March 28, 2025
S2 E18: 4,400 OTTBs Rehomed and Counting! Turning For Home’s Partner Farm Model & the Future of Aftercare
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We’re back with Danielle Montgomery for Part 2 of our deep dive into Turning For Home, one of the most effective and scalable Thoroughbred aftercare programs in the country. In this episode, we focus on what makes their approach so successful—namely, their partner farm model, lifetime safety net, and emphasis on long-term support for every horse that leaves the track at Parx Racing.
With over 4,400 OTTBs rehomed and counting, Turning For Home has built a nationwide network of trusted partner farms, each committed to retraining and transitioning retired racehorses into second careers ranging from eventing and dressage to trail riding and Western disciplines. Danielle walks us through how these partnerships work, what sets Turning For Home apart in the OTTB adoption space, and what the future of Thoroughbred aftercare looks like from the inside out.
We also talk about the organization’s impact on events like the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover, its unique lifetime relocation guarantee, and how their team is working to educate adopters, support trainers, and strengthen the OTTB pipeline from racetrack to new home.
This episode is packed with insights for anyone passionate about OTTBs, Thoroughbred rehoming, or improving the lifecycle of the Thoroughbred racehorse.
S2 E18: 4,400 OTTBs Rehomed and Counting! Turning For Home’s Partner Farm Model & the Future of Aftercare (Transcript)
[00:00:00] Hi everybody, and welcome back to OTTB on Tap. I'm Niamh. And I'm Emily. Hey Niamh, what's on tap today? Today, we're thrilled to have Danielle Montgomery from Turning for Home, an incredible thoroughbred aftercare organization doing amazing work in the OTTB world.
Over the last 17 years, they have developed their retirement program through Parks Racing to rehome OTTBs in second careers. We're so excited to have Danielle here to share her story. And talk about what sets turning for home apart.
This is part two of our series on Turning for Home. Go back and listen to part one if you're just joining us to find out all about how Turning for Home came to be and Danielle's background in the industry.
Now let's pick up where we left off.
Moving on to your adoption process, can you tell us a little bit about the adoption process and how the contract works? I've recently filled out one of these contracts, so I could speak to a little bit, but if you would just, fill in the gaps there.
so with turning for home adopting horses, just like buying it, except that you have that added protection of the PTHA and all of our horsemen.
So we have a policy where we'll take any horse back for any reason for the rest of its life. So you have that protection in there. That's the only reason it's an adoption rather than a sale is that. A, we do have contracts. We do make sure that the farms have their bill of sale.
That's between you and the farm that you buy the horse from. And then we have a right of first refusal between turning for home and you that we ask if you do resell the horse, let us know before the horse leaves. Where the horse is going. And very rarely do we ever use our right of first refusal.
It's more of a legal way for us to track them and make sure they're safe. So adopting is just buying the horse. But like I said, you have that added protection of the whole horseman's organization that we just want to make sure that they're safe and sound and, different than buying a horse directly off the track.
So if you bought a horse directly off the track and you didn't fall in love right away, what is going to happen to the horse? It has no way to go back. They can't go back to the track and not all owners and trainers at the racetrack have their own farms that they could bring the horse back. So that's why it's just better to adopt from from a aftercare organization, because if it doesn't work out sometimes people try 20 horses before they find the one that's their forever horse and some people, find it the first time.
But if you need to send the horse back and it doesn't work out for whatever reason, we're here for that. So it's pretty much the same. As buying, we're just here to make sure everybody's happy. And I think that protection helps all the parties involved as well. And it's always putting the horse first for sure.
I was just thinking that when you were talking about the numbers of horses that you are able to rehome every year, that it would be almost impossible to have one farm, like if it was your farm, with that kind of land and that kind of infrastructure. So having all the partner farms is such a unique and cool way to do it because you can always Adjusts the individual horses needs and you always have a safe spot if one farm doesn't have room then you've got another one to rely on versus having a limited static amount of space for your own headquarters essentially, so it's very cool.
Now we're going to switch gears again and we're going to talk about Turning for Home and the Retired Racehorse Project. Turning for Home has a strong connection with the Retired Racehorse Project, particularly the Thoroughbred Makeover. This year, both June Hillman of Castle Rock Farm, one of your partner farm owners, and I will be participating with horses from Turning for Home.
What does the event mean to you and the organization?
I love the retired racehorse project. I think they've done such a great job. It started out with Stuart Pittman's vision, back in Marlin, back, in 2015, I think 2014 might've been the first one that they did a little presentation on the racetrack there. We actually tried to get them to do that here at parks.
They was like no. They let us do a little bit for turning for home day, but I just thought it's such a great way to really. what these horses do, because a lot of the owners and trainers don't really realize the potential of these horses. So back then we were all on board because we just wanted our horseman to actually see what we see, you and I can see that, these horses can do.
But people, especially the people that were asking to do the right thing and give the horses to us for retraining and rehoming, they sometimes don't see past the racetrack and they think, oh, the horse is done here. It's done everywhere. It's not. So that mission is such a parallel between the retired racehorse project and turning for home just to showcase what these horses can do after racing in order to create more pathways for them.
So for me at the racetrack level, of course we always want to find adopters, but I really was thrilled with the fact that here's a showcase that, really. include the racetrack owners and trainers, and they invite them to come out and they send, postcards to the breeders and owners and your horses competing.
And, people work so hard at the racetrack. They're here at five o'clock in the morning. They work 12 hour days. Sometimes they're racing at night, getting two hours worth of sleep. They don't always have the time to make the connections that you and I have, but I thought it was really important to showcase that so I love the makeover.
I've been there. I actually competed one year. My daughter competed. She's actually competed twice. She ran second once on little red rodeo. And then she came back for the mega makeover on David and this year. We have a whole slew of training for home partner farms going, because we have Castle Rock going with you in June Lex Ryan from Ears and Gears.
She's going on a horse that we actually saved from a bad situation. Unfortunately one of the farms just got in trouble and we brought Vero back. So I'm really excited to see his story go from, an actual kind of rescue to to the makeover and my granddaughter is coming and she's showing and I don't know if you've seen, we did a lot of promotions for Ashlyn Tate and her horse Pansy through Training for Home and Ashlyn, you know I have a passion for the Western horses and getting the thoroughbreds involved in the Western because a lot of people, I grew up with [00:06:00] them saying you can't do that and I'm always thrilled when we create more homes.
We've create, just cascades, right? It's exponential. So all the girls at rodeo saw Ashley doing so well on pansy and now all the rodeo girls are like, Oh, wow, here's a great alternative to the traditional. Quarter Horse. Pansy has been such a great ambassador for Turning for Home and for Thoroughbreds.
She actually qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo at all four events on a Thoroughbred. Yeah, so her and Pansy they've done great. Great work. At the local level, in South Jersey, she's from, and she did the New Jersey High School Rodeo. And then she went out to Wyoming and competed, in goat tying, roping barrel racing.
Yeah. We actually, she even came to the Harrisburg Horse World Expo with us last year in 24 and, showed that she can rope off a thoroughbred. A lot of people, they don't realize that these horses are so good minded. They can do rodeo, too, because rodeo is known for, the crowds and the lights and everything that makes, a horse crazy.
And they're like, oh, theropods can't do that. But think about it. What happens here on the racetrack, they see way more here than they see on a normal farm, on the daily, tractors and cars and crowds and the post parade and all that. So they actually are really attuned to be able to do that.
Ashlyn is actually taking her second. Turning for home horse out to makeover. So she'll be out there. Another young girl, Addison Saransky she got a horse named Goldbling that she's been, we're just working for the last two months. And he's just been great and she's going to tackle trail and maybe barrels with him.
We already rented our house out there. We rented a big air B and B. We have a whole bunch of people coming and it's just going to be another fun makeover. It's the happiest show on the planet and we're all excited to be there. I'm really excited. I've only been to the Kentucky Horse Park once for the three day and it's just such an iconic location and I don't know, this feels like a bit of a full circle moment for me in terms of all the stuff that I've been through with Thoroughbreds and it's just really special to be.
not only representing Castle Rock Farm, but to be representing Turning for Home as an organization because it's, so near and dear to Philadelphia. And like I teased to you, I have potentially a Philly themed makeover plan. Yes. So that's in the works again where you have to see where his aptitude is.
But I just took him to a an obstacle course and he was so incredible. I mean for a horse that is came in a little bit and inside himself and very insecure, he's just turning into such a cool partner to work with and I just I fell in love with him really taking him for that. So yeah it's going to be a lot of fun.
