New website for Turning for Home

[Barbara L.]

It's finally up!
www.patha.org

[caffeinated]

Some very nice looking horses on there :) Thanks for the window shopping!

[Barnfairy]

Thanks for keeping us posted. I noticed that you are a star (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/51174/inside-track-turning-things-around) this week. ;) :) Congrats!

I found this very interesting:

With the increases in purse money due to slot machine revenues at Philadelphia Park, Turning For Home has benefited from the $10 per start that each owner has donated every time his or her horse races at Philadelphia Park. The jockeys, also earning an increase in mount fees, have generously added $10 for each win, and $5 for every second place finish to help aid our cause. Additional matching funds from the PTHA and the racetrack have allowed our program to successfully send our retired and injured Thoroughbreds onto new careers or safe, loving homes Such cooperation --even from the jocks!-- is critical to the success of a program like yours. I hope to see other tracks follow suit, though I wouldn't expect it from those which are struggling without slots.

[Laurierace]

Just for curiousity's sake, does a horse have to be stabled at Philly full time or just have started at Philly to qualify?

[BeverlyAStrauss]

Great job Barb!

[vineyridge]

Good work for everyone at Philadelphia Park. Some of the horses listed are gorgeous.

Does anyone but me think that Debear just looks like a show hunter?

[NeverTime]

Vineyridge posted a link on the eventing forum. I love it! I wasn't even aware that Philadelphia Park had an organization like this.
Do the adoption fees vary from horse to horse, or is it the same for all of them? (Just want to know how much I'll be saving by going with my plan to visit the track this weekend, stuff Cape Romain in the back seat of my hatchback and take off...) :lol:

[Barbara L.]

Laurierace:
A horse has to be stabled at Pha with a trainer based there at least six months of the year. Even with that criteria, we have 220 horses in just 13 months, and our funding just about covers that.
I always try to help people with horses that are not eligible, though, because we have developed a huge network of caring people!

Re:Debear
He is recovering perfectly from a knee fracture, is on small paddock turnout and moving completely sound. He will be re-evaluated before he goes back under saddle, but you have a great eye, as he is perfectly built for a hunter, and his brother is a wonderful upper level event horse. His prognosis for suitability to any discipline is excellent.

Re: Cape Romain: BIG and handsome. He would have been able to return to racing, but his trainer said "enough," and put him into our program. Dr. Patty Hogan did the surgery for us repair a condylar fracture, and he needs 3 more weeks of stall rest, handwalking, turnout, etc., but the person who can handle the rehab will have one nice horse (fine for jumping, or anything) when his layup time is over.

Thanks all for your kind words!

[vineyridge]

What can you tell us about Stilts?
He looks from his picture and pedigree as though he might have made a nice chaser. Why retirement instead of trying him over fences?

[Barbara L.]

Stilts is a wonderful 6yo QUIET big gelding who was a lower level claiming horse in his last year. He has gone through a number of barns, and seemed to lose interest. His current owner really liked and appreciated him, and wanted to put him through our program so they could be guaranteed he'd have a great home.
He actually got adopted today by a gentleman who rides hunters and wanted him from the minute he stepped off the trailer two weeks ago.
We kept him for the 2 weeks to make sure that he was everything we were told he was, and to get him turned out a bit--he is pretty special.
Don't know why no one ever claimed him to 'chase--he is kind of a light boned type, and without having his PPs in front of me (they are at the office and I am home) I don't recall whether he was a sprinter or router...

[NeverTime]

Barbara,
Can you explain how the program works? Is there one uniform adoption fee for every horse or does it vary? Are the horses all at one location off the track or still located on their trainers' farms?
Thanks in advance!

[Little Hound]

Baby Goose is a gorgeous horse, too - why is he only a pasture pal/companion horse? I remember him when he was running at Philly.

[LSUrider]

What cuties! Especially Cape Romain-I'm drooling. Looks like someone's going to have quite a horse when he's done rehabbing. My bank account thanks you for being far enough away to remove some (though not all) temptation :D

[Barbara L.]

None of the horses stay on the trainers' farms. They go from the track or the trainer farm right to the farm in Medford, NJ, where Erin Hurley of SJTR takes care of the adoptions. The application can be dowloaded from sjtbadoption.org. She leases a 150 acre farm just for the TFH retirees, and they spend their rehab time there if they need it, or are adopted through Erin's adoption application/program. We have a No Auction/Right of First Refusal contract, and a voluntary adoption donation policy. TFH knows where each horse goes, and I, too, keep careful records of their progress with their new adopters. Erin and I speak about five times a day!

None of our guys are adopted from the trainers--they are placed with Turning For Home by following the criteria on our website. TFH actually takes over the ownership of the horses, and turns their foal papers back into the Jockey Club with a signed "Sold Without Pedigree" form:

All vet records (xrays, ultrasounds) if applicable, evaluation by Dr. Stephen McBride and Dr, Patty Hogan, race records, foal papers given to me at TFH so that we can best give a true evaluation for each horse to the potential adopters.

Then they ship to the farm, where they can be seen and adopted after reference checks, No Auction contract signed, and adopters are approved -- much like most adoption organizations.

Re: Baby Goose: He has a hole in the bottom of one cannon bone, and will never be sound enough to be ridden. Too bad, as he is a looker!

[ShowMeTheGlory]

Oh wow-I know Pure Diamonds. I took care of her as a 2 year-old on the farm. :eek: