The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation
25 Years of Happy Endings
Read About Our Local Volunteers
- Local Coordinator
Robin T. Williams - Treasurer
Bonnie Hardiman - Herd Supervisor
Polly Bauhan - Inmate Training
Scott Richeson - Publicity
Liz Bryant - Events and Fundraising
Anne Tucker - Horseshoes
Dudley Luck - Barn Tour
Marshie Davis - Colonial Downs Gala
Wendy Woods - Corporate Sponsorships
Wendy Lipscomb
Jennifer Khoury - Photographer
Debby Thomas - Greener Pastures
Heather Mitchell - TRF Directors
L. Clay Camp
Robin T. Williams
The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation was founded in 1982 with one purpose in mind -- To save Thoroughbred horses no longer able to compete on the racetrack from possible neglect, abuse, and slaughter.
Since its inception, the program has grown to 22 facilities housing 1,200 horses. Horses live in both correctional facilities as well traditional farm settings. In each, they are assured of a lifetime of care, with the opportunity -- if suited -- to be adopted out.
The prison programs are good for horses and the offenders. One offender said, after seeing his name in an article about the program, “I’ve never been in the paper for anything good.” And the coordinator at James River says that seeing the “bond between the horses and the men is enough to make you believe that change is possible.”
Today, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is the world's largest, best known, and most respected charitable organization devoted to equine rescue.
People helping horses – Horses helping people
Greener Pastures: A Second Chances Program
Imagine a place where people and animals come together to help each other. Horses adjusting to a new life of retirement following a busy career in racing. Prison inmates working to acquire a valuable skill to put them a step ahead when they return to the job market. Both sides with a lot to learn. Both sides with a lot to give. Both sides with a lot to gain.
Such a place exists in Central Virginia at the James River Work Center (JRWC) in Goochland County. In 2007, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and the Virginia Department of Corrections established a public-private partnership to provide rehabilitation and training for offenders, using ex-racehorses.
The horses living at JRWC have acres of rolling grassland, barns and run-in sheds, a horse-knowledgeable supervisor, and a group of carefully selected inmates to care for them. Local professional horsemen and -women volunteer their time to help supervise the herd and provide supplemental training for the inmates.
Offenders selected from a pool of applicants are assigned to the program for a specific period of training, during which they care for the horses on a daily basis – leading in and out, mucking stalls, grooming, feeding, doing round-pen work. This hands-on experience is complemented by classroom training in equine nutrition, physiology, tack and stable management. The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation uses the Groom Elite curriculum, developed by Reid McLellan, Ph.D., and taught at racetracks. Graduates become certified, and the Foundation assists them, upon their release, in finding jobs in the horse industry.