Posts Tagged ‘Equus’

By Ray Paulick
Antony Beck saw the writing on the wall just before the 2008 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Overstocked breeders were trying to sell mares they no longer wanted or planned to breed, and an economic calamity was reducing demand for their product. Beck worried what might become of so many of the horses entered in the sale that would not find new homes.

So the president of Gainesway Farm in Lexington brought a proposal to Blood-Horse Publications, where he is a member of the board of trustees, to create a free online adoption service that brings existing Thoroughbred owners and potential new owners together. The idea was embraced by Kimberly Brown, editor of The Horse magazine, a Blood-Horse Publications owned, all-breeds horse health monthly with a popular website. The bulletin board service was launched at www.thehorse.com in November 2008. Cost of development was underwritten by Gainesway Farm as sponsor (click here to see the list of Thoroughbreds available).  Earlier this year, a second section sponsored by the United States Trotting Association was added for Standardbred horses (click here to see the list of those horses).

“I started getting very concerned about the RNAs (reserve not attained) that might end up being butchered,” Beck told the Paulick Report. “I can’t persuade myself to believe that slaughter is the best way to reduce the horse population. Emotionally, it’s an offense to me to have a horse slaughtered.”

“I understand completely that many breeders are in a terrible financial situation right now,” he said. “No one wants to abandon a horse, but I’m afraid that’s the plight many of them face.”

The horse adoption listings are not just for retired or pensioned broodmares. Many are geldings that have been used in various disciplines who may have owners that can no longer afford them. The listings include the name, age, sex, color and location of the horse, along with a brief description of its background, characteristics or physical condition. The lists can be sorted by several categories, including location. Interested parties can contact the horse owners directly.

To date, 229 Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds have been adopted out as a result of the service. (Click here for “success stories.”)

Beck said one of the challenges is getting people from outside the Thoroughbred community to learn about the adoption service and the number of horses that are available.
 
“I’ve been told by many people that other disciplines really like Thoroughbreds, and this service gives those horsemen and women a chance to adopt a Thoroughbred at little or no cost,” he said.

Responsible horse owners need to be vigilant about who may be adopting their horse and whether they have any ulterior motives, such as bringing the new adoptees to a sale where horses are sold for slaughter. The Horse website has several articles that offer guidance on how to avoid that type of situation.

“I haven’t heard of anyone (being scammed),” Beck said, “but people do need to be aware. So far, we’ve had over 200 horses saved and in the hands of new owners. I’m very happy about that, but I hope we can do much more. It really is a matter of making people outside of the Thoroughbred world aware that these horses are available.”

ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Publishing is a very competitive business, and few publications like to acknowledge the existence of their competitors, much less drive traffic to their websites. Though the adoption service is hosted at The Horse magazine’s website, it shouldn’t stop popular all-breeds magazines like Equus, Horse Illustrated, Horse and Rider and Western Horseman from publicizing its existence. Those magazines and websites reach hundreds of thousands of horse owners who should be made aware of these free adoptions.

It is a service to the animal that is responsible for our livelihoods—the horse.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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Liberation Farm celebrates the many horsemen and horsewomen who strive each day to make things better for horses and those who work with them.  To learn more about Liberation Farm, click here.

By Ray Paulick
Last week I wrote that if I had a vote in the Eclipse Awards, I’d cast my Horse of the Year ballot for unbeaten Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta. Well, I don’t have a vote, and I have no one to blame but myself.

A little more than seven years ago, I resigned from the National Turf Writers Association, one of the voting groups for the Eclipse Awards. The other eligible voters are selected staff members of the Daily Racing Form; chartcallers for Equibase; and racing secretaries at National Thoroughbred Racing Association member tracks. There may be a handful of others, including some Breeders’ Cup employees who have a vote.

I quit the National Turf Writers Association after the 2001 media Eclipse Awards were announced and then-NTWA president Jay Privman of the Daily Racing Form unfairly, in my opinion, questioned the eligibility of a piece written by one of the winners, Laura Hillenbrand. Hillenbrand, author of the best-selling book “Seabiscuit: An American Legend,” had previously won an Eclipse Award in 1998 for an article on Seabiscuit published in American Heritage magazine. Her 2001 award was for an original adaptation from the Seabiscuit book that appeared in Equus magazine.

As I recall, Privman, as NTWA president, sent an email to members criticizing the awarding of a second Eclipse to Hillenbrand and suggesting it was “unseemly” of her to even submit the piece for consideration. It was my understanding he was trying to have her stripped of the award.

I had never met Hillenbrand but admired her work, believing that her treatment of Seabiscuit (which was made into a wildly popular movie) was one of the biggest boosts in positive publicity Thoroughbred racing had received in many, many years. I even wrote that Hillenbrand be given an Eclipse Award of Merit, in part because of her personal circumstances: she was afflicted with chronic fatigue syndrome and often struggled to even sit upright and work on her computer while writing the book.

I was offended by the tone of Privman’s letter to NTWA members and asked several individuals on the board of directors to demand an apology or reprimand Privman for what I felt was an abuse of his office. When they did neither, I quit the organization.

Several years later, I asked an executive at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association if I could qualify to vote under the NTRA’s umbrella. I was told “no,” and remained on the sidelines when it comes to voting for Eclipse Awards, something I did for nearly 20 years.

If I really wanted to vote for the Eclipse Awards, I could put aside my strong disagreement with Privman and the NTWA board and reapply for membership in that organization. I’m just not ready to do that.

But enough about me.

There are many others who should have a vote for Eclipse Awards and do not. They include numerous individuals who cover racing regularly or on a full-time basis for television and radio, including ESPN, TVG and HRTV. They aren’t eligible because they aren’t “turf writers.” This group includes knowledgeable individuals such as Steve Byk of Sirius satellite radio’s “At the Races”; Carolyn Conley, Kurt Hoover and Jeff Siegel (among others) at HRTV; Bob Baedeker, Simon Bray and Todd Schrupp (among others) at TVG. It’s incomprehensible that individuals like these do not have an Eclipse Awards vote. In fact, I think it’s time to bring a public element to Eclipse Award voting in the same manner that Europe’s Cartier Awards have done.

As the ranks of full-time turf writers diminishes, racing should take advantage of the growing list of knowledgeable individuals who make their living covering the sport for non-print media outlets. To ignore this reality is just the latest confirmation that the people who run this sport have their heads buried in a place where the light doesn’t shine.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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