October 18th, 2008

Hello to all from your new equine communications intern! This will be my first foray into the blogosphere, bear with me. It seems like every time I walk through the door here, the whole barn is turned inside out. Recently we received 3 new horses: PY Twenty, Herr Heinz, and Legacy Thief. All are adjusting very well, the barn staff especially loves PY Twenty (a son of Affirmed!). He’s described as a big teddy bear, very stocky and solidly built, with gentle eyes. He used to be a pony hose on the track, and is now looking at a career as possibly someone’s new trail buddy. His pal Herr Heinz (a son of Stravinsky) is also a big guy, but very laid back and willing to learn. The staff can’t believe he is only 3 years old because he is so gentle! Herr doesn’t have much experience under saddle, but is coming along nicely because he’s smart and a quick learner. Legacy Thief’s bad ankles may mean that he’s only suitable as a pasture pet, but you couldn’t find a friendlier horse to hang out with! Just this week we have had 4 new horses come in; Invincible Vince, Sweet Immersion, Walinsky, and He’s a Hoot. Sweet Immersion came to us from Blackburn, we are still assessing his potential, but so far we know that he’s a big boy and he is sound to ride. Vince was returned to us because his owner could no longer keep him, but he is such a great guy that he won’t be here long. He has a wonderfully sweet disposition and will be a great lower level hunter jumper. Hooter was also a return, and so far he seems like he’s always alert and ready to go. Walinsky is a big gray quarter horse type who was a great trail horse for his previous owner. We have also had 2 horses leave us to go to the Blackburn facility: Mighty Sue and Wall to Wall. So as you can see, the parade of Thoroughbreds marches on at the MMSC! The last two weekends we’ve been out at Keeneland manning our booth at the Breakfast with the Works events. Everyone should come watch, it’s early, but it is so fun to see the horses working out before their races (plus, admission is free, there is breakfast, and kids activities). Today was hugely busy entertaining visitors of all kinds, and photographing our newest additions, so look for the new horses on our website! We are busier than ever with projects of all kinds, and there are sure to be more important updates coming soon.

Update: October 2nd

Greetings, all!

• It has been a very busy couple of weeks since our last post. Here are a few odds and ends: Hannah's application on Lucky Bid has been officially approved and he will be going to his new home in Versailles this weekend. She's so excited! Bluff will be shipping out too, as soon as his new barn is finished.
• We've had three new horses ship in: Marylou Whitney sent us Legacy Thief, who I'm told is absolutely beautiful. Herr Heinz also came in with a stablemate (whose name escapes me...ah the frustration of working from school, I don't have the horses' baby books next to me); one of them is a son of Affirmed, the other Lady's Secret--we are surrounded by Thoroughbred royalty.
• We have had an e-mail from Julie, Lion's new owner to say that she is thrilled with him. They have really bonded--on his first night with her, he lay down in his stall with his head in her lap and fell asleep for an hour. I think he knows he's found his home. Pictures are coming soon.
• Today is Media Day at the Kentucky Horse Park, and we were all at the office late putting together our fabulous media kits for the ~60 journalists who will be coming through this morning. We're also getting a visit from Purina to do some filming for a promotional video they're creating for the AAEP. Busy day!
• This weekend will be our book fair at Joseph-Beth Booksellers on Nicholasville Road. Anyone in the Lexington area, come buy your books there on October 4th and 5th--20% of the proceeds will be going to the Center. We will be there both afternoons, handing out flyers on our available horses and taking donations.
• Anyone headed to Keeneland on Saturday will see Susanna giving a demonstration in the walking ring with one of our horses prior to the first race. Not sure who's going yet, we're still debating about which one of them could best handle hearing the call to post again.
• In April, PBS's tv series Equitrekking filmed the Center in conjunction with an episode about Lexington, which will be airing in the coming week. It seems they've changed the original air date in Lexington...I think it may be this Saturday from 1:30 to 2 on channel 11, although I can't seem to find an episode summary anywhere to know if it's the Kentucky edition or not. You will see Susanna working with King De, Charlotte working with Tijur, and me with Raceready, all of whom have since left for new homes in New York and Tennessee.
• We continue to get calls from people interested in volunteering. Keep them coming, we continue to need help in the barn and with grounds maintenance (aka weeding). EKU is planning to send us two large groups of students this month to paint some of our fences before it gets too cold, so an advance thanks to them.
• The six new horses from last week are now on the website; Valentine and Dawn's Creek are ready to go, Core Sample will need a little more time and work, and Bandit and Golden Golden (Nemo) have been in the roundpen with Hannah and Leah, but aren't ready for riding yet, as they are very skinny. Todd T. had surgery to remove ankle chips last week and is recovering well. He's already put on a noticeable amount of weight (thank goodness), but will probably have 4 more weeks of stall rest and hand-walking before he'll be ready to go. It's amazing how much better he looks, even with the giant bandage on his leg.
• Communications intern Sarah has been hard at work for new articles for the Thoroughbred Adoption Network site (www.thoroughbredadoption.com), so look for those in the next couple of weeks. Also, I'll be having her take over the blog (as soon as we're both stationary long enough for me to explain how she can access it).

