Update: November 23rd

Hello all!
We continue to make progress with adoptions as we wind down our training season! Walinsky shipped out last week to his new home in Paris, Ky. We have now found foster placements for Golden Golden ('Nemo') and Gentle Bandit; Nemo will be going home with Luann, one of our dedicated volunteers, and Bandit is going to stay with our very own communications intern, Sarah! Both Luann and Sarah will get to know them over the winter and consider adopting them before we re-open in March.
That said, we are still looking for homes for Code Forty, Fly Lite, He's A Hoot, Invincible Vince, Sweet Immersion and Herr Heinz. Code Forty and Fly Lite are sweet, hunter-type mares who are both sound and ready to go into training for the show ring. He's A Hoot, Sweet Immersion and Herr Heinz are all young and sound, great for any discipline; He's A Hoot has spectacular movement and would be good at dressage but has the athleticism to make an eventer as well. Sweet Immersion ("Merv") has a very event-type build but could also make a jumper/field hunter. Heinz is ready for anything, very sweet and relaxed, sound to jump in any context. Vince has had some dressage training and is sound for pleasure riding on the flat or trails.
The interns and I took a field trip to the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville this past weekend--it was a good chance to teach them about the sport our horses are coming out of, as well as the life cycle of a racehorse. Look for Sarah's article about our trip on the News and Events section of www.thoroughbredadoption.com !
We are all preparing for the Secretariat Center's open house on December 6th. Hannah, Leah and Sarah will be doing a presentation on the internship program and 90-day re-schooling program (R), and there will be refreshments so come and see what we're all about! It's a chance for us to thank our sponsors, past and present and inform new people about our mission and plans for next year. All are welcome, we are located within the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The hours for the open house will be 1-3.
That's all for now!
~Natalie

Update: November 17th

Hello all!
Winter is upon us and things have gotten very busy at the Secretariat Center! We are moving into winter hours soon, which means we hope to have all our horses out of the facility by December 8th. They will be back in March, and we'll resume training then. In the meantime we'll be doing some renovations and focusing on marketing and fundraising. This means however that we are faced with the tremendous task of getting sixteen horses adopted or placed in three weeks! Fortunately we've had applications turned in on several of them: Walinsky, PY Twenty, Astronomical, Todd T., and Valentine all look like they will find homes. J's Dream will be going to a foster home in Phoenix for an EAGALA program. We've had some interest in He's A Hoot and Sweet Immersion, and since they are so young and sound they should be easy to place. Core Sample, who has chips in his ankle will require surgery, and fortunately the University of Missouri has graciously offered to take him over the winter and do the surgery for free! We are very grateful.
That does leave us with a long list, however: Dawn's Creek, Fly Lite, Gentle Bandit, Golden Golden, Herr Heinz, Invincible Vince and Sweet Sweet are all still very available. Fly, Golden, Heinz and Sweet would all make great show horses of various types, while Bandit, Dawn and Vince are ready to hit the trails! I'll post their pictures below. All are featured on http://www.thoroughbredadoption.com/ , so please please take a look and if you are interested please e-mail me: ncvoss2@yahoo.com

Code Forty

Golden Golden

Herr Heinz

Fly Lite

Dawn's Creek

Gentle Bandit

Update: November 3rd

Hello everyone!
We are now beyond capacity here at the Center--15 Thoroughbreds + 2 pony horses--and our goal as we move into winter is to get these guys out of here! It seems however that horse-hunting works the same way as house-hunting for most people: better done in the spring and summer. All the same we are plowing ahead, slashing adoption fees along the way,with the hopes of getting everyone into a new home by the end of the month.

• Legacy Thief has come and gone--he had sustained so much damage to his joints that he was inappropriate for anything more than a pasture horse, but he found a job as a babysitter to weanlings on a local breeding farm.
• Herr Heinz and Py Twenty are still here; Heinz will make a good show horse--you'd think he was a 10 year old lesson pony by the way he acts, very relaxed and willing but he's actually only 3. Py has some backaches that will probably limit him to trails, but his attitude is similar to Heinz so he will be very good at that. We can tell these two have been treated well!
• Several TRF adoptions from previous years have come back due to financial problems (the horses are also feeling the results of a sinking economy); Invincible Vince comes in with lower-level dressage training and is sound enough for light pleasure/trails. Very pretty golden boy. Walinsky is the same story, VERY good mover, lots of big floaty gaits and natural carriage; he is a big, powerfully-built gray. J's Dream has been trail ridden for the last couple of years and is sound for more of the same.
• We also took in a couple of new horses--Sweet Immersion and He's A Hoot. Sweet Immersion has the build and attitude to be a great cross-country horse, while 'Hooter' has the smooth, floaty gaits of a dressage prospect. Both young (4) and sound.
• Roger continues to recover well from surgery. He is being hand-walked every day now and is allowed to go out in the paddock for a few minutes each day. He continues to keep a gentle attitude and the vet says everything is healing up just the way it should.
• Code Forty is turning into a great hunter prospect--she seems to do best with stronger (usually male) riders, and is a little nervous at first but quickly evens out and becomes a great mover.
• Core Sample has chips in one ankle, says the vet, and we are hoping to find the money to pay for surgery this winter.
• Everyone else (Astronomical, Dawn's Creek, Fly Lite, Gentle Bandit, Golden Golden, and Valentine) are ready to go as-is, just looking for good homes!
• Please check out our horses at www.secretariatcenter.org . The new adoption fees are listed on their pages. Tell your friends!