I also started making All of these friendship bracelets over the last week and I'm actually going to make hundreds of them to have at the makeover. So everybody can come by our stables and come and pick one up and trade them with their friends. So we're going to have turning for home ones.
We're going to have ones that have, specific sire lines, just, everything you can think of related to thoroughbred. Oh, get out. That's a fantastic idea. Yeah. So I had actually posted it in the RRP trainers group, and everybody just freaked out. And so everyone's been giving me ideas for sayings.
So I've got, my own that say go green, but then I made other ones that say tell your OTTB I said, hi, just really cute things. , I'm 46 years old. I probably don't need to be making friendship bracelets at this stage of my life, but it's the camaraderie and the community supporting these horses that brings everyone together. And I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people there that are going to feel worried and scared. And it's a big environment for everybody. So I just thought that might bring everyone together again.
Absolutely. And then the RP community, when you go onto those trainer pages and you watch everybody, posts and, Just innocent questions like, how big is the stall? What are the measurements? And you'll have 10 people automatically going back and telling you the answers.
And, Claire, you said you had interviewed her. She's amazing for building that team. And we are all there in the spirit of the thoroughbreds. And it's so excited. I love all the, the stories of, the horses that overcame, like the war horses, we've had horses go through there with, great stories and come out of there.
And it's just all the feels. Oh yeah. We just posted an episode about go greens training on our super cast. And, because it's, behind a small paywall, I feel like I can open up and be a lot more. Vulnerable about some of the things that I'm struggling with him.
And it's been really neat to have people reach out to me privately and just say that creates such solidarity, where you, what on the internet is one thing, but what's behind the scenes is something else. And two months ago, I wasn't sure I was going to survive in a ring with four other horses with him, not because he wanted to be bad, but because he was just so deeply insecure and, just didn't know how to emotionally regulate himself. And I've just made it my big goal to just understand him down to the last molecule. And I think we've all been there in some ways, whether it's something physical with the horses or it's mental or it's a little bit of both or it's environmental, everybody is facing a unique challenge with their horse.
And I think that's the thing that brings us together is when we get to share those experiences and bounce ideas off of each other without judgment. That's hard to do on the internet these days, but it's nice when you have an actual dedicated community where you can do that. Yeah, you're right. I never really thought about it that way because there is so much negativity, and so many, keyboard warriors on the internet, when you get to a safe community like that they're all having their trials and I've seen some great.
heartbreaks, at the makeover, I watched Jesse go to her first makeover and her horse, got loose and skidded across the pavement and had to go to root and riddle and thank God, they were there and, took the horse in, but she'd actually get it. So here she is, and the horse was doing great and she's spent a whole year and here you go.
The first warm up day and here's your horse. Yeah. With a major joint injury and she got her through it and everything. But I , watched horrible [00:12:00] tragedies. I know, somebody who the day, the Sunday before she's leaving her horse. Break free and dies like just there's been horrible things, but and there's highs and lows and this business is like this.
And you're out at Castle Rock, you're at a breeding farm, every birth and every horse it actually even makes it to the races. It's a miracle in itself. Yeah, it's a miracle if they win their first race, they are, the chosen few because it is so hard. And it's the same thing when they leave the racetrack, depending on what career they're gonna go into, for them to make it, they are miracles because face it, these horses they're delicate and they're always trying to do something wrong.
You can get highs and lows and I think it's important for everybody to come together and say, you know what, you don't need to get roasted on the internet because something bad happens to you and your horse because it happens to all of us. And we can celebrate those wins and we can celebrate those losses together and to say, Hey, it's okay.
This is life. This is the ups and downs. You can have a really bad day, but if you just stick with it, like that saying people that quit, they usually quit right before they were going to make it. Yeah. And this is what we tell our kids. We're like, okay, you failed, but that's okay.
Pick yourself up and do it again. And the makeover is that place where we've all. Picked herself up from some situation, whether it was you can't do this obstacle or, your horse is blowing up for no reason. And, but then if you go there and you make it, you have a whole group that gets it.
. We were talking to Kyle. From Mayorworthy, he was talking about one of the mares that he brought one year and he had hoped to do a freestyle routine with her and the only thing I could do was lead her around in hand in that arena while she bucked in hand the whole time. That was the only thing we could do.
And he's and when you look at the photos, he's I have the biggest smile on my face because I knew there was nothing I had prepared her completely for the experience. And that was just not our day. And it was just not the end of the world, but we were there. And he's so all I could do is smile.
And , when he showed us pictures of that, it just warms your heart a little bit. Cause it's you just never know if they're going to wake up and have a bad day. They're not doing it to be, manipulative or, anything like that, as much as we would like to think so.
And that was quality hay, right? That was a turning for home horse. Oh, was it? Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. She looked incredible too. And he's just yep, she just didn't like the covered arena. And he's what else can you do, but just laugh it off. And because everyone there was .
Just I think cheering for him and just being, supportive and that's what I'm really looking forward to because I think that at least for me, I'm not somebody that loves competing or anything like that. I like to show off that I've worked hard and I've practiced a skill and things like that, but I don't like being at the center of attention or having people focused on me.
And I'm just looking forward to that feeling of. Everybody's supporting everybody else. Yeah, and you're, believe me, when you're so busy when you're out there, and everybody's on their schedule, you're competing in front of the judges, until the finale anyway. But a lot of times, everybody's just in their own zone doing their thing, and there's no pressure.
It's a very professional and good atmosphere, and it's a great place to really, to go and, yeah, like you're showing off that What you've done with your horse over the year, but you're there with like-minded people, which is great. Yeah. You're not there with a bunch of people watching you that don't get it
Yeah, exactly.
We're going to skip ahead now to some of the challenges that your organization might go through. What are the biggest hurdles of the organ that the organization is facing right now?
It's changed over the years. We were created to stop that pipeline to slaughter, right? Because people, like I said, trainers and owners are so busy and they don't always have farms. And back in the day, we really didn't always. Know where to send these horses. So that's why turning for home is here, because we can be that mediator between the adopters that, the riding crowd and the racing crowd that, so we are here and over the years it's changed because now we've done such a good job of letting you know all the owners and trainers in the industry know how important aftercare is, and.
how successful these horses can be in their second careers. That's not really so much the issue. Every once in a while you have to remind people and, just, watch out. But now it's more the next step after was cutting the pipeline was promoting not squeezing the lemon guy and just, letting them know, listen, if you retire these horses before they're too sore, they'll have a better second career and it's better for everybody.
So that was like the second part of it. And that's really come leaps and bounds. The horses that I see coming through the program and I think everybody in the industry sees it, they're retiring sounder. Heiss has come on board and awareness was raised and we're not running these horses in the ground because.
I think before maybe they thought, Oh it's a racehorse. It can't do anything else. What's it going to do if I retire? Now they realize, Hey, these horses really can do so much more. And they're such a great community. So I think we've got that awareness done, right? As far as owners, trainers, they realize Hey, let's, I like to see my horse go jump things.
And I love to get reports back that my horse is doing great. So that's over. So I think, and then like we wanted to get the trust of the horsemen, let them know Hey, we're here, we're like the Switzerland of the racetrack. We're not going to judge you. Just do the right thing and get the horses here.
We got that trust going and now I guess the next hurdle is just really constantly creating the new. It's great that there's all these OTTB aftercare forums and groups and stuff. But I think it's really important not to get too secluded and not to get too close. I think we still need to reach out and the internet does this to you, right?
Anything you put on the internet, they listen to you, they see you, they gear ads to you, they put everything together. So it's great that now there's. a lot of resources for off track therapists, but I think we still have to really reach out to all the horse people and even the whole public and not let the internet pull us down too close.
So we have to keep outreach and awareness. Your program's all over the world in all different [00:18:00] places. That's what we need. You're exactly what we need right now because we can't get contained because if we don't continually show other realms, other.
other breeds, other type of horse people, and even non horse people that just need to know, that horse racing is cool because we breed the best horses in the world and they can go on to so many things. I think, we really have to be careful not to get too shut down in our little box. I think we really have to keep pushing to new platforms and, new audiences and just keep that awareness and education going.
So I think that's the next challenge. I think one thing I would really like to see shift is the journalism aspect and editorial aspect of how off the track thoroughbreds are written about and highlighted in the media. I'm not talking about TDN or Pollock or anything like that.
