Prospect Horse

When I finally saw the start of a huge dream begin to unfold as we made arrangements to get our first off the track horse to rehab instead of keep, I had no idea what was waiting for us as we went through the loss of Lake.

As I do barn chores everyday, Whisper's stall stares at me with "What next?"

I still want to help racehorses. I do NOT want any additional "forever" horses of my own (save for one special guy Chris and I agree may retire here one day). I also do not want another horse who is broken from the track and at greater odds to either be forced to become a forever horse here or to have the injuries worsen. I've paid attention to the numbers, I understand the odds of these horses is more grave than I initially thought.

A prospect horse is an idea, taking a fresh, sound, off-track and spending time on the horse to make him suitable to resale. This would be beneficial to the horse we take and if it all went well, we would re-coop money put into the horse. A hugely satisfying venture for the horse and for me.

It's also a gamble. The horse could get sick. The horse could get injured here. The horse may not have a sound mind and be difficult to re-sell. The horse could sell then not workout and I would feel it was my duty to provide a safety net for the horse.

There have been horses that crossed my path in the last few months that I could have helped. One slaughter-bound OTTB gelding I tried for and was deeply hurt to find out that he was not at all who they claimed (something I should have learned after experiences with horses that are listed one age and actually another) and that the horse was in a shady deal that you couldn't really save him from. I went so far as setting up quarantine for him before I realized that he was never going to make it out of there.

My other option, of course, is to do nothing. Keep my happy herd of three and continue on working the pony to be good for my kids and my own boys for myself. This is the smartest option of all. It's also the most self-serving where, to be honest, I'm left at the end of the day feeling like I'm not doing any good for the world outside of myself and that's hard for me. I need to help and contribute to the world and I'd like it to be by helping OTTB's.

I'm happy to say that I'm smarter about things after living through these horses and experiences. I don't trust what I don't see with my own eyes (or listings), I know that if it's too good to be true something is wrong, and I've barricaded my heart and my pocketbook a bit against the long shot cases that are good for neither.

I guess we shall wait and see...