As always, campus has been bustling with activity. The Paul Frazer Combined Test was a positive experience for our horses. Benny and Haley Barbato received a 37 on their BN dressage test. Ann Cothran rode a beautiful stadium round on Ferdy, and Shalise Gallaher gathered an 8th place in the Beginner Starter division on Fly Lite.

On March 30th, the TRF-MMSC was recognized as a Kentucky Economic Development and Tourism entity through a resolution passed by the Kentucky House. We brought Champ and Benny to greet visitors at the Capitol Building, including many school children, some of whom got to pet a horse for the first time. An article run on the event the next day can be found on the front page of The State Journal.

Our Saturday demos have kicked off to a great start. Last Saturday we crammed a record 45 people into our old horse van, Big Agnus, to transport them to the Secretariat Center. After photo opportunities with Secretariat, the group was led through the office to learn about the life cycle of a Thoroughbred and the mission of the TRF-MMSC. The kids then enjoyed brushing the horses and having a race of their own around our oval "mini track."

We have also had a lot of horses coming in and out. Rummy, Champ, and Benny will be leaving at the end of this week and Bandit went to his new home in Georgia last week. We have received four new horses to fill their spots, Racehorse Davis, Mr. Universe "Titan," Mr. Informed "Impulse," and Marked For Action. Pictures and further descriptions can be found on our website and facebook page.

The Kentucky Horse Park will be hosting the John Henry Adoption Fair this Saturday, April 17th. We would appreciate volunteers helping to get the horses ready on Friday and manning the booth on Saturday. Come out and adopt a horse, or just see Molly, the Katrina victim pony who's leg had to be amputated. See her prosthetic leg and hear her miraculous story during her guest appearance.

Tune in on Sunday the 18th and 25th at 10am for the TRF-MMSC segment that Fox Channel 56 filmed. It showcases the life of a racehorse, what happens when they come to us, and our horses receiving treatment form the vet and dentist while the interns watch and learn, getting some hands on experience.
We hope everyone gets the chance to go to Rolex next week. Feel free to stop by our booth and say hello, or sign up to work it!

The Volunteer Orientation last Saturday went smoothly and we look forward to seeing even more faces at the next one. Also last week, Rummy was adopted and will soon be on his way to Virginia to be a hunter and trail horse. Champ, Victor, and Ollie all have pending adoptions.

On Saturday Fly, Ferdy, and Benny will be competing at the Kentucky Horse Park for the Paul Fraiser combined test hosted by CKRH. Come support these horses in their first show of the season!

Some Amish men came and built an addition to the garage which the tractor now resides under. They did such a nice job that we decided to have them build us two run in sheds in two of the pastures that currently don't have one.









Two of the smaller pastures have been combined to make a jumping field, which we will set up with our newly donated jumps from JumpsWest as soon as the grass grows and the footing is firm.

Back in full swing!

If you are not already a volunteer, come to the Volunteer Orientation this Saturday, March 13th from 10-12 followed by a complimentary lunch. The horses are starting to roll in and they need new homes as quickly as possible; we want the grass to have a chance to grow in the pastures and make room for more! If you aren't already our friend on facebook, please add us! More pictures and descriptions can be found on the photo albums.
http://www.facebook.com/MakersMarkSecretariatCenter
Do you tweet? Follow us at http://twitter.com/mmsc04















(left) Olympia Fields "Ollie" is very sweet, but is suitable for a companion, pleasure, or trail riding home.
(right) At 5 years old and 16.1 hands, Rummy (Mr. Runstadler) is very quiet and easy to ride. He is a nice mover, goes w/t/c, will do lead changes, and is brave to the jumps.



Guidance up, "Benny" (above upon arrival 5/2009) is back and ready to go after having the winter off. He is 9 years old and 15.2 hands. He would make a great young riders horse with help from a trainer as he will figure out how to get away with things, or he would make a wonderful mount for a more experienced rider. He has lots of scope and does well at shows, although he can be a handful at first out on the cross country course. Gets along with others and has great ground manners.