But I'm talking about more like breed, non specific like the Chronicle of the Horse or, Noel Floyd, any of these big magazines that feature, all disciplines because you're seeing great articles. I just posted an article the other day about a Grand Prix show jumper.
That's and off the track thoroughbred. And it actually went on to just say that he was just incredible. And the more that they threw at him, the better he got and the bigger he jumped. And but then there was another article that came out and we're actually going to interview this girl at some point, but she was a hunter jumper, equitation rider.
And the article that was written talked about the horse that he did everything despite being a thoroughbred. And I remember I reposted the article and I was like, when is the language going to say, He did it because he's a thoroughbred, not in spite of being a thoroughbred. Yeah. And that's language that I think I really feel strongly about.
I'm always like, no, they do this because they're a thoroughbred. You can count on them because they're a thoroughbred. You can put them into these environments because they're athletic enough to do these big, four or five star eventing because they're thoroughbreds. And I just, I get a little aggravated when I see the media always have this caveat of even though he's a thoroughbred, he was able to go on and do X, Y, and Z.
When are we going to start saying it's because he's a thoroughbred? Because the heart and the stamina is bred into them. I think for a little while there was a really big push towards, celebrating the breeders that were breeding sport horses and thoroughbreds. Just say for example, here at Parks, Pewter Stable, Kate Damasi was known for choosing, horses with a good brain and they based their breeding program on horses that they knew could excel.
both in sport and in the show ring. And I think that's lost a little bit of traction, but maybe, we need to push journalism to, to celebrate that too. And just, there are thoroughbreds that are bred just for sport, not just for racing, even though their ancestors are going to be racehorses or, we know the thoroughbreds are infiltrated every breed in the United States right now to, to make them, stronger, better, whatever.
But I think yeah, we haven't really. where we really acknowledge that there are breeders out there that are breeding thoroughbreds to make sport horses and not race horses. And it's because they are so strong. So yeah, there's always different paths that we could do things better. And it's good to have forums like this to really explore those.
And put that together and, I love the fact that we have all these thoroughbred shows like the RIP and, we did our thoroughbred showdown with Second Call. And there's a couple other thoroughbred shows that are going to be planned, there's going to be like almost a Mid Atlantic circuit of all thoroughbred shows.
And I love that. It's great that we actually have enough people that, are able to do that. And then the TIP program, of course, supporting the prizes. That's great. . But again, we don't want to make our audience too narrow. We have to still keep, showcasing the horses in every sort of discipline.
. Looking at the industry as a whole, what trends are you noticing in Thoroughbred aftercare right now?
I know we talked a little bit before about, Nobody wanted the small brown mare or, everybody wants the 17 hand gray horse. Are there anything that you're noticing?
in terms of trends. Yeah. Now you can see a lot of people don't want gray horses anymore, aside from the fact that they're hard to clean. They worry about melanoma. So I actually have people reach out and say anything but a gray. We all like people that aren't color specific that just want, that individual type horse that can do what it wants.
But no, I've seen the trends go. Everybody used to just think hunter jumpers. I love to see the ranch and the Western dressage take off. And I think that more and more people are accepting them just as trail horses and as good companion and not companion, but just riding horses.
They don't have to be just for professionals. We know some of them. Mentally are geared to be, more for just, a more athletic rider. They're athletic horses. They need a more athletic rider. But then, I think more and more people are taking the chance and saying, Hey, especially since I've been with turning for him so long and we take them back and we watch them come back and then go on to their third career or the fourth career.
And I love it when the horses come back because we know what they are. Four years later, we really know what they are. We're not guessing so much and putting with an adopter that we're not, we think. This is what the horse has been like for the first, two, three months off the track, you don't know, but four or five years later, you can do better, a better job of actually matching them with an adopter.
So I like seeing the recreational riders come and choose the thoroughbreds right now. And industry wide, I think, there's such a big surge with the, the TIA and all the different aftercare organizations, really. Taking care and pushing these horses, I think it's easier to own a thoroughbred than ever, no matter who you are.
We just have to keep reaching out to those new people. Yeah. For listeners that want to support Turning for Home, can you tell us how they can get involved? Sure. We have 20 probably 30 partner farms right now. We have some smaller farms that take one or two horses at a time. We have some farms that take five at a time, and then we have some farms that take 20 at a time.
If you want to help training for [00:24:00] home, you can reach out to me and I can tell you where is the closest partner farm because a lot of them would love to have volunteers come. They have horses in every different stage of rehab. If you just want to come groom a horse or come.
clean water buckets and get to know more about them. Our farms can always accept you. So you can always reach out and tell me if you'd like to make a donation, you can go to turningforhome. org. And, if you just wanted to, give everything that comes to Turning for Home is distributed with the horses.
Everything that comes in, it goes right out. Back to the horses, whether it's for their veterinary or for their surgery, or if we get donations, we split it up to the farms that need it most. So you can always reach out, but we are always happy to match you up. And I've had some of the best ambassadors and some of the best people that ride our horses right now where people that just call it up and said, I'd like to, ride a horse.
Do you have a farm nearby? I'd like to come see the horses. And then they start riding the horses and then they own the horses. And then, we have a great team and it's just sometimes it happens by accident. You attract, the best people. Yeah. Yeah. It's a slippery slope too.
That's how I got roped back into horses. I started working at a an equine therapy center outside of Philly and then I started, walking with the riders and then I started to exercise riding the horses and then next thing you know, I'm finding a trainer and the rest is history.
Lessons are so expensive nowadays. It's a great way to get involved with horses in a controlled environment with professionals. So maybe people need to think about that with their teenage and up, or your young amateurs, , you could go help out one of the nonprofits and ride horses and learn.
Yeah. Do you have any advice? for first time adopters who might be considering an off the track thoroughbred. Yeah, just that. Really go and work with the farms and work with it and learn. Like I said, the farms need help. And I would never tell anybody not to take lessons.
Absolutely take the lessons if you can afford it. But if you're just trying to get into this, you can just go and be the barn rat, go work with the horses, go learn. everything that we were just talking today. You could be in this business for 70 years and you're still going to learn something new every day.
And it's not, there's all different disciplines and all different people. And there's always something different, even just health wise that you can learn, about the horses. I'm learning myself every day all the time. So I think, just. being involved, it's a great way to go and learn.
And then if you do decide that you want to adopt the horse, then continue working with somebody that you love and somebody that you trust and that you respect how they handle their horses. And don't ever just put yourself on an island because you can get in trouble out there. Just, continue working with, good horse people and, learn everything that there is to learn because there's so much.
But there are great resource, resources for us. The RRP that we talked about, they have a great library. So whenever people reach out to me, adopters with questions, it's one stop shopping. You can tell them about that retired resource, library. We don't have to duplicate it because they've done such a great job with it.
And there's, the trainers at RRP, they go all over the country. So no matter where you are, you can find somebody. If you're not sure you want to get into thoroughbreds and you don't know where to find it. You can go ORP and look at their trainer list and look where they're competing and find somebody near you.
Yeah, and I think that, anybody that's working with horses is never gonna turn down somebody that has a willing list, a willingness and an openness to learn. I think that's, it's harder to find those hardworking. Insatiable students anymore, but they definitely are out there.
And I think if you just have that hunger, somebody is going to be willing to take you under their wing and show you everything as long as you're open to it. Absolutely. There's some great people that they don't even do lessons anymore because, they get tired of, they just get burned out.
I think it's just, a hard business and horses are very expensive. And but there's a lot of great people that they'll tell me all the time, if they find the right student, the right person to come along, they have great horses, they would definitely bring somebody under their wing just to be able to see their horses go and train another person.
You just got to look to your community and ask around and just put. Put the footwork in. And even if you're a beginner with horses, there's somebody that's going to be willing to teach you if you want to learn. Yeah. And we all had to learn our correct diagonals at some point.
It's very humbling. I have to say, having been out of the restarting business for a while, getting a new horse off the track has been, humbling. It's eye opening when it's not what you do day in, day out. Yeah, it is. And I remember just being like, okay, I wanted to do this. I'm excited about doing it and being like.
That first time you put your foot in the stirrup to swing your leg over the first, all of those big firsts to me, it's so exciting. It's so rewarding, but there's also this giant question mark of here we go. And I love all that. To me, the thing that actually drew me to want to get another horse off the track was the fact that I have a horse that's very well trained that I bought specifically to just gain a lot of confidence in my competitive life.
