from the Standardbred Retirement Foundation

Millstone Township, NJ — Nearly 15 years ago an adoption program, Harness Horse Retirement and Youth Program in Pennsylvania started and closed in a matter of a couple of years. The Standardbred Retirement Foundation took on the horses not yet adopted, but did not take on the responsibility of the adoptions already made.

All the horses adopted by HHYR were left in their homes without any follow-up, a great concern, but SRF’s tight funding prevented them from taking on the task. Today, one of those adopted by HHYR, Horn High Yo, an older mare, was taken in emaciated condition by Country Acres Animal Shelter in Homer, N.Y.

SRF continues to strongly urge adoption programs to follow-up on every home, this shows why, and the fact that being in a home for so many years is evidence that the length of time a horse is in a home has no bearing on whether the horse is likely to be safe.

Another such case is 27-year-old Toothless Joe, one of SRF’s adoptions who now needs a safe landing as the adopter can no longer care for him and isn’t willing to ship him back to SRF, a policy the adopter signed off on 14 years (SRF is arranging his safe return).

Moving horses off the track into homes is not the solution if follow-up for life is not implemented, it just creates a new problem.

In a recent Summit by the NY Task Force on Retired Racehorses, adoption programs spoke of the large number of Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds for which homes were found through their efforts, but other than the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and Sunshine Horses, none of those programs keep track of their horses to ensure good care remains in such homes.

It’s a recipe for disaster as statistics show that the average home only lasts just under four years for a Standardbred. Perhaps the very talented and sound Thoroughbreds will be resold for use but not all carry that value. For Standardbreds it’s a different market, there isn’t any, leaving them vulnerable to neglect.

Sunshine Horses of Memphis, N.Y., was one of the adoption programs at the recent Summit. Their adoption program also requires every horse adopted to come back into their program if an adopter can no longer provide good care. Their address to send a tax-deductible gift is Sunshine Horses, Inc., 7105 Kingdom Road, Memphis, N.Y.

The address to help Horn High Yo at Country Acres is 5852 West Scott Rd., Homer, NY 13077, or Paypal at info@countryacresanimalshelter.org. To help SRF with Toothless Joe or any of their 208 horses in need of homes, the address is 353 Sweetmans Lane, Millstone Twp., NJ 08535 or visit the website at www.Adoptahorse.org.