The Second Race's Valentine

Last night I watched the HRTV "Inside Information" episode on Ferdinand. I wanted to watch the original airing of the show, as Ferdinand holds a special place in my heart, and unknowingly the hearts of many horses alive today, due to the death of Ferdinand.



A reporter years ago, wanted to know what had happened to Ferdinand and she began the process of tracing where Ferdinand had went since his original sale to stand in Japan...the answer was one that many could not fathom....he had been sent to slaughter. This news changed the trajectory of my life and many others. It wasn't possible that this had happened. How could a lovely horse, a Kentucky Derby winner no less, meet such a violent end?.


When Ferdinand ran, I wasn't a regular racing fan. I knew about him, but wasn't at the track on a weekly basis as I am now, I didn't grow up in racing, and never saw him in person. His reported slaughter was shocking to me. I didn't know about "racing's dirty secret", as it was later dubbed in the press. Because of Ferdinand, I went on to learn so much about what happens to some race horses when their careers are over.




To read more about the news story that broke in 2003, read Ray Paulick's article here:

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/17051/death-of-a-derby-winner-slaughterhouse-likely-fate-for-ferdinand

The Second Race was born from the death Ferdinand. His life is a daily valentine to the horses that we have in our foster program and to so many others since his unfortunate demise. The Second Race in a small part, hopes to pay tribute to each racing hero by changing the lives of many race horses in the years to come.

Ferdinand may not have sired many winners, he may have faded from the collective memory prior to his reported death, but he gave birth to the saving of thousands and thousands of horses since 2003.

I know that The Second Race would not exist without Ferdinand being the winner he was and I know I wouldn't be blessed to live the life I do and help the horses we have, without the lovely Ferdinand, our special valentine.

An Early Valentine

Photo by Anna Priest

Anyone that devotes their energies to a cause such as animal retirement, knows that there are a lot of lonely hours spent trying to figure out where to place an animal or find a way to accomplish that which may seem impossible...many times you receive a polite thank you and other times none at all. You have to daily find the thanks in your own heart.

Fortunately, The Second Race had an early Valentine's Day "gift" come its way in the form of a lovely note sent to us by a friend of someone that had adopted the beautiful filly, Winter Bird pictured above...with permission, The Second Race would like to share their perfect valentine....

Hey Sharla,

Hope you had a great day and before I say anything else I want to thank you for all you do along with making horsey girls dreams come true.

I just spent one of the best days of my life with Rayanne helping her with extra preparation that she thought she needed on top of what she had already done for the arrival of Birdy, it was awesome seeing the brand new feeder bucket she had bought along with the water bucket and salt lick all set out in an almost perfectly graded corral : ) The halter and lead rope she had hooked on the gate she has had since she was a little girl, she told us the story of saving up her allowance and telling her Mom that, that was what she wanted to spend it on.......it fits Birdy perfect and the color suits her to a "t".

Ray kept checking her phone and putting it down in different places making her more of a dither than she already was, when the gal called for exact directions as she had driven past the street we walked down the driveway and saw the trailer coming up the road, I knew exactly how she felt and when the back of the box was finally opened Rayanne just lost it and so did I : )

She unloaded really well, it took her while to find her land legs after the haul.... but saying that she settled in extremely fast!

I'm so happy for Rayanne, it was like being little kids again at the local stable dreaming that horse was yours and now it is....thank you so much for letting her have Birdy, she is one of the ones that so deserves it : )

Best Always,

Fiona~


To see other horses waiting to make dreams come true go to www.thesecondrace.com We have several horses awaiting adoption and their own Valentine.