But then I was sitting on things that were coming through our farm, through you guys and Just itching for those little light bulb moments where they just get this, it could be such a small little thing and you put the horse away and you go, I taught that horse something really cool today and we did it together and it's very addicting that feeling.
So that's what brought me back into it. All the firsts.
Oh, it's the best. And I feel like that's why I get along so well with them is because I feel like that's who I am as a human. I'm like a, you're like a little sponge for knowledge. So I just adore that process. All right, so we're going to start to wrap up here, very sadly, but Danielle, what's one thing that you wish more people knew about OTTBs or about Thoroughbred Aftercare?
We don't have to limit you to one thing, you can name two.
How much it matters and how much these horses were loved from the beginning. If you're breeding a thoroughbred and you put almost a year into, getting the mare pregnant and foaling, and then you've got another couple of years till you get the horse to the races.
And then you're going to put it with the [00:30:00] best trainer that you can find and try and bring those horses along. I I think people think that people that, breed and raise racehorses are just doing it for the money. And we're absolutely not. Everybody that works in horse racing, we're doing it for the love of the horse first.
And, it's always, a learning curve for anything. But I think that. people need to know that these horses were loved first. And when they get them, I get upset when I hear people say, Oh, the horse has this, that, this problem. Thoroughbreds come with all these problems. A lot of them don't come with any problems because they never worked hard enough to get one.
And the horses that do have problems, it's because they're great athletes. And I don't know any athlete, human equine, dog, whatever. If you're athletic and you're working hard, you're going to sustain some sort of, injury or some sort of, you're going to sustain something.
I think that you have to just take these horses and know that if you're going to have an athletic horse that's doing something, it's going to need maintenance no matter if it was started as a hunter jumper or if it started a racehorse. So the real athletic horses need, they're going to need some sort of support.
So , I get mad when people say, Oh they're just disposable or, they come with problems. So I think if I was going to say, something that they need to know is, no, these horses, we bring them along and we try and help them as much as we can, and even with that support and when I say maintenance and it's if you have a.
say a high school kid and he's playing sports and he comes in and he sprains his ankle and stuff. You're going to try and get him help. You're going to tell him to go to the whirlpool and you're going to tell him to go to the sports, coach and get the ankle wrapped and get some liniment and take an Advil.
Like you're not going to tell your kid, Oh no. Just go to bed. You'll be fine. Walk it off tomorrow. So these horses are our babies. People are like, Oh there's all this stringent testing and there's they drug these horses. We don't drug these horses. We use the top scientific, top veterinarians, the top science to try to make them feel better and do better because they're training hard and they're racing hard.
And we want to alleviate any pain or uncomfort they have, not just. to get to the winner's circle. Of course, that's part of it, but also because we don't want to see our kids suffer. We don't want to see them come back from a tough race and not give them a little bit of butte so they can have three nice days off and relax.
, it's not drugging. It's trying to assist them and it's always done under veterinary care. Yeah, I was going to say, I know that, the one thing that's been interesting about, working closely with somebody who actually has a racehorse at a track is that, it's all well and good to win a race.
Everybody loves that feeling, right? But what the owners of these racehorses really care about is how that horse feels the next day. Yeah. Because one thing that a thoroughbred will do is try beyond their physical capabilities because they have such great heart. And that's a blessing and a curse with a thoroughbred, right?
But I think it's been really fascinating for me just to hear race horse owners go yeah we're really excited that we won yesterday, but we just can't wait to hear from, the groom or the vet. The day after to know just how the horse is feeling today. Is the horse still feeling just as happy as it was when it walked into the winter circle?
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And the caretakers and the trainers that are actually at the track with the horse. You run your horse, you don't just put it away and stall and go home. They're there all night long for hours, and they have the same, you just have that feeling in your gut.
Okay, he came back safe. Is he safe an hour later? Is he bedded down? Did he eat his dinner? Did he drink? They don't just. run these horses and then just go home. They're there all night long. If they're shipping, they're there till three o'clock in the morning and they might have to get up at five to start the next day, but they're going to be there all night to make sure their horses cool out safely.
So yeah, absolutely. What's next for you guys? I know you have a couple of big things coming up, like a golf outing. Yeah. May 1st. It's been a lot of fun. This is our fourth annual golf outing and we do it right before the Kentucky Derby, which is really fun. Cause it's the start of May starts the big season.
We get through a rough winter and we have racing, but you have highs and lows and a lot of missed days. So when Kentucky Derby season comes around and all eyes are on racing, , the crowds come back to the track and it just starts a good season. We started the golf outing, it's the Thursday before the Derby and, everybody comes in, they golf all day and it's just a fun day, hopefully not too windy.
The weather can be weird in May, but we have a great day. And then we do a Kentucky Derby preview with Dick Girardi and Danny Gibson, and they handicap the race for us and tell us, a little bit about what they think's going to happen. So it ends up being a really cool conversation between all horsemen, mostly horsemen talking about, the best horses.
It's the best three year olds of the year coming together. So it's a fun day and we still have a few spots if you guys want to come golf. You can, there's still a few foursomes you can get in. I used to play golf in high school. I'm not very good off the tee, but I have a pretty good short game.
I can ride the golf cart around pretty well. There you go. You need somebody who's going to heckle, so there you go
. Yeah. I
just love how passionate you are after all this time and in such a difficult industry. I don't know. It's just really great to hear. Before we go, where can our listeners learn more about turning for home or get in touch with you?
You can go to our website. We're working on revamping it right now. So you can go to our website and there's a page that shows you the different partner farms so you can see which one's in your area.
You can always fill out an application. If you're looking for a thoroughbred, the number one thing you want to do is you can go right to the top, pin to the top of our Facebook page. or right on the front page of our website, there's the application. So if you fill out the application, that really gives us a great idea of the criteria, what you're looking for.
And then what I do with the application is I send it out to all the partner firms will get to see it. And then if I can think of a specific course that's going to go with you, I'll make sure I even call that farm and say, This person's looking for a horse just like this horse, so maybe give them a call.
So that way our firms are calling you and letting you know what horses we have available and you can go see them. So send in an application, or work with your closest partner farm. Some horses we rehab and they might be with us, six months, nine months a year, depending if they have a tendon or if they've had surgery.
But some of the horses that, come off the track sound and just need downtime, they go pretty quickly. [00:36:00] So you want to get your application so we can look for that horse coming in for you. If you know that you're going to be, say if it's in the fall and you know in the spring you're going to be looking for a certain kind of horse, send in that app and we'll make sure that we're always looking to.
match you up with the right horse. No, that's really good advice. And it's nice to know that you can keep an eye out for something if somebody does have a really specific criteria as well. And I think one of the coolest things about getting horses through an organization like Turning for Home, and I know we talked about this before, is that you're getting so much more information than if you just got a horse from the backside, just thinking Oh.
I want it to be X, Y, and Z. But once the horse has gone to one of the partner farms and has had a little let down time, gotten some turnout, been able to relax its muscles a little bit and its personality comes out in a new way I just think that's such a valuable experience for the horse. And it's just a really nice way to be able to go and look for a future partner for yourself because that partner farm manager is going to know a lot more about what the horse is on a day to day basis versus it's very specific job at the track.
And they change so much. Like I said, they make liars. The other time we've had horses that they said were dangerous and up and, I call the farm a month later and I'm like, this is the quiet, this is the sweetest, quietest horse we've ever had. Yeah. Or, and vice versa. , Oh, here's a nice big sound gelding and, they get at home and they're like this one's going to need a little bit more time.
So at least when you go to the partner farm, they've had a chance to really see the horse over, a period of time and see them turned out and, , watch their personality bloom from, grumple up, to in your pocket and sweet. So yeah.
And you can ride them at the farm where at the racetrack, you have no shot of getting on them. And like I said, I've seen horses jog here. I watched, 10 horses a week jog here. And when you see them out. at the farm. It's a totally different horse. So it's definitely the much better way to go is to go through the aftercare organizations because you have the protection and you're not stuck with a horse that you're like, what do I do with this horse?
Yeah. It's that full circle that you were talking about earlier for sure. Yeah, exactly. Thank you so much, Danielle. This has been, A long time coming. I feel like we know you adjacently in some ways. I've actually, been around June when she's been on the phone with you. And I feel like just know you already a little bit, but thank you for joining us today and sharing all the incredible work that you guys are doing with Turning for Home.
