The Crew

 




We need to introduce the people involved, as well. We are a tight knit and small group that work together for the sake of the horses. I, Kate, introduced myself on January 1st. I serve as executive director for our nonprofit, Center for Racehorse Retraining, and Golden Creek Equine, LLC, our for-profit breeding business. I take care of the administrative side, such as grant writing, advertising, cost analysis, and business development. I also do reproductive work, rehabilitation, and some training.

Kaitlyn is barn manager for both organizations. She is in charge of the day-to-day care of the horses, including the normal daily chores, wound care, and trims. She also does reproductive work, rehabilitation, and training. Kaitlyn also manages our websites and charts for supplies usage. She's been here for seventeen years, which means she's been here since the beginning. Things have changed a lot since we started!

My parents, Jane and Darrell, help wherever it is needed, even though they say that they're retired. They both retired from good careers and have become invaluable advisors. They help with running the equipment for haying and cleaning pens, fix fences, help with whatever projects or maintenance needs to happen around the property, help medicate foals, and whatever else needs to happen.

We also have volunteers that help with whatever we have going on, as well, including projects, cleaning, help with training and other aspects of the horse care. Our primary volunteers are Rebecca and Audrey. We also have help in Chugwater with feeding, checking on the horses, and maintenance.

We rely on a network of outstanding care providers, as well, including Dr. Landes, our primary vet, Dr. Unrein, our repro vet, Meghan at Elkhorn Farrier Services and Philip Himanka at Not Only Barefoot. They take excellent care of our horses, as well as provide valuable advice so we can do the best job possible.

We don't have a large group, but we are all dedicated to the care of the horses. We have a good time, even while doing nasty work, and make the best of everything that we do.

Popular posts from this blog

Adoption Fees

Image
  On occasion, we get a question why we have adoption fees at all or why they are high (they typically range $1000-5000 with a few going higher). We try to emphasize that the horses that we get mostly come from known backgrounds with knowledgeable horsemen with fantastic care and management. They are not rescues. We do occasionally get some horses that are rescues, but they are not the norm. That being said, our adoptable horses have real value in the horse market as good riding horses. The adoptables also play a large roll in raising the funds to care for the horses in retirement. Plus, horses simply cost a lot to feed and maintain. We are not in the profit business with CRR but simply the taking care of horses in need business. So, what goes into our adoption fees? We look at every horse that we get and decide how much down time we think is in the horse's best interest. This can range wildly from none at all to well over a year. We make decisions based on soundness history, phys
Read more

Hoof Rehab

Image
  As we wait, once again, for mares to foal, we have been searching for good candidates for hoof rehabilitation case studies. We received a great response to our post searching for hoof rehab cases. We are currently going through the list of fourteen horses to see which ones we think we can help, as well as how many we can afford to work on. Most of the horses are coming from quite a distance, so we have to factor transport into the cost. We also have to consider how comfortable the horse is before asking them to ship a thousand miles or more. Our sights are set on four, but we have not finalized the decision yet. One is a gelding with severe pedal osteitis and moderate kissing spine. As ugly as his radiographs are, he moves sound and is comfortable. He's a prime example of “you can't ride the radiographs.” The second is a gelding from Florida who has nothing major, but just can't seem to become totally comfortable. He is young, only three years old, well bred and cute. Th
Read more

Farewell, Marla

Image
  Because we have a large number of horses, many of them older or with soundness issues, we inevitably lose some. Many we have had for years when we lose them, while others are with us a short while. We take the precautions to make sure that we take the best care possible, but we can't prevent everything. Horses will be horses, even on the safest vinyl fencing and manicured paddocks, stalls or pastures. We've had fewer issues on the rugged terrain and open fields of our 2400, but accidents still happen. This time, Marla, JC Warning Track, punctured her hock somehow. We'll never know how. The entrance was maybe a quarter of an inch at best. Unfortunately, it went deep into her joint. Those sorts of injuries don't have a good outcome. The options were to let her go or to do daily flushes under general anesthesia with a guarded prognosis for pasture soundness. We chose to let her go. It is an unfortunate part of what we do. Many of the horses living with us are here to
Read more