I would like to announce that I have chosen LOPE Texas as the Texas Team Do3 Charity for Dreaming of Three. Lope is an organization that takes off the track horses(OTTH) and rehabilitates them and adopts them out. I chose LOPE because OTTH have always been apart of my life. My father was a Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse jockey, trainer, and an exceptional horseman to boot. Every few years he would take a select one of his horses in race training that had the proper disposition, conformation, and athletic ability that was nearing retirement and re-train them into a pony horse that he could use. For those of you that may not know a "pony horse" is a horse that is ridden and is used to lead the race horses in the post parades, to the gates, and used to exercise the race horses in the morning.
So as a little girl I grew up learning to ride on these pony horses. Prince, was an OTT Thoroughbred (OTTB) that ended up being my mount that my dad gave me. Prince and I did horse shows together and competed in hunter and equitation and as I went into High School we went on to learn about rodeo. We ended up making it to HS finals in poles my freshman year, and dominating in poles my sophomore year and being the top 10 in barrels in tough Texas competition. Now mind you this is a 16hh TB! Sadly, Prince shattered his leg my junior/senior year(I graduated a year early) and we had to put him down. He was a race horse, pony horse, hunter, barrel and pole horse and looked just like Secretariat. That's what I call an all-around horse! I went on to ride another OTT appendix bred that I finished in the top 6 and went on to state finals with. I am now once again I am training a OTTB that is showing an enormous amount of potential to be a real gem in the barrel pen.
As you can see, my success with these OTT horses, especially OTTB is very dear to me. There is such a stigma that OTTH are too hot, broke down, and useless, which is completely untrue. I hope my experience can show that these horses have insurmountable potential in all fields of equestrian competition and LOPE is helping to do just that!
On that note, please tell us what LOPE Texas is and what
inspired LOPE to be started?
LOPE stands for LoneStar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers. We are a 501 (c)(3) charity devoted to helping ex-racehorses find new jobs and good homes after their racing days are over.
I was inspired to start LOPE after I first saw racehorses in training at the backside of a track. It was a very moving experience to watch all the different types of racehorses (young two-year-olds in training, seasoned winners, speedy challengers and less-than-talented also-rans) all going through their morning workouts. I could see their fine breeding and competitive spirits in the way they carried themselves – and for the first time I wondered what would happen to them when their racing careers ended.
We have always thought of ex-racehorses as the best horses ever – so for us, it was an honor to realize that LOPE might be a way to help these horses transition on their way to a bigger and better second career.
Where is your ranch located at and what is that you offer to horses that have been donated to LOPE?
Our adoption ranch is located in Cedar Creek, TX (near Austin). We offer all types of services to the horses in our care – starting with letdown turn-out time from the track (so they can enjoy just being a horse outside in a herd setting). We also will give injured horses full rehab care (such as stall rest, hand walking, pasture turnout, chip surgeries) as needed for each individual horse’s need. For sound horses, we will begin their retraining process with groundwork, restarting them under saddle and raising funds to send the more talented horses to professional trainers.
What is your Homestretch Heroes Program?
Our Homestretch Heroes Program is to help injured horses from the track receive as full a recovery as possible. All funds raised through this program go toward vet care, medications, surgeries and transport for horses with all types of sports injuries (such as bowed tendons, joint chips, suspensory ligament strains and so on).
Is LOPE open to all breeds of OTT horses?
Yes, LOPE is open to all breeds of off-track horses – we have placed Quarter Horses, Arabians, Thoroughbreds and Paint ex-racehorses through our services over the years. We love working with all the breeds of ex-racehorses – it is very interesting to see the differences in training and bloodlines for each of the breeds.
Approximately how many horses have you adopted out and given
a second home and career?
Our ranch has adopted about 200 horses – and in addition, our website listings and email placement services have helped another 650 horses find new homes as well.
What types of disciplines have LOPE horses transitioned into?
We have seen LOPE horses in almost every type of new career. Some examples include trail riding, barrel racing, ranch work, dressage, jumping, eventing, therapeutic riding, polocrosse, endurance racing, breeding and all-around pet/companion horse.
Have there been any LOPE horses in particular who have gone on to make notable careers in their new disciplines?
One of our horses, Might Tonight, became a talented eventing prospect and attended clinics taught by Olympic riders. Another LOPE horse did quite well in local endurance races too. A very pretty filly from LOPE became an outstanding all-around show horse in Florida and has won everything in her show circuit there.
What are some of the goals that LOPE hopes to achieve in the future?
Each year, there are too many ex-racehorses that need new homes – but at the same time, there are too few people who want to own them. At LOPE, we’d like to help close this gap by 1) giving the horses in our care professional job training (so that they are more prepared to find new jobs and keep them); 2) sharing what we have learned from these wonderful equine athletes.
Our purpose is twofold: to demonstrate the great potential of these horses to excel in new careers, and to promote a philosophy of classical horsemanship that focuses on foundation training for both horse and rider.
It is our hope that by highlighting specific horses and their journeys to new careers, we will help inspire people to admire the enormous talent of ex-racehorses – while also raising their profile, desirability, and value in the equestrian world.
To do this, we hope to build an alliance of terrific Texas horse trainers and training sponsors to help bring out the best in the LOPE horses. Our dream is to have LOPE horses attending barrel races, schooling shows and trail competitions all over the state – so that many more horse lovers will want to consider an ex-racehorse for their next riding partner!
What are some other ways that the public can learn about LOPE so they can be informed on how they can adopt a OTTH
or help out LOPE?
Our website is a great source of information on our adoption policies, available horses and ways to support LOPE. In addition, we have written a book about the LOPE horses (which hit bestseller lists in Austin, Dallas and on Amazon) – if you buy a copy of the book, a portion of the sale goes to help the LOPE horses and it’s a fun, enjoyable read too! And we have produced a DVD on Retraining Racehorses with Tom Curtin (an incredible western horseman and teacher) – sales also benefit the LOPE horses and there is a ton of great training advice as well.
Link to LOPE website: www.lopetx.org
Link to LOPE book: www.beyondthehomestretch.com/amazon
Link to LOPE DVD on Retraining Racehorses: http://www.lopetx.org/horsemanship-dvd/
Link to Tom Curtin website: www.tomcurtin.net
What do you think about Dreaming of Three and Texas Team Do3 and how do you think they will benefit LOPE?
We think Dreaming of Three is an awesome group! It is very inspiring to us to see talented barrel racers coming together to help charities and horses – and we love the “can do” cowgirl spirit of the group and its members! We are honored to be chosen as a charity by Dreaming of Three – and we hope that more people will consider ex-racehorses for their next barrel horse (or riding partner) as a result. Thank you, Dreaming of Three!!!
Pictured below is POGO. A lope horse who is currently in barrel training and looking might good doing it!
