Injured, Retired Racehorses Find New Life At CANTER
DETROIT (WWJ) - As excitement builds over the Kentucky Derby this weekend - a former local news anchor is making sure that horses who don't make it on the track end up in a good place through CANTER (Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses).
"These horses have the bloodline of Secretariat, Seattle Slew, some of the Triple Crown winners and are champions - they either just didn't like racing - it may have been in their bloodline but it wasn't up to them but they excel in other careers," says Robbie Timmons.
Timmons began CANTER USA in the late 90's to help find new jobs for the thousands of retired racehorses threatened with slaughter.
"The fact is they go to slaughter, they go over to Canada and they are shipped to European nations as a delicacy in horse meat," she said.
She says there are tens of thousands of unwanted horses in the United States.
CANTER Michigan retrains and adopts out about 40 horses a year, most them from the Hazel Park Raceway. Timmons started the group after the closure of the Detroit Race Course, but it now has locations in over a dozen states.
"A lot of these horses have never grazed on grass - have never had an open window in their stall, they have never lived in a herd so there is a lot of education in giving them time to realize they are a horse," said Timmons.
These are registered thoroughbreds says Timmons - coming from Hazel Park Raceway, Churchill Downs and Thistle Down in Ohio.
Each rescued horse costs between four to six thousand to care for - including boarding, training and sometimes surgery before they are adopted out.
