Tribute to the OTTB Benefit Show

For six months I have worked at organizing a horse show that will celebrate the versatility of the thoroughbred horse after their job on the race track is over...making them an OTTB! OTTB stands for off the track throughbred. All proceeds from the show will go to Ak

indale Thoroughbred Rescue, in Pawling, NY.www.akindalehorserescue.org.


This cause is close to my heart because my two adopted horses are OTTB's. They are wonderful guys who make me extremely happy and are a joy to me on a daily basis. It pains me to know that many horses with the same qualities as my boys end up in the slaughterhouse pipeline to eventually end up on a European or Japanese dinner table. It is illegal for a slaughterhouse to kill horses in the US, but kill buyers buy unwanted horses at auction and ship them over the borders to Canada & Mexico to meet a brutal fate.

By bringing attention to this issue we hope to make the public aware of what happens when the race is over and encourage potential horse owners to consider one of these horses for their next show horse, trail horse, or pasture companion. They have a bad reputation as being "hot, unruly, and unpredictable".

What these rescues do( Akindale is only one of many) is to take in horses that have been injured, unmotivated, or too slow to race. They evaluate them and re train them as well as heal their mental and physical wellbeing. They then are made available for adoption .

I board at a farm, Shadowbrook Farms Equine Facility, whos owner, Cherie Pettit, has created a 3 part program, called "Think Your Ride"www.thinkyourride.com to help re train these thoroughbreds and also train the youngsters on the way to the track. This training while they are young makes the transition to and from the track a lot easier. My daughter and her OTTB , "Hoy", went through this course under Cherie's guidance and the growth in both has been astonishing. Another boarder, Debra Smith, is a thoroughbred breeder, who has put her weanlings and yearlings through the program and has a filly in training at the track. The trainer always comments on how curious she is and how ready she is to learn.

I searched high and low for equine items to be auctioned off in a silent auction. I have received some lovely items and am excited to see what they bring in for Akindale. We are also having a book signing, a BBQ, and a used tack tent sale and much more.

My hope is that this can be made an annual event and that we earn lots of money for the horses and save as many as we horses as we can.