A Thoroughbred Rescue Story

By Paula Drake

Destiny brought me Kona.

I was a middle-aged horseless woman in Ohio, surfing a bulletin board along with horse people I had never met from across the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile, a mare - credentials and breeding unknown - was clinging to life in a horse trader's lot in the Pacific Northwest. That was almost four years ago.

All I had wanted was a horse to ride. Shopping for my next mount had led me beyond the conventional classifieds and the word-of-mouth networks into the world of Internet advertising, blogs, and horse bulletin boards.

The mare in the trader's lot was one of several horses whose photos had been posted online by a group hoping the horses would be adopted. Kona was the name she had been given. She was the most beautiful mare I had ever seen.

I entertained no plans to adopt her at the time, but because a foster home was available not far from the trader's lot, I joined some fellow bulletin board members in pooling money to buy and rescue her and several other horses. 

And so began the serendipitous tale chronicled in Eclipse Press' new book, Second-Chance Horses, along with the stories of 18 other Thoroughbreds.

Kona was the horse I had always dreamed of owning. She filled my heart and soul. Her magic knitted friendships across the miles from The Jockey Club employees who helped me with the old faded tattoo to her breeder, her rescuers, her vets, the publishers of this book, and everyone else who met her along the way.

And now I share her magic with you. Read the full story of Kona (PDF format)