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more info, and email me (ncvoss2@yahoo.com or nvoss@trfinc.org) if you want to donate, volunteer or adopt. Happy Keeneland!

~Natalie

Barn Update: September 20th

Hi everyone!
Here's what's been going on at the Secretariat Center since last post:

• We have welcomed three new interns to our very first internship program. Hannah and Leah are freshmen in the University of Kentucky's equine science and management program, and are here for our barn management/combined training internship. We also have an equine communications intern--Sarah (who is sitting across from me) is a senior at Georgetown College, double-majoring in business and communications. Welcome to all!
• Lion Around has been adopted and will be shipping out TONIGHT to his new home. Congratulations, Lion!
• A Natural Bluff and Lucky Bid have applications out for their adoption. Lucky's application has been turned in by our intern Hannah, who made this video of him last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4hDL9z-ndg .
• We have shipped in six new horses! Look for postings on the TAN website (www.secretariatcenter.org) of No Day But Today, Dawn's Creek, Core Sample, Golden Golden, Bandit, and Todd T. We're really excited about all of them, especially No Day, aka Valentine--he's already been jumping 2 ft. in New York and is one gorgeous boy.
• We've had a flood of new volunteers in this week...it's so great to have the barn full of people in addition to horses. That said, we could always use more help
• We're participating in the Macy's Shop For A Cause Day, and will be selling discount coupons outside the Macy's at Fayette Mall from 5-7 tonight
• Also for all you readers in the Lexington area, we're having a book fair at Joseph-Beth Booksellers: 20% of all sales on Saturday, October 4th and Sunday October 5th will be donated to the Secretariat Center, so save your book shopping for the first weekend in October.

That's all for now...stay tuned for more news!

Barn update: September 3, 2008

Hello all!

There's so much going on out at the Center! E-mails are pouring in from potential adopters interested in our horses. Come On Bye will have two showings in the next couple of days, Gunner is leaving Saturday, Lucky Bid will (hopefully) be shipping out in the next week, and Ten Something has a couple who are totally taken with her. Also, it looks like Code Forty may have found a good home for turn-out. It still amazes me that Lion Around is still here...he's generated a lot of interest, but just when someone gets close to filling out paperwork, they leave town or are given another horse, so through no fault of his own, things just haven't worked out for him yet. That's his picture at the start of the post...isn't he beautiful?

Also, we have several intern applicants headed in for interviews this weekend, and from their resumes it looks like we'll be getting some bright students for the positions. Stay tuned!

~Natalie, Blogspot admin

Reccent arrival

A Warrior's Heart

What drives you time and time again
To seek out the pain
To seek out the loneliness
For others' gain?

What distant far away havens
Do you seek refuge in
When the pain becomes unbearable?
When the loneliness is unrelenting?

