As discussed in previous posts, Alex and I lost our beloved mare to founder and gave our sweet gelding to a friend who needed a performance horse. Faced with the heartbreak of empty pastures, we decided to commit to taking in two foster horses that had been rescued from slaughter by the Standardbred Retirement Foundation. The plan is to train them for about a year, whereupon the SRF would offer them for adoption as safe family horses. Once they find forever homes, we can take in two more and start again.
 Last week, the prospect of fostering two horses filled me with anticipation and more than a little apprehension. Meeting horses is like meeting people; I know I will feel uncomfortable around some horses, feel relatively indifferent towards others, and feel attraction and chemistry towards most. What if we end up fostering a horse with dangerous habits? What if the horses are too high-strung or spooky? What if we don’t feel comfortable with them?
 As it turned out, we had nothing to fear.  Last Saturday, we ventured to the Standardbred Retirement Foundation facility in Cream Ridge, NJ and met the horses that we will foster. After driving 2 hours, we met Liz the trainer at 10am. The farm was expansive, with a grid of huge uncrowded pastures inhabited by contented cohorts of horses. Liz was a knowledgeable trainer, clearly good at her job and committed to the wellbeing of her charges. There were Standardbreds of all shapes, sizes and temperaments on the premises, all owned by the SRF, all available for adoption or fostering. There were huge, 16.2 hand powerhouses ready to fly over jumps, smaller mounts for petite riders, and quiet horses for beginners and children. There were energetic horses that would excel at endurance riding, flashy horses that would look dapper in the show ring, bombproof horses ideal for trail riding or police work, and horses with that could trot their way to the ribbons in dressage or pleasure driving.
We told Liz that while I have a lifetime of experience riding and training horses, a serious fall in 2011 undermined my confidence. I am recovering from a frozen right shoulder and that also adds to my feeling of vulnerability. We told her we were hoping to find two calm, older horses about 14-15.3 hands that are easy to handle and unlikely to spook. 
Liz looked askance at the gelding she had brought into in the barn. “Hm, not this one, then.” She brought in three other prospects that fit our specifications, and amazingly we found that we had excellent chemistry with two of them.
 Let me introduce the horses with whom we will be sharing our lives.
Ashley’s Attack (we will be calling her Phoenix because she rose from the ashes of her desperate circumstances) is a 19-year-old Standardbred pacer mare who was foaled on 5/2/2003. She raced about 3 years and won first place in 9 of her 59 races, earning her owners $26,439. In 2008, she became a broodmare and produced 6 foals in 6 years. Five of these raced, earning a total of $102,911 between them. For the past 6 years, she has worked as an Amish buggy horse. In February, 2022, she arrived at the Shippensburg auction severely underweight with her hind leg swollen from hoof to hock. She was purchased by a “kill buyer” with the intension of trucking her to Canada for slaughter. She was weighed and tagged and was on the “immediate ship” list. The SRF raised funds to rescue her in the nick of time. She was sweet and engaged on the cross ties, reserved but friendly. She probably had only been under saddle once before, but she was willing to accept me on her back and tried to please me. She was confused when we offered her a carrot. Sadly, she had worked all of her life in the service of people, and evidently had never been offered a treat.
 
Global Dragon is a 15 year old Standardbred Pacer gelding born 4.15.07. He competed in 110 races and won 9, earning $68,402 in his career. After his last race in October, 2013, it appears he was sold to the Amish in Ohio, where he worked the last 9 years as a buggy horse. There is a horrendous scar on his left hind leg that appears to be a to-the-bone barbed wire wound that  became infected. He went though the auction and was weighed and tagged for slaughter. He and Ashley’s Attack were in the same kill pen, awaiting transport to a Canadian slaughterhouse, when the SRF raised funds to rescue them. He is sound, but has a disfiguring scar. I think it gives him character. He has a gentle, friendly personality and is extremely calm.
 It is entirely likely both horses lived their lives in box stalls without access to pasture. 
 I look forward to showing them a kinder world, allowing them to experience the love of humans and the taste of treats. They will have stalls if they choose to use them and sheltering trees and open paddocks if they do not. They will be worked gently and kindly. I look forward to seeing them relax into a gentler life and come to the realization that they no longer have anything to fear.  I look forward to sharing my life with them.