Unwanted Horses Become Wanted

Gainesway Farm is the sponsor of a Thoroughbred adoption service on the Web site for The Horse (http://www.thehorse.com/), which, like The Blood-Horse is a Blood-Horse Publications product. As of Nov. 17, 11 horses have found new homes.

The service was the brainchild of Gainesway's Antony Beck, who was concerned heading into the November mixed sales in Kentucky that a number of horses in the auctions wouldn't be wanted either by their owners or buyers.

Beck, a member of the Blood-Horse Publications board of trustees, should be commended for coming up with a plan at a time of financial difficulty when many Thoroughbred owners and businesses aren't sure about what to do with horses that are no longer commercially viable.

When I heard about the adoption service I thought it would be worthwhile if it just found even one horse a good home, so it's very encouraging to see that the total already has reached 11. It still may only be a drop in a very big bucket, but even a little good news is better than none at all.

My favorite listing is "A Prince waiting to be kissed" for a bay gelding  called Toady.