What happens to a thoroughbred racehorse when he can no longer run competitive times on the racetrack?

Well, the animal could end up at a Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) site like Greener Pastures, a TRF Second Chances Program at the James River Work Center.

Or it could find itself in the slaughterhouse.

To raise money to make alternative first option more likely, a tour of some of the most interesting horse barns in Goochland is scheduled for later this month.

Set for Sunday, September 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the tour will feature five unique barns in Goochland County, plus a first-time look at the highly successful training program at Barn 4 at the James River Correctional Center in Goochland.

Barn 4 is the permanent home of Secretariat’s grandson, Covert Action.

Proceeds from the tour will benefit Greener Pastures.

TRF’s Second Chances farm at the James River Work Center is one of eight corrections-based TRF programs, where rescued ex-racehorses are rehabilitated for adoption and TRF provides nationally-recognized Groom Elite vocational training for offender caretakers.

TRF pays for all the equine-related costs of the program at JRWC, including the curriculum and training for the men. TRF is entirely dependent on donations from the public. All gifts to the non-profit organization are tax-deductible.

TRF and Second Chances can make a big difference in the lives of thoroughbred racehorses and the men who are trained in their care at James River.

“After they race them they just discard them,” said David Hampton, 30, a graduate of the Groom Elite Program at James River.

He is now learning Equine Dentistry and hopes to have a job working with horses when he finishes his sentence in two more years.

Hampton said he has some problems with the horse racing industry.

“I love the program and the animals but I don’t agree with horseracing,” he said.

Hampton said the program gives the animals “somewhere to go instead of the slaughterhouse.”

According to the TRF website, the prospects of a typical retired thoroughbred racehorse are not good.

“Reality is a Thoroughbred industry made up largely of owners with only modest resources and current economics that dictate that among all owners, no matter how responsible and well-intended, only a relatively few are capable of maintaining even a single Thoroughbred once it is unable to earn its keep on the track,” says the website.

“Reality is a world where horse meat is in demand in many foreign countries and there are several slaughterhouses in the U.S., Canada and Mexico happy to create a supply.”

TRF is determined to change that and the barn tour and the Second Chances program at James River Correctional Center are part of the plan.

“We’ve been very fortunate that the Department of Corrections front-line people have been so supportive,” said Goochland horsewoman and TRF National President Robin Traywick Williams.

“It’s a professional operation in a correctional center – people will be surprised by what they see,” she said.

Not only do the horses benefit but the inmate trainees do as well, said Williams.

“I got involved to save horses,” said Williams, “but when I met the men the first day, I saw their faces light up. I realized we were saving people too.”

Williams said the inmate trainees learn teamwork and life skills working with horses and each other.

“They take pride in the program,” said Williams.

Currently Greener Pastures can handle 25 horses and has 10 inmates in the training program. Several inmates who have graduated from the program have gone on to work in the industry after their release.

Nineteen horses have been adopted out into new homes, said Brandy Nixon, Institutional Coordinator of the Greener Pastures program at James River, which was established less than three years ago.

“One just left this morning,” she said.

Some of the barns that tour members will see September 19 include “Clarendon,” a private facility owned by Betsy and Robert Fauntleroy, and a state-of-the-art hunter and jumper show barn, Henebry Farm, a full-care board facility offering pasture boarding, retirement boarding, extended lay-ups, training and horse sales.

Virginia Equine Clinic at Deep Run Hunt Club, the base of a very busy ambulatory veterinary practice will be open for viewing.

Mt. Bernard Farm, a private racehorse breeding and boarding facility listed as a National Register of Historic Places property dating to 1850, is on the tour.

The classical revival property is rarely opened to the public.

Another attraction is Sterling Farm, a privately owned farm specializing in breeding Russian Calvary horses, the Budyonny. Because the Budyonny breed was recently introduced in the United States there are less than 50 in America.

And of course James River Correctional Center Barn 4, permanent home of Covert Action and the Groom Elite program, will be on the agenda.

Clarendon owner Betsy Fauntleroy said she has always been an animal advocate and was eager to help with the TRF program.

If you go…

Ticket cost is $25 per person. To preorder, mail to Marshie Davis at 2391 Broad Street Rd. Maidens, Va. 23102. Or call 804- 556-4186. 

Tickets may also be bought online (use the purchase button bar on the left.) Day of ticket sales will be at Barn 4, Virginia Equine Clinic and Henebry Farm.

For more information about the Second Chances program and Greener Pastures, visit their website at JamesRiverHorses.org.

“Clarendon” is one of the barns that will be opened to viewers during the September 19 TRF Barn Tour to raise money for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.

Covert Action, grandson of Secretariat, at the Greener Pastures site at James River Correctional Center. Barn 4 at the correctional center is on the September 19 TRF Barn Tour.