And we have one more question and you can only have one answer. One word. What's one word you'd use to describe an OTTB?
Cherished because I really, I think the racing community, like we said, we cherish them and we hope that you're going to cherish them. Cherished.
That's a really unique one. Yeah, that's a new one. I don't know what we're going to do with all these words. We've got, some kind of plan for them. There's a loose plan for everything, but I love that. And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. Be sure to check out Turning for Home and support their amazing mission.
And follow me and go green, please. If you liked what you heard today, please leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts. You can follow OTTB on tap on Instagram, Facebook, and Tik TOK and contact us with interview candidates and topic suggestions at OTTB on tap. com. We love hearing from you until next time.
Cheers.
[00:00:00] Hi everybody, and welcome back to OTTB on Tap. I'm Niamh. And I'm Emily. Hey Niamh, what's on tap today? Today, we're thrilled to have Danielle Montgomery from Turning for Home, an incredible thoroughbred aftercare organization doing amazing work in the OTTB world.
Over the last 17 years, they have developed their retirement program through Parks Racing to rehome OTTBs in second careers. We're so excited to have Danielle here to share her story. And talk about what sets turning for home apart.
This is part two of our series on Turning for Home. Go back and listen to part one if you're just joining us to find out all about how Turning for Home came to be and Danielle's background in the industry.
Now let's pick up where we left off.
Moving on to your adoption process, can you tell us a little bit about the adoption process and how the contract works? I've recently filled out one of these contracts, so I could speak to a little bit, but if you would just, fill in the gaps there.
so with turning for home adopting horses, just like buying it, except that you have that added protection of the PTHA and all of our horsemen.
So we have a policy where we'll take any horse back for any reason for the rest of its life. So you have that protection in there. That's the only reason it's an adoption rather than a sale is that. A, we do have contracts. We do make sure that the farms have their bill of sale.
That's between you and the farm that you buy the horse from. And then we have a right of first refusal between turning for home and you that we ask if you do resell the horse, let us know before the horse leaves. Where the horse is going. And very rarely do we ever use our right of first refusal.
It's more of a legal way for us to track them and make sure they're safe. So adopting is just buying the horse. But like I said, you have that added protection of the whole horseman's organization that we just want to make sure that they're safe and sound and, different than buying a horse directly off the track.
So if you bought a horse directly off the track and you didn't fall in love right away, what is going to happen to the horse? It has no way to go back. They can't go back to the track and not all owners and trainers at the racetrack have their own farms that they could bring the horse back. So that's why it's just better to adopt from from a aftercare organization, because if it doesn't work out sometimes people try 20 horses before they find the one that's their forever horse and some people, find it the first time.
But if you need to send the horse back and it doesn't work out for whatever reason, we're here for that. So it's pretty much the same. As buying, we're just here to make sure everybody's happy. And I think that protection helps all the parties involved as well. And it's always putting the horse first for sure.
I was just thinking that when you were talking about the numbers of horses that you are able to rehome every year, that it would be almost impossible to have one farm, like if it was your farm, with that kind of land and that kind of infrastructure. So having all the partner farms is such a unique and cool way to do it because you can always Adjusts the individual horses needs and you always have a safe spot if one farm doesn't have room then you've got another one to rely on versus having a limited static amount of space for your own headquarters essentially, so it's very cool.
Now we're going to switch gears again and we're going to talk about Turning for Home and the Retired Racehorse Project. Turning for Home has a strong connection with the Retired Racehorse Project, particularly the Thoroughbred Makeover. This year, both June Hillman of Castle Rock Farm, one of your partner farm owners, and I will be participating with horses from Turning for Home.
What does the event mean to you and the organization?
I love the retired racehorse project. I think they've done such a great job. It started out with Stuart Pittman's vision, back in Marlin, back, in 2015, I think 2014 might've been the first one that they did a little presentation on the racetrack there. We actually tried to get them to do that here at parks.
They was like no. They let us do a little bit for turning for home day, but I just thought it's such a great way to really. what these horses do, because a lot of the owners and trainers don't really realize the potential of these horses. So back then we were all on board because we just wanted our horseman to actually see what we see, you and I can see that, these horses can do.
But people, especially the people that were asking to do the right thing and give the horses to us for retraining and rehoming, they sometimes don't see past the racetrack and they think, oh, the horse is done here. It's done everywhere. It's not. So that mission is such a parallel between the retired racehorse project and turning for home just to showcase what these horses can do after racing in order to create more pathways for them.
So for me at the racetrack level, of course we always want to find adopters, but I really was thrilled with the fact that here's a showcase that, really. include the racetrack owners and trainers, and they invite them to come out and they send, postcards to the breeders and owners and your horses competing.
And, people work so hard at the racetrack. They're here at five o'clock in the morning. They work 12 hour days. Sometimes they're racing at night, getting two hours worth of sleep. They don't always have the time to make the connections that you and I have, but I thought it was really important to showcase that so I love the makeover.
I've been there. I actually competed one year. My daughter competed. She's actually competed twice. She ran second once on little red rodeo. And then she came back for the mega makeover on David and this year. We have a whole slew of training for home partner farms going, because we have Castle Rock going with you in June Lex Ryan from Ears and Gears.
She's going on a horse that we actually saved from a bad situation. Unfortunately one of the farms just got in trouble and we brought Vero back. So I'm really excited to see his story go from, an actual kind of rescue to to the makeover and my granddaughter is coming and she's showing and I don't know if you've seen, we did a lot of promotions for Ashlyn Tate and her horse Pansy through Training for Home and Ashlyn, you know I have a passion for the Western horses and getting the thoroughbreds involved in the Western because a lot of people, I grew up with [00:06:00] them saying you can't do that and I'm always thrilled when we create more homes.
We've create, just cascades, right? It's exponential. So all the girls at rodeo saw Ashley doing so well on pansy and now all the rodeo girls are like, Oh, wow, here's a great alternative to the traditional. Quarter Horse. Pansy has been such a great ambassador for Turning for Home and for Thoroughbreds.
She actually qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo at all four events on a Thoroughbred. Yeah, so her and Pansy they've done great. Great work. At the local level, in South Jersey, she's from, and she did the New Jersey High School Rodeo. And then she went out to Wyoming and competed, in goat tying, roping barrel racing.
Yeah. We actually, she even came to the Harrisburg Horse World Expo with us last year in 24 and, showed that she can rope off a thoroughbred. A lot of people, they don't realize that these horses are so good minded. They can do rodeo, too, because rodeo is known for, the crowds and the lights and everything that makes, a horse crazy.
And they're like, oh, theropods can't do that. But think about it. What happens here on the racetrack, they see way more here than they see on a normal farm, on the daily, tractors and cars and crowds and the post parade and all that. So they actually are really attuned to be able to do that.
Ashlyn is actually taking her second. Turning for home horse out to makeover. So she'll be out there. Another young girl, Addison Saransky she got a horse named Goldbling that she's been, we're just working for the last two months. And he's just been great and she's going to tackle trail and maybe barrels with him.
We already rented our house out there. We rented a big air B and B. We have a whole bunch of people coming and it's just going to be another fun makeover. It's the happiest show on the planet and we're all excited to be there. I'm really excited. I've only been to the Kentucky Horse Park once for the three day and it's just such an iconic location and I don't know, this feels like a bit of a full circle moment for me in terms of all the stuff that I've been through with Thoroughbreds and it's just really special to be.
not only representing Castle Rock Farm, but to be representing Turning for Home as an organization because it's, so near and dear to Philadelphia. And like I teased to you, I have potentially a Philly themed makeover plan. Yes. So that's in the works again where you have to see where his aptitude is.
But I just took him to a an obstacle course and he was so incredible. I mean for a horse that is came in a little bit and inside himself and very insecure, he's just turning into such a cool partner to work with and I just I fell in love with him really taking him for that. So yeah it's going to be a lot of fun.
I also started making All of these friendship bracelets over the last week and I'm actually going to make hundreds of them to have at the makeover. So everybody can come by our stables and come and pick one up and trade them with their friends. So we're going to have turning for home ones.
We're going to have ones that have, specific sire lines, just, everything you can think of related to thoroughbred. Oh, get out. That's a fantastic idea. Yeah. So I had actually posted it in the RRP trainers group, and everybody just freaked out. And so everyone's been giving me ideas for sayings.
