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A Word from the New Counselor

Since my transfer to JRWC from Deep Meadow Correctional Center, it has been a delight to work with the representatives of TRF and the offenders in the program. My first assignment was to plan our second annual Open House, which was a huge success! Warden Lester and I have great visions for where the Greener Pastures Horse Program can go. With the help of DOC staff and TRF, hopefully our dreams can come to fruition.

This program is a fabulous display as to how the community and the Department of Corrections can work together to achieve a high level of care for the retired thoroughbred race horses and teach our selected offenders a valuable trade to use upon release. Thanks to all who help to make this program a success!

Brandy Nixon
Case Management Counselor
Greener Pastures Institutional Coordinator
James River Work Center

Open House

Greener Pastures celebrated its first birthday with an Open House to thank volunteers and contributors to the program. About 80 people from DOC and the community attended the event at Barn 4. Counselor Brandy Nixon and Correctional Officer Jesse Barker oversaw landscaping and preparation of the barn area while the inmate-trainees prepared the horses for their day in the spotlight.

The program began with remarks from Warden Layton Lester, who has been very supportive of Greener Pastures. Also William Crenshaw, director of the Work Center, talked about the establishment and success of the project on his watch. Robin Williams made brief remarks about the value of the prison programs in caring for TRF-rescued horses.

Then Brandy Nixon introduced the men and their horses. Each man presented “his” horse and made a few remarks about the program, then described the racing career of the horse. The horses were sparkling and they behaved well in front of the crowd. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed ham biscuits and birthday cake, courtesy of JRCC.

Special visitors included representatives from the Maryland Department of Corrections. They were inspecting the facilities and the program in preparation for the establishment of a TRF Second Chances program in Maryland. They reported being very impressed – as well they should be!

On display were the new posters and display materials designed by Debbie Thomas and Chris Wynn. Lee Howell dressed up the tables with flower arrangements.

Greener Pastures Logo

In addition to being an eager student in the Greener Pastures program, Sean McClure is a talented tattoo artist, and he has created a logo for the Greener Pastures program. The logo features a man brushing a horse standing in a green pasture with a tree. Sean painted the logo on a sign that is mounted on the front of Barn 4. He also stenciled a horse’s head on the back of the washrack to match the carving he did on a pumpkin for the Open House.

Debbie Hamman Joins TRF

The TRF-James River chapter has grown and so has its primary project, Greener Pastures, so we have hired a part time employee. Debbie Hamman is a lifelong horsewoman who also has great sales and marketing experience. She is in training to become a Groom Elite-certified instructor. She serves as a backup instructor and barn manager for Correctional Officer Jesse Barker, giving some relief to volunteer Polly Bauhan. In addition, she is assisting Robin Williams with record-keeping and paperwork.
Debbie and Robin can both be reached at our email address: statefarmhorses@aol.com.

Talk of the Block

Early in October, we got an email about a horse who went through the notorious Sugarcreek auction in Ohio. Gail Vacca, a trainer in the Midwest, purchased Talk of the Block – “Toby” – privately from the slaughter agent who bought him at the auction. She gave him a $50 premium. Because the horse was a stallion, she could not send him to a foster home. She boarded him at an Arabian breeding facility in SW Virginia until John Rainey, a TRF board member in South Carolina, heard about him and asked if TRF-James River could take him.

We decided taking a stallion would be a good challenge for our trainees. Mark Burke, owner of Amethyst Acres, where the horse was being boarded, generously delivered Toby at no charge on Monday, October 6.

Tom Newton castrated the horse the next day with help from the men. Toby must be segregated from the herd for 60 days, until the hormones clear his system, but he has been let down and turned out in a paddock by himself.

Toby is a small but very attractive dark brown horse with a lovely disposition and chips in his knees. By Louis Quatorze, he is seven years old and raced 49 times with $68,000 in earnings to show for it.

Polo Match and Auction

Goochland Free Clinic shares a number of volunteers with the TRF-James River, and one of them, Liz Rider, had the wonderful idea of creating a little synergy in fundraising with the two organizations. We had a table at the polo match last year and did so again this year, selling tickets to the Barn Tour the following weekend and putting our materials on display.

This year we were invited to contribute items to the polo party auction, with the idea that the two organizations would split the revenue. TRF arranged for the Breeders’ Cup to donate two tickets to its championship event at Santa Anita (Oct. 24-25) which GFC paired with donated Air Tran tickets for a travel package. Additionally, at Liz’s suggestion, we “donated” a horse. One of our nice Goochland neighbors now “owns” one of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s celebrity horses for a year.

According to the bid document, “Ownership comes with bragging rights but without the hassle of mucking stalls or buying hay. Your horse will be boarded in the professional barn and bucolic surroundings of James River Work Center in Goochland at no additional cost. He will be cared for by certified grooms who will have him gleaming for your visits. You can come watch your horse used in a training session with Dr. Reid McLellan, director of the nationally-recognized Groom Elite certification program used to train the inmates. Ownership certificate comes with a photographic portrait of you and your horse.”

To see all news stories of 2008, go to News.