A Warrior's heart is beating within you
A Warrior's heart is beating for us
A Warrior's heart is leading us

Let us grant you peace at the end of the day
Let us acknowledge your sacrifice
Let us embrace your Warrior's heart

~Penny Austin, copywright 2008


A few weeks ago, we recieved a gelding off the track named A Natural Bluff. Bluff has the most poignant story of all our trainees. He started his race career at age two in claiming and allowance races, and his trainer quickly discovered that he has an interference problem when he gallops (his back heels clip his front ankles and cannon bones). He was raced every 1-2 weeks anyway, and claimed several times; all the while the damage to the bones and ligaments in his front legs worsened. Eventually, he was sold in a kill auction to an out-of-country slaughter company. Lucky for Bluff, trainer Steve Murtough bought him out of the kill pen for $300 and incredibly, was able to treat the damage to his front legs to the point that Bluff raced for two more years and won several races. Steve eventually decided to sell Bluff, but couldn't find a buyer on the backstretch who would pay a meager $500 for him, so he donated Bluff to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.



Bluff is now 9 years old and has 60 career starts with 9 wins. After his arrival to the Secretariat Center, we discovered that he had a displaced pastern which he'd probably spent most of his career running on.



Fortuntely for both Bluff and the Secretariat Center, a fledgling fundraising organization called One Horse At A Time, Inc. heard about Bluff's story and immediately contacted us about sponsoring him during his time at the MMSC. For more information about One Horse At A Time, or to donate, please visit http://www.onehorseatatimeinc.org/ . Due to the injuries sustained during his career, Bluff will probably only be suitable for light riding or as a pasture ornament.



For more information on Bluff, please call us at 859-246-3080 or e-mail ncvoss2@yahoo.com

August 31, 2008: Barn Notes

Barn manager Rebecca Hutchins and Gunner Milligan show Adoption Day visitors how to groom a horse
Adoption Day visitors arriving to the Secretariat Center for an interactive demonstration
Asst. barn manager Jenn Hall with Ten Something

Yesterday was the Kentucky Horse Park's Adoption Day, which featured local animal shelters' dogs and cats, as well as representatives from the Kentucky Equine Humane Center and of course, us! It was a huge success...we brought two horsevan loads of visitors out to the Center from the Park's visitor center for interactive demonstrations with our horses. We showed the kids how to groom using Gunner and LuckyPony, and told everyone each of our horse's stories. Our barn manager Rebecca Hutchins also gave a short talk on the equipment and clothes she used in her days as a jockey. Everyone seemed really interested in our mission, and the horses enjoyed having visitors.

Lucky Bid and Ten Something were shown to a couple from Berea looking for a trail horse who took paperwork for both of them. It will be great if one of them is adopted...they both deserve a really great home. Ten is a six year old slaughter rescue, beautiful 16.2 mare who's sound for any discipline, but best suited as a show horse prospect. Lucky Bid is a big 17 hand gray gelding whose osselets prevent heavy riding or jumping, but who will be sound for a trail or light pleasure horse. In his heyday, he earned almost $150,000 at the track!

Gunner Milligan and Fly Lite have both found homes! Gunner will be going home to Indiana with Julie Strouder next week to be a pleasure and light jumping horse. She's absolutely thrilled with him, and we're sure they'll be a perfect match. Fly Lite, who has been here for ten long months, has found a financial sponsor and will be adopted by Rebecca. She's going to be kept at the Center as a demonstration horse while Rebecca trains her for the local hunter circuit, and potential re-sale down the road. Fly and Becca work very well together...Fly has learned how to relax considerably under saddle, and Rebecca really loves her athleticism and intelligence.

We're also looking forward to welcoming our fall interns in the next couple weeks...this blog will eventually become the responsibility of the equine communications intern, with input from the other two interns, our director Susanna, and me! It'll be really great to open the Center up to undergraduates...I know working here has been a great learning experience for me, and providing education to the local community is central to the original mission of the Center.

That's all for now--have a great Labor Day, everybody!

~Natalie

**All photo credits on this story, and on our sidebar go to Hal Almond of Cincinatti**