So I've got, my own that say go green, but then I made other ones that say tell your OTTB I said, hi, just really cute things. , I'm 46 years old. I probably don't need to be making friendship bracelets at this stage of my life, but it's the camaraderie and the community supporting these horses that brings everyone together. And I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people there that are going to feel worried and scared. And it's a big environment for everybody. So I just thought that might bring everyone together again.
Absolutely. And then the RP community, when you go onto those trainer pages and you watch everybody, posts and, Just innocent questions like, how big is the stall? What are the measurements? And you'll have 10 people automatically going back and telling you the answers.
And, Claire, you said you had interviewed her. She's amazing for building that team. And we are all there in the spirit of the thoroughbreds. And it's so excited. I love all the, the stories of, the horses that overcame, like the war horses, we've had horses go through there with, great stories and come out of there.
And it's just all the feels. Oh yeah. We just posted an episode about go greens training on our super cast. And, because it's, behind a small paywall, I feel like I can open up and be a lot more. Vulnerable about some of the things that I'm struggling with him.
And it's been really neat to have people reach out to me privately and just say that creates such solidarity, where you, what on the internet is one thing, but what's behind the scenes is something else. And two months ago, I wasn't sure I was going to survive in a ring with four other horses with him, not because he wanted to be bad, but because he was just so deeply insecure and, just didn't know how to emotionally regulate himself. And I've just made it my big goal to just understand him down to the last molecule. And I think we've all been there in some ways, whether it's something physical with the horses or it's mental or it's a little bit of both or it's environmental, everybody is facing a unique challenge with their horse.
And I think that's the thing that brings us together is when we get to share those experiences and bounce ideas off of each other without judgment. That's hard to do on the internet these days, but it's nice when you have an actual dedicated community where you can do that. Yeah, you're right. I never really thought about it that way because there is so much negativity, and so many, keyboard warriors on the internet, when you get to a safe community like that they're all having their trials and I've seen some great.
heartbreaks, at the makeover, I watched Jesse go to her first makeover and her horse, got loose and skidded across the pavement and had to go to root and riddle and thank God, they were there and, took the horse in, but she'd actually get it. So here she is, and the horse was doing great and she's spent a whole year and here you go.
The first warm up day and here's your horse. Yeah. With a major joint injury and she got her through it and everything. But I , watched horrible [00:12:00] tragedies. I know, somebody who the day, the Sunday before she's leaving her horse. Break free and dies like just there's been horrible things, but and there's highs and lows and this business is like this.
And you're out at Castle Rock, you're at a breeding farm, every birth and every horse it actually even makes it to the races. It's a miracle in itself. Yeah, it's a miracle if they win their first race, they are, the chosen few because it is so hard. And it's the same thing when they leave the racetrack, depending on what career they're gonna go into, for them to make it, they are miracles because face it, these horses they're delicate and they're always trying to do something wrong.
You can get highs and lows and I think it's important for everybody to come together and say, you know what, you don't need to get roasted on the internet because something bad happens to you and your horse because it happens to all of us. And we can celebrate those wins and we can celebrate those losses together and to say, Hey, it's okay.
This is life. This is the ups and downs. You can have a really bad day, but if you just stick with it, like that saying people that quit, they usually quit right before they were going to make it. Yeah. And this is what we tell our kids. We're like, okay, you failed, but that's okay.
Pick yourself up and do it again. And the makeover is that place where we've all. Picked herself up from some situation, whether it was you can't do this obstacle or, your horse is blowing up for no reason. And, but then if you go there and you make it, you have a whole group that gets it.
. We were talking to Kyle. From Mayorworthy, he was talking about one of the mares that he brought one year and he had hoped to do a freestyle routine with her and the only thing I could do was lead her around in hand in that arena while she bucked in hand the whole time. That was the only thing we could do.
And he's and when you look at the photos, he's I have the biggest smile on my face because I knew there was nothing I had prepared her completely for the experience. And that was just not our day. And it was just not the end of the world, but we were there. And he's so all I could do is smile.
And , when he showed us pictures of that, it just warms your heart a little bit. Cause it's you just never know if they're going to wake up and have a bad day. They're not doing it to be, manipulative or, anything like that, as much as we would like to think so.
And that was quality hay, right? That was a turning for home horse. Oh, was it? Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. She looked incredible too. And he's just yep, she just didn't like the covered arena. And he's what else can you do, but just laugh it off. And because everyone there was .
Just I think cheering for him and just being, supportive and that's what I'm really looking forward to because I think that at least for me, I'm not somebody that loves competing or anything like that. I like to show off that I've worked hard and I've practiced a skill and things like that, but I don't like being at the center of attention or having people focused on me.
And I'm just looking forward to that feeling of. Everybody's supporting everybody else. Yeah, and you're, believe me, when you're so busy when you're out there, and everybody's on their schedule, you're competing in front of the judges, until the finale anyway. But a lot of times, everybody's just in their own zone doing their thing, and there's no pressure.
It's a very professional and good atmosphere, and it's a great place to really, to go and, yeah, like you're showing off that What you've done with your horse over the year, but you're there with like-minded people, which is great. Yeah. You're not there with a bunch of people watching you that don't get it
Yeah, exactly.
We're going to skip ahead now to some of the challenges that your organization might go through. What are the biggest hurdles of the organ that the organization is facing right now?
It's changed over the years. We were created to stop that pipeline to slaughter, right? Because people, like I said, trainers and owners are so busy and they don't always have farms. And back in the day, we really didn't always. Know where to send these horses. So that's why turning for home is here, because we can be that mediator between the adopters that, the riding crowd and the racing crowd that, so we are here and over the years it's changed because now we've done such a good job of letting you know all the owners and trainers in the industry know how important aftercare is, and.
how successful these horses can be in their second careers. That's not really so much the issue. Every once in a while you have to remind people and, just, watch out. But now it's more the next step after was cutting the pipeline was promoting not squeezing the lemon guy and just, letting them know, listen, if you retire these horses before they're too sore, they'll have a better second career and it's better for everybody.
So that was like the second part of it. And that's really come leaps and bounds. The horses that I see coming through the program and I think everybody in the industry sees it, they're retiring sounder. Heiss has come on board and awareness was raised and we're not running these horses in the ground because.
I think before maybe they thought, Oh it's a racehorse. It can't do anything else. What's it going to do if I retire? Now they realize, Hey, these horses really can do so much more. And they're such a great community. So I think we've got that awareness done, right? As far as owners, trainers, they realize Hey, let's, I like to see my horse go jump things.
And I love to get reports back that my horse is doing great. So that's over. So I think, and then like we wanted to get the trust of the horsemen, let them know Hey, we're here, we're like the Switzerland of the racetrack. We're not going to judge you. Just do the right thing and get the horses here.
We got that trust going and now I guess the next hurdle is just really constantly creating the new. It's great that there's all these OTTB aftercare forums and groups and stuff. But I think it's really important not to get too secluded and not to get too close. I think we still need to reach out and the internet does this to you, right?
Anything you put on the internet, they listen to you, they see you, they gear ads to you, they put everything together. So it's great that now there's. a lot of resources for off track therapists, but I think we still have to really reach out to all the horse people and even the whole public and not let the internet pull us down too close.
So we have to keep outreach and awareness. Your program's all over the world in all different [00:18:00] places. That's what we need. You're exactly what we need right now because we can't get contained because if we don't continually show other realms, other.
other breeds, other type of horse people, and even non horse people that just need to know, that horse racing is cool because we breed the best horses in the world and they can go on to so many things. I think, we really have to be careful not to get too shut down in our little box. I think we really have to keep pushing to new platforms and, new audiences and just keep that awareness and education going.
So I think that's the next challenge. I think one thing I would really like to see shift is the journalism aspect and editorial aspect of how off the track thoroughbreds are written about and highlighted in the media. I'm not talking about TDN or Pollock or anything like that.
But I'm talking about more like breed, non specific like the Chronicle of the Horse or, Noel Floyd, any of these big magazines that feature, all disciplines because you're seeing great articles. I just posted an article the other day about a Grand Prix show jumper.
That's and off the track thoroughbred. And it actually went on to just say that he was just incredible. And the more that they threw at him, the better he got and the bigger he jumped. And but then there was another article that came out and we're actually going to interview this girl at some point, but she was a hunter jumper, equitation rider.
And the article that was written talked about the horse that he did everything despite being a thoroughbred. And I remember I reposted the article and I was like, when is the language going to say, He did it because he's a thoroughbred, not in spite of being a thoroughbred. Yeah. And that's language that I think I really feel strongly about.
