're all together. If anybody needs help, anybody that needs anything, it's gonna be done for them. That's what I like about it. And the horses, I love it. That's why I show up every day.”
Ison grew up in the southeastern part of Kentucky, coal country.
“I worked in coal mines all my life, and you don't miss work there,” Ison explained. “I've always been used to production, and this [job at Rood & Riddle] is nothing about production. That's hard for me to comprehend sometimes, because I get caught up, and I want to do everything right then. But you have to slow down and take your time with it, because every horse is different.
“It's all about patient care, making sure everything's taken care of with the horses. The horses are first, no matter what. After that, I take care of some maintenance things; I do everything.”
Ison did have some experience with horses as a child, when his family would go for trail rides and picnics on horseback, but he had never been involved with them up close, every day. That all changed when he was able to enter the program at Blackburn.
“My favorite horse was Big Time Spender,” he said. “That's the one I fooled with every day. We'd lunge them, you know, learning how to train them in the round pen. But mostly I just liked to curry him off, getting to know him, developing a relationship. I loved that horse.”
Big Time Spender is a 21-year-old bay gelding who raced 97 times in his career, compiling a record of eight wins, 10 seconds, and seven thirds. He earned $73,045 on the track, last racing in 2008.
Working with Big Time Spender on the lunge line is about “getting his respect,” Ison explained. “He's a good horse, though. He knows everything. You have to show him you're not scared of him. You just have to get a feel for each other. It's something you can't really explain, or I can't, anyway.”
Ison's hands-on equine skills are one of the reasons Rood & Riddle's Facilities Manager Erin Mathes decided to hire him after his release, but it also came down to his personality.
“Josh has a great sense of humor,” Mathes said. “He's a good guy; I think he'd do anything for anyone, but the big thing is he's really smart and funny. I actually enjoy working with him, and we work together quite a bit.”
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Ison had learned how to interview for the job thanks to Laurie Mays, the Equine Talent Pipeline Project Manager for the Kentucky Equine Education Project. Mays is the connection between Blackburn and Rood & Riddle.
“Rood & Riddle has definitely decided to become this kind of partner in the industry, because we are looking for people who want to work in it,” Mathes explained. “Josh is not my first Second Chances hire, but he is one of my first three.
“Josh came with the horse knowledge from the Blackburn project, but it's so different from the knowledge that we need him to have here. Those are horses that have been in the program for a long time, they're very broke, and here we see a lot of new horses every day, and you never know what you're going to get. It's something we are slowly building on with him, but Josh embraced every job here. He wanted to be involved as much as possible with anything and everything.
“Josh came to us with a background in not just horses through the Blackburn project, but also in construction and landscaping — a little bit of everything. He wanted to do everything, so as facilities manager, I got him as involved as possible.
“He comes across to me as an employee who wants to be challenged with different things every day. I know, with where he was, for the time he was in, it was a good thing for him to be continuously active and involved. With that, he gets to meet different people, and I think he's made some friends here, so he's part of a big team.”
Ison agreed that keeping himself busy has been the best way to keep moving forward since his release. Still, his favorite part of the job is being able to work with the youngest horses at the hospital.
“To go out in the pen and put my hands on them, to rub on them… I love it,” he said.
The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, in collaboration with TRF board member Anita Motion, will host a silent auction of original artwork to benefit the nearly 500 horses in the care of the organization. The event will be held at Belmont Park on Saturday, Oct. 9.
The display featuring the artwork will be set up in the Clubhouse Lobby at Belmont Park and will run throughout the day starting when gates open at 11:00 a.m. The auction will close at approximately 4:52 p.m. the start of the day's ninth race on the eleven race card. Art must be paid for and picked up by 5:30 p.m. on the day of the event.
The artwork up for auction features original pieces by acclaimed artists featuring Off the Track Thoroughbreds thriving in second careers and was organized by TRF board member Anita Motion.
“There is nothing more beautiful than a Thoroughbred,” said Motion. “These pieces showcase the beauty and versatility of these amazing athletes and we are excited to offer racing fans a chance to get one of these incredible pieces for their own home all while benefiting a very deserving cause.”
Details
When: Saturday, October 9th, 11:00 a.m.
Where: Clubhouse Lobby, Belmont Park
About TRF: Founded in 1983, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is a national organization devoted to saving Thoroughbred horses no longer able to compete at the racetrack from possible neglect, abuse, and slaughter. As the oldest Thoroughbred rescue in the country, the TRF provides lifelong sanctuary to retired Thoroughbreds throughout their lifetime.
Best known for its pioneering TRF Second Chances program, the organization provides incarcerated individuals with life-changing vocational training through its accredited equine care and stable management program. At eight correctional facilities across the US, including one juvenile justice facility, this program offers second careers to its horses and a second chance at life for program graduates upon release from prison. The TRF Second Chances Program at the Wallkill Correctional Facility provides a home for 40 retired Thoroughbred racehorses and has been changing the lives of returning citizens for nearly forty years.
The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, in collaboration with TRF board member Anita Motion, will host a silent auction of original artwork to benefit the nearly 500 horses in the care of the organization. The event will be held at Belmont Park this Saturday, Oct. 9.
The display featuring the artwork will be set up in the Clubhouse Lobby at Belmont Park and will run throughout the day starting when gates open at 11:00 a.m. The auction will close at approximately 4:52 p.m., which is the scheduled post time of the day's ninth race on the 11-race card. Art must be paid for and picked up by 5:30 p.m. on the day of the event.
The artwork up for auction features original pieces by acclaimed artists featuring Off the Track Thoroughbreds thriving in second careers and was organized by TRF board member Anita Motion.
“There is nothing more beautiful than a Thoroughbred,” said Motion. “These pieces showcase the beauty and versatility of these amazing athletes and we are excited to offer racing fans a chance to get one of these incredible pieces for their own home all while benefitting a very deserving cause.”
