Aftercare

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Lindsay Gilbert, Retired Racehorse Project, Thoroughbred Makeover, Imposing Ruler, America's Best Racing, horse racing, ABR

Thoroughbred Makeover Diary: Exciting Start to New Journey for Lindsay Gilbert and Imposing Ruler

My 2025 Thoroughbred Makeover story starts like most of my stories do — with questionable decision-making skills. I sat in my house scrolling on social media one frigid January evening, a barn full of personal and client horses just a couple hundred yards away. As I took in the dozens of horse-related posts that fill my newsfeed, one made me stop and backtrack. A cute chestnut with four white socks and a blaze caught my eye.

Ellen Barth, River Shannon, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, Success Story

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Success Story: Ellen and River Shannon, Love at First Sight

River Shannon and I have been together since December 2023, and we’ve had quite the journey so far! “River” is my first off-track Thoroughbred (OTTB), and I adopted him from the Secretariat Center in Lexington, Ky. I explained to Shelley Mann, Director of the Secretariat Center at the time I adopted him, that I had recently retired my heart horse from competition, so my new project horse would have pretty big shoes to fill.

Riley Clark, Tack Wise, CANTER Michigan, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Success Story: Tack Wise on the Rise

A few months after the 2022 Hillsdale County Fair in Hillsdale, Mich., Riley Clark began her search for a new horse. Her previous CANTER Michigan adoptee, Grander Plan (now known as Prince), had been a great fit, but Riley was looking for a younger Thoroughbred to retrain so she could eventually retire her competition mare. She also wanted to free up Prince to be primarily her dad’s horse.

Riley started her search at CANTER Michigan, where several horses caught her eye. However, it was a young mare named Tack Wise who truly captured her heart.

OTTB Wilky G Elizabeth McDougald retired racehorse Oklahoma Horse and Hound rescue foundation Glenridge Farm Kettles gelding jumper aftercare equestrian

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Success Stories: Wilky G Does It All

In the fall of 2020, Elizabeth McDougald had no plans to adopt a horse when she visited Horse and Hound Rescue Foundation in Guthrie, Okla. She was there to pick up a horse for one of her students, but with so many promising horses at the facility, she decided to look for a project horse for herself. Horse and Hound, an accredited Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance organization, specializes in retraining ex-racehorses and finding them new careers.

OTTB Turnagain Tide CANTER Michigan retired racehorse Willowbrooke Farm schooling equestrian hunter jumper Jen Murdoch adoption recovery rehab Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Success Story: Future Is Bright for Turnagain Tide

“The moment I first saw him, I fell in love,” says Jen Murdoch, barn manager of Willowbrooke Farm, a CANTER Michigan facility.

CANTER Michigan (Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses) has been transitioning racehorses into second careers since 1998. Turnagain Tide, affectionately known as “Turner,” was one of the lucky horses taken in by the program.

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