I'm always like, no, they do this because they're a thoroughbred. You can count on them because they're a thoroughbred. You can put them into these environments because they're athletic enough to do these big, four or five star eventing because they're thoroughbreds. And I just, I get a little aggravated when I see the media always have this caveat of even though he's a thoroughbred, he was able to go on and do X, Y, and Z.
When are we going to start saying it's because he's a thoroughbred? Because the heart and the stamina is bred into them. I think for a little while there was a really big push towards, celebrating the breeders that were breeding sport horses and thoroughbreds. Just say for example, here at Parks, Pewter Stable, Kate Damasi was known for choosing, horses with a good brain and they based their breeding program on horses that they knew could excel.
both in sport and in the show ring. And I think that's lost a little bit of traction, but maybe, we need to push journalism to, to celebrate that too. And just, there are thoroughbreds that are bred just for sport, not just for racing, even though their ancestors are going to be racehorses or, we know the thoroughbreds are infiltrated every breed in the United States right now to, to make them, stronger, better, whatever.
But I think yeah, we haven't really. where we really acknowledge that there are breeders out there that are breeding thoroughbreds to make sport horses and not race horses. And it's because they are so strong. So yeah, there's always different paths that we could do things better. And it's good to have forums like this to really explore those.
And put that together and, I love the fact that we have all these thoroughbred shows like the RIP and, we did our thoroughbred showdown with Second Call. And there's a couple other thoroughbred shows that are going to be planned, there's going to be like almost a Mid Atlantic circuit of all thoroughbred shows.
And I love that. It's great that we actually have enough people that, are able to do that. And then the TIP program, of course, supporting the prizes. That's great. . But again, we don't want to make our audience too narrow. We have to still keep, showcasing the horses in every sort of discipline.
. Looking at the industry as a whole, what trends are you noticing in Thoroughbred aftercare right now?
I know we talked a little bit before about, Nobody wanted the small brown mare or, everybody wants the 17 hand gray horse. Are there anything that you're noticing?
in terms of trends. Yeah. Now you can see a lot of people don't want gray horses anymore, aside from the fact that they're hard to clean. They worry about melanoma. So I actually have people reach out and say anything but a gray. We all like people that aren't color specific that just want, that individual type horse that can do what it wants.
But no, I've seen the trends go. Everybody used to just think hunter jumpers. I love to see the ranch and the Western dressage take off. And I think that more and more people are accepting them just as trail horses and as good companion and not companion, but just riding horses.
They don't have to be just for professionals. We know some of them. Mentally are geared to be, more for just, a more athletic rider. They're athletic horses. They need a more athletic rider. But then, I think more and more people are taking the chance and saying, Hey, especially since I've been with turning for him so long and we take them back and we watch them come back and then go on to their third career or the fourth career.
And I love it when the horses come back because we know what they are. Four years later, we really know what they are. We're not guessing so much and putting with an adopter that we're not, we think. This is what the horse has been like for the first, two, three months off the track, you don't know, but four or five years later, you can do better, a better job of actually matching them with an adopter.
So I like seeing the recreational riders come and choose the thoroughbreds right now. And industry wide, I think, there's such a big surge with the, the TIA and all the different aftercare organizations, really. Taking care and pushing these horses, I think it's easier to own a thoroughbred than ever, no matter who you are.
We just have to keep reaching out to those new people. Yeah. For listeners that want to support Turning for Home, can you tell us how they can get involved? Sure. We have 20 probably 30 partner farms right now. We have some smaller farms that take one or two horses at a time. We have some farms that take five at a time, and then we have some farms that take 20 at a time.
If you want to help training for [00:24:00] home, you can reach out to me and I can tell you where is the closest partner farm because a lot of them would love to have volunteers come. They have horses in every different stage of rehab. If you just want to come groom a horse or come.
clean water buckets and get to know more about them. Our farms can always accept you. So you can always reach out and tell me if you'd like to make a donation, you can go to turningforhome. org. And, if you just wanted to, give everything that comes to Turning for Home is distributed with the horses.
Everything that comes in, it goes right out. Back to the horses, whether it's for their veterinary or for their surgery, or if we get donations, we split it up to the farms that need it most. So you can always reach out, but we are always happy to match you up. And I've had some of the best ambassadors and some of the best people that ride our horses right now where people that just call it up and said, I'd like to, ride a horse.
Do you have a farm nearby? I'd like to come see the horses. And then they start riding the horses and then they own the horses. And then, we have a great team and it's just sometimes it happens by accident. You attract, the best people. Yeah. Yeah. It's a slippery slope too.
That's how I got roped back into horses. I started working at a an equine therapy center outside of Philly and then I started, walking with the riders and then I started to exercise riding the horses and then next thing you know, I'm finding a trainer and the rest is history.
Lessons are so expensive nowadays. It's a great way to get involved with horses in a controlled environment with professionals. So maybe people need to think about that with their teenage and up, or your young amateurs, , you could go help out one of the nonprofits and ride horses and learn.
Yeah. Do you have any advice? for first time adopters who might be considering an off the track thoroughbred. Yeah, just that. Really go and work with the farms and work with it and learn. Like I said, the farms need help. And I would never tell anybody not to take lessons.
Absolutely take the lessons if you can afford it. But if you're just trying to get into this, you can just go and be the barn rat, go work with the horses, go learn. everything that we were just talking today. You could be in this business for 70 years and you're still going to learn something new every day.
And it's not, there's all different disciplines and all different people. And there's always something different, even just health wise that you can learn, about the horses. I'm learning myself every day all the time. So I think, just. being involved, it's a great way to go and learn.
And then if you do decide that you want to adopt the horse, then continue working with somebody that you love and somebody that you trust and that you respect how they handle their horses. And don't ever just put yourself on an island because you can get in trouble out there. Just, continue working with, good horse people and, learn everything that there is to learn because there's so much.
But there are great resource, resources for us. The RRP that we talked about, they have a great library. So whenever people reach out to me, adopters with questions, it's one stop shopping. You can tell them about that retired resource, library. We don't have to duplicate it because they've done such a great job with it.
And there's, the trainers at RRP, they go all over the country. So no matter where you are, you can find somebody. If you're not sure you want to get into thoroughbreds and you don't know where to find it. You can go ORP and look at their trainer list and look where they're competing and find somebody near you.
Yeah, and I think that, anybody that's working with horses is never gonna turn down somebody that has a willing list, a willingness and an openness to learn. I think that's, it's harder to find those hardworking. Insatiable students anymore, but they definitely are out there.
And I think if you just have that hunger, somebody is going to be willing to take you under their wing and show you everything as long as you're open to it. Absolutely. There's some great people that they don't even do lessons anymore because, they get tired of, they just get burned out.
I think it's just, a hard business and horses are very expensive. And but there's a lot of great people that they'll tell me all the time, if they find the right student, the right person to come along, they have great horses, they would definitely bring somebody under their wing just to be able to see their horses go and train another person.
You just got to look to your community and ask around and just put. Put the footwork in. And even if you're a beginner with horses, there's somebody that's going to be willing to teach you if you want to learn. Yeah. And we all had to learn our correct diagonals at some point.
It's very humbling. I have to say, having been out of the restarting business for a while, getting a new horse off the track has been, humbling. It's eye opening when it's not what you do day in, day out. Yeah, it is. And I remember just being like, okay, I wanted to do this. I'm excited about doing it and being like.
That first time you put your foot in the stirrup to swing your leg over the first, all of those big firsts to me, it's so exciting. It's so rewarding, but there's also this giant question mark of here we go. And I love all that. To me, the thing that actually drew me to want to get another horse off the track was the fact that I have a horse that's very well trained that I bought specifically to just gain a lot of confidence in my competitive life.
But then I was sitting on things that were coming through our farm, through you guys and Just itching for those little light bulb moments where they just get this, it could be such a small little thing and you put the horse away and you go, I taught that horse something really cool today and we did it together and it's very addicting that feeling.
So that's what brought me back into it. All the firsts.
Oh, it's the best. And I feel like that's why I get along so well with them is because I feel like that's who I am as a human. I'm like a, you're like a little sponge for knowledge. So I just adore that process. All right, so we're going to start to wrap up here, very sadly, but Danielle, what's one thing that you wish more people knew about OTTBs or about Thoroughbred Aftercare?
We don't have to limit you to one thing, you can name two.
