Second Stride feature from PBS, January 2012:

A message from Second Stride Inc. founder & executive director Kim Smith -

I thought long and hard about how to help out the racehorses in our community after a look into the non-profit racehorse retirement world proved discouraging. I found the system to be loaded with red tape that discourages racehorse owners from donating horses. Many owners don't like losing control over the placement of their horses, or they don't like the hassle of getting them vanned to the site, plus fulfilling the many health requirements and paper work.

For this reason, I am offering a place for owners to send thoroughbred horses to retire from racing with dignity. Our farm has retraining facilities and services to give race horses a new career in dressage, jumping, or just trail and companion use. While the horses are being retrained, we network for them to ensure a timely transition into a new, and loving home.

We do place to qualified resale homes, because our experience is they provide a better service to the horse. Even the kindest ex-racer can be young and impressionable, so how they are treated and trained over their first year away from the track influences the useability they will have for the rest of their lives. The best initial homes are experienced trainers who work with the horses for the time it takes to get them solidly started and going in a new career before reselling them. Our worst experiences have come from placing a racehorse directly off the track directly with an amateur rider who has overestimated their riding and training capabilities, or who do not follow through with trainer involvement that they promise. Such horses usually end up back in our program and take double the time to place as we untrain and then retrain them.

We ask for a donation to cover as much expense of the adopted horse as possible, including board, farrier and health care, and retraining for those who are ready. We do not have a vet on staff for the program at this time, so our horses have not been vet certified as sound for any particular job. Due to our limitation on space, we try to only take in what appear to be sound, sane, serviceable horses. We will network for other horses and do our best to help provide contacts and placement options for those that we can't take on our farm. Most of our owners and trainers are repeat donors who understand our program, and we have had an excellent record of successful placements.

We always welcome VOLUNTEERS with experience in fundraising and a passion for helping retired thoroughbred racehorses, as we work toward our goal to develop a financial base of support to care for more horses. Please email us at info@secondstride.org if you'd like to help.

Second Stride was formed due to the cracks I discovered many years ago when trying to adopt horses from other equine non-profit charities or donate horses to them. While all programs serve a great purpose and need, our program was designed to champion the Thoroughbred horses bred, raised and raced in our wonderful bluegrass state. I found a need for a program that could accomplish several things:

• One that could take in uncastrated colts, facilitate the castrations and acclimate them to general herd life.
• One that could break Thoroughbred horses that had not been handled much, or yearlings and retired broodmares that were never broke to ride.
• One that would start retraining off the track horses and find the niche they could serve for the general riding public.

I also saw the need to educate the riding and show horse community about the Thoroughbred race horse and the racing industry. I wanted to dispel the many myths and urban legends about the breed and industry as a whole. Second Stride also strives to educate the racing community about the needs of a general riding horse owner and the transitional needs of a horse right off the track. We found that proper handling for the first 3-6 months of these horses increased the success rate of a permanent match into a new job, and dramatically stopped the ping pong effect of rotating horses back and forth into the programs from failed matches. We found adopters and race horse owners very willing to do the right thing and have patience and financial support of this cause if they are able to.

We have developed a training program that integrates both on and off the track training into a gradual change situation that dramatically decreases the transitional time, as the process is so easily understood by the horses and riders without any stress. We are proud of our horses, our adopters and our donating owners. We would like to thank each and every one of you and appreciate your continued support. Without you and our volunteers we could not function! Together we made a difference in the lives of hundreds of horses.

Retired racehorse "BOMB SITE", ADOPTED! "Bomber" and Jane won the thoroughbred and non-thoroughbred divisions of the North American Point–to-Point Association Championship / Junior Field Master’s Chase! more photos of Bomb Site enjoying his new career >>