Basic Organization Information
THOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT FOUNDATION
- Also Known As:
-
Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, Inc.
- Physical Address:
-
Saratoga Springs, NY
12866
- EIN:
-
13-3132741
- Web URL:
-
www.trfinc.org
- Blog URL:
-
www.facebook.com/Tho...
- NTEE Category:
-
D Animal related
-
D20 Animal Protection and Welfare (includes Humane Societies and SPCAs)
-
P Human Services
-
P99 Human Services - Multipurpose and Other N.E.C.
-
P Human Services
- Year Founded:
-
1983
- Ruling Year:
-
1983
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Mission Statement
To save Thoroughbred horses no longer able to compete at the racetrack from possible neglect, abuse, and slaughter. At state correctional facilities, TRF offers a nationally accredited vocational training course in equine care and stable management. Inmates learn marketable job skills and benefit from the intangible benefits of of working with animals, while the horses receive quality, supervised care.
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Impact Summary from the Nonprofit
<div>The TRF is the oldest and largest organization in the world dedicated to providing permanent, lifelong retirement for former racehorses. Due to racing-related injuries, fewer than half of America's Thoroughbreds are physically suitable for a second career as riding horses, making them at high risk of being sent to slaughter. Our correctional facility-based vocational program gives ex-racehorses a job as equine teachers without asking them to perform beyond their ability. By the end of 2012, TRF will have opened a new facility in Illinois as well as a pioneering program in equine-assisted psychotherapy for parolees in California.</div>
Leadership
Mr. Michael Lakow
Term:
Since
Nov
2011
Profile:
<div>Began as a hotwalker as a teenager and worked his way up to become a racing secretary for the New York Racing Association and the Dubai Racing Club. Managed Hill 'n' Dale Farms, a premiere full-service Thoroughbred operation. As someone who cares deeply about the fate of racehorses when their careers are over, he joined the TRF board of directors in 2011 as a volunteer and soon was offered the fulltime position of CEO.</div>
Leadership Statement:
In a time where state budgets are being cut and programs to rehabilitate incarcerated men and women, ours is one program that is still in place and amazingly effective. It saves lives, horses and money in the long run.
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Program:
Thoroughbred Retirement and Adoption Program
- Budget:
-
$2,400,000
- Category:
-
Animal-Related
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
Retired Thoroughbreds can be expensive to care for and many are injured when we receive them. We rehabilitate them at state of the art facilities and re-train the sound ones for second careers. They can be adopted for pleasure riding or showing or handicapped riding programs. Those that are not sound live out their lives with us.
Program Long-Term Success:
<div>Our overarching goal is to end the unnecessary slaughter of Thoroughbreds when their racing careers are over. The racing industry as a whole must step up and take responsibility for the tens of thousands of Thoroughbreds it produces each year, particularly the horses that are injured while training and racing. Through our correctional facility-based programs, TRF has proven that almost all Thoroughbreds can live a productive life after racing and we will continue to lead the charge in advocating for mandatory funding for retirement and adoption programs.</div>
Program Short-Term Success:
<div>By the end of 2012, TRF will have expanded our correctional facility program to Illinois and California and allow us to transfer more horses from our satellite farms to facilities where they will undergo more . The new California facility will provide an equine-assisted psychotherapy program for parolees.</div>
Program Success Monitored by:
<div>Semi-annual comprehensive herd inspections are conducted by licensed veterinarians and we share the full results publicly.</div>
Program Success Examples:
<div>Over 4,000 Thoroughbreds have benefited from our program and while most lived with us for the rest of their lives, more than 800 were able to be adopted out to loving homes. Adopted horses have enjoyed careers as pleasure mounts, competition partners, equine-assisted therapy partners, law enforcement mounts, and simply as pets. </div>
Program:
Second Chances Vocational Training Program
- Budget:
-
$800,000
- Category:
-
Crime & Legal
- Population Served:
-
Offenders/Ex-offenders
Program Description:
<div>The Second Chances program provides vocational training for incarcerated men and women and follows the curriculum of the nationally accredited Groom Elite program. Students are all non-violent offenders and provide supervised care for our horses while completing both classroom and hands-on classes. A final written and practical exam must be passed in order to receive a technical degree in equine care and stable management.</div>
Program Long-Term Success:
<div>We hope to continue expanding our Second Chances program beyond our current 8 states and provide more opportunities for both Thoroughbreds and inmates. Every facility will have a local group of supporters and volunteers who help educate the public and market adoptable horses to new homes.</div>
Program Short-Term Success:
<div>By the end of 2012, we expect to have opened our newest correctional facility farm in Illinois. Additionally, our first equine-assisted psychotherapy program for parolees will open in California. In New York, a new retraining program at our existing Wallkill facility will allows inmates to help prepare NY-bred horses for adoption.</div>
Program Success Monitored by:
Recidivism rates for graduates from our vocational training program are significantly lower than for the general prison population and many graduates stay in touch with us about their professional and personal successes. As the program continues to grow, more horses will be adopted out, allowing us to rescue others.
Program Success Examples:
<div>Graduates from our Second Chances program are now gainfully employed as farriers, stable managers, grooms, and other jobs within the equine industry. One gentleman is now a degree-holding substance abuse counselor at the prison in the book "Saving Leslie Jones," he credits the TRF program for motivating him to turn his life around. Another inmate is now an instructor in the Second Chances program. Some former inmates have adopted and providing loving homes for horses that had been under their care while in prison. </div>
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