How much it matters and how much these horses were loved from the beginning. If you're breeding a thoroughbred and you put almost a year into, getting the mare pregnant and foaling, and then you've got another couple of years till you get the horse to the races.
And then you're going to put it with the [00:30:00] best trainer that you can find and try and bring those horses along. I I think people think that people that, breed and raise racehorses are just doing it for the money. And we're absolutely not. Everybody that works in horse racing, we're doing it for the love of the horse first.
And, it's always, a learning curve for anything. But I think that. people need to know that these horses were loved first. And when they get them, I get upset when I hear people say, Oh, the horse has this, that, this problem. Thoroughbreds come with all these problems. A lot of them don't come with any problems because they never worked hard enough to get one.
And the horses that do have problems, it's because they're great athletes. And I don't know any athlete, human equine, dog, whatever. If you're athletic and you're working hard, you're going to sustain some sort of, injury or some sort of, you're going to sustain something.
I think that you have to just take these horses and know that if you're going to have an athletic horse that's doing something, it's going to need maintenance no matter if it was started as a hunter jumper or if it started a racehorse. So the real athletic horses need, they're going to need some sort of support.
So , I get mad when people say, Oh they're just disposable or, they come with problems. So I think if I was going to say, something that they need to know is, no, these horses, we bring them along and we try and help them as much as we can, and even with that support and when I say maintenance and it's if you have a.
say a high school kid and he's playing sports and he comes in and he sprains his ankle and stuff. You're going to try and get him help. You're going to tell him to go to the whirlpool and you're going to tell him to go to the sports, coach and get the ankle wrapped and get some liniment and take an Advil.
Like you're not going to tell your kid, Oh no. Just go to bed. You'll be fine. Walk it off tomorrow. So these horses are our babies. People are like, Oh there's all this stringent testing and there's they drug these horses. We don't drug these horses. We use the top scientific, top veterinarians, the top science to try to make them feel better and do better because they're training hard and they're racing hard.
And we want to alleviate any pain or uncomfort they have, not just. to get to the winner's circle. Of course, that's part of it, but also because we don't want to see our kids suffer. We don't want to see them come back from a tough race and not give them a little bit of butte so they can have three nice days off and relax.
, it's not drugging. It's trying to assist them and it's always done under veterinary care. Yeah, I was going to say, I know that, the one thing that's been interesting about, working closely with somebody who actually has a racehorse at a track is that, it's all well and good to win a race.
Everybody loves that feeling, right? But what the owners of these racehorses really care about is how that horse feels the next day. Yeah. Because one thing that a thoroughbred will do is try beyond their physical capabilities because they have such great heart. And that's a blessing and a curse with a thoroughbred, right?
But I think it's been really fascinating for me just to hear race horse owners go yeah we're really excited that we won yesterday, but we just can't wait to hear from, the groom or the vet. The day after to know just how the horse is feeling today. Is the horse still feeling just as happy as it was when it walked into the winter circle?
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And the caretakers and the trainers that are actually at the track with the horse. You run your horse, you don't just put it away and stall and go home. They're there all night long for hours, and they have the same, you just have that feeling in your gut.
Okay, he came back safe. Is he safe an hour later? Is he bedded down? Did he eat his dinner? Did he drink? They don't just. run these horses and then just go home. They're there all night long. If they're shipping, they're there till three o'clock in the morning and they might have to get up at five to start the next day, but they're going to be there all night to make sure their horses cool out safely.
So yeah, absolutely. What's next for you guys? I know you have a couple of big things coming up, like a golf outing. Yeah. May 1st. It's been a lot of fun. This is our fourth annual golf outing and we do it right before the Kentucky Derby, which is really fun. Cause it's the start of May starts the big season.
We get through a rough winter and we have racing, but you have highs and lows and a lot of missed days. So when Kentucky Derby season comes around and all eyes are on racing, , the crowds come back to the track and it just starts a good season. We started the golf outing, it's the Thursday before the Derby and, everybody comes in, they golf all day and it's just a fun day, hopefully not too windy.
The weather can be weird in May, but we have a great day. And then we do a Kentucky Derby preview with Dick Girardi and Danny Gibson, and they handicap the race for us and tell us, a little bit about what they think's going to happen. So it ends up being a really cool conversation between all horsemen, mostly horsemen talking about, the best horses.
It's the best three year olds of the year coming together. So it's a fun day and we still have a few spots if you guys want to come golf. You can, there's still a few foursomes you can get in. I used to play golf in high school. I'm not very good off the tee, but I have a pretty good short game.
I can ride the golf cart around pretty well. There you go. You need somebody who's going to heckle, so there you go
. Yeah. I
just love how passionate you are after all this time and in such a difficult industry. I don't know. It's just really great to hear. Before we go, where can our listeners learn more about turning for home or get in touch with you?
You can go to our website. We're working on revamping it right now. So you can go to our website and there's a page that shows you the different partner farms so you can see which one's in your area.
You can always fill out an application. If you're looking for a thoroughbred, the number one thing you want to do is you can go right to the top, pin to the top of our Facebook page. or right on the front page of our website, there's the application. So if you fill out the application, that really gives us a great idea of the criteria, what you're looking for.
And then what I do with the application is I send it out to all the partner firms will get to see it. And then if I can think of a specific course that's going to go with you, I'll make sure I even call that farm and say, This person's looking for a horse just like this horse, so maybe give them a call.
So that way our firms are calling you and letting you know what horses we have available and you can go see them. So send in an application, or work with your closest partner farm. Some horses we rehab and they might be with us, six months, nine months a year, depending if they have a tendon or if they've had surgery.
But some of the horses that, come off the track sound and just need downtime, they go pretty quickly. [00:36:00] So you want to get your application so we can look for that horse coming in for you. If you know that you're going to be, say if it's in the fall and you know in the spring you're going to be looking for a certain kind of horse, send in that app and we'll make sure that we're always looking to.
match you up with the right horse. No, that's really good advice. And it's nice to know that you can keep an eye out for something if somebody does have a really specific criteria as well. And I think one of the coolest things about getting horses through an organization like Turning for Home, and I know we talked about this before, is that you're getting so much more information than if you just got a horse from the backside, just thinking Oh.
I want it to be X, Y, and Z. But once the horse has gone to one of the partner farms and has had a little let down time, gotten some turnout, been able to relax its muscles a little bit and its personality comes out in a new way I just think that's such a valuable experience for the horse. And it's just a really nice way to be able to go and look for a future partner for yourself because that partner farm manager is going to know a lot more about what the horse is on a day to day basis versus it's very specific job at the track.
And they change so much. Like I said, they make liars. The other time we've had horses that they said were dangerous and up and, I call the farm a month later and I'm like, this is the quiet, this is the sweetest, quietest horse we've ever had. Yeah. Or, and vice versa. , Oh, here's a nice big sound gelding and, they get at home and they're like this one's going to need a little bit more time.
So at least when you go to the partner farm, they've had a chance to really see the horse over, a period of time and see them turned out and, , watch their personality bloom from, grumple up, to in your pocket and sweet. So yeah.
And you can ride them at the farm where at the racetrack, you have no shot of getting on them. And like I said, I've seen horses jog here. I watched, 10 horses a week jog here. And when you see them out. at the farm. It's a totally different horse. So it's definitely the much better way to go is to go through the aftercare organizations because you have the protection and you're not stuck with a horse that you're like, what do I do with this horse?
Yeah. It's that full circle that you were talking about earlier for sure. Yeah, exactly. Thank you so much, Danielle. This has been, A long time coming. I feel like we know you adjacently in some ways. I've actually, been around June when she's been on the phone with you. And I feel like just know you already a little bit, but thank you for joining us today and sharing all the incredible work that you guys are doing with Turning for Home.
And we have one more question and you can only have one answer. One word. What's one word you'd use to describe an OTTB?
Cherished because I really, I think the racing community, like we said, we cherish them and we hope that you're going to cherish them. Cherished.
That's a really unique one. Yeah, that's a new one. I don't know what we're going to do with all these words. We've got, some kind of plan for them. There's a loose plan for everything, but I love that. And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. Be sure to check out Turning for Home and support their amazing mission.
And follow me and go green, please. If you liked what you heard today, please leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts. You can follow OTTB on tap on Instagram, Facebook, and Tik TOK and contact us with interview candidates and topic suggestions at OTTB on tap. com. We love hearing from you until next time.
Cheers.