Gentle Bandit (above) is an Angel Acres horse, sound for light riding. He was returned to us because of the economy, but he can w/t/c. He is suitable for a light riding home. Watch him being ridden at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RNyCSKf7-c



















Champ (above and right) is a 3 yo 16.1 h gelding just off the track. We started him under tack and he w-t-c's both leads and even jumps small cross rails-day 1.


Victory March(above) is a 4 year old just off the track. He would make a great eventer with some reschooling. He is a little timid, but a lovely mover and wants to learn. Victor has a lot of scope to be an upper level horse.


Savvy(above) is about 15.2 hands and 8 years old. His flat work is is very solid and he loves to jump! Watch the video of our first ride on him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yVhJotE8k




Moose (right) - adoption pending!







Interested in any of the horses? Contact Melissa at mdecarlo@thoroughbredadoption.com

Two horses were adopted over the winter. Bilndots Big Peach remains in Lexington and is headed toward an eventing career, while Every Vow "Everet" now known as Oakley, has moved to Louisiana with an 18 year old girl who loves him and wants to do jumpers.

As predicted, the snow returned this morning, but is already quickly dissapearing. The ring is thawing out, and we have many horses lined up to ship in next week. Guidance will be returning to MMSC along with two other fostered horses; 5 yo 16h bay gelding Mr. Runstadler and 8yo 15.2 h dark bay gelding Olympia Fields.

We also have four horses which are pending TRF approval, all 16+ hands.
Racehorse Davis: 7 yo bay
Kona Kove: 7 yo dark bay
Mr. Informed: 5 yo chestnut
Hap's Online is an adorable 4 yo chestnut with a blaze and 3 stockings. "Happy" is in New York ready to come to Lexington. Check out her picture on the Maker's Mark Secretariat Center Facebook page under photos! http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/MakersMarkSecretariatCenter

The staff has stayed busy over the winter months keeping Ferdy and Fly Light happy. Most of the snow has melted (for now) and Fly Light shows of her muddy spotted turnout as Melissa feeds.
John has already jumped in to help with the latest addition to MMSC, a new shed. With a generous amount of help from some Amish men, John and Jerry will build a storage shed next to the current one to house the tractor and various other items that would benefit from staying under cover.

Spring 2010 brings three new interns to MMSC along with a new group of horses. Though there is still snow on the ground and only our winter residents, Ferdy, MMSC mascot, and Fly Light, Melissa's adopted TB, are here, we are gearing up for the first batch of 2-4 horses which are due to arrive back on campus next week. Everyone here is busy preparing paddocks, cleaning mountains of tack, and organizing the barn as well as updating computer databases.

With 12 years of riding experience including dressage, hunter/jumper, drill team, and trails, in addition to the Equine Science degree he is working on at UK, 20 year old John Stork of Burlington, KY will be a great Farm Management Intern.

In her fifth year at the University of Louisville, Whitney Campbell is the captain of the swim team, and graduating this spring. From southern California, she has mainly ridden hunters, and is continuing her riding knowledge as our Training Intern.

New to the Bluegrass area, 19 year old UK student Bryn Oliver of Barrington, NH is the newest Communication Intern. Riding since she was 9 years old, she has acquired a C3 dressage rating in Pony Club and plans to rate up.

Our adopting season will be cut short due to the World Equestrian Games coming to the Kentucky Horse Park in the fall, but we are looking forward to hitting out goal of adopting 50 horses. This willl only be possible with the help of our wonderful volunteers. If you have volunteered in the past, we look forward to seeing you back, and if you've never been, we always love to see new faces. Mark your calendars, our first Volunteer Orientation for new volunteers will be March 13.

I look forward to keeping the blog updated with all of the new things happening here at MMSC. Come see us soon!