Frequently Asked Questions
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FAQ
Please note visits are by appointment only as we have a very small staff. You will be turned away without an appointment.
Our physical and mailing address are now the same: 1966 Appleton Road, Elkton, MD 21921
Just across the street from Fair Hill!
After the Races' EIN is 30-0729968
ATR is a 501(c)3 non-profit and all donations are tax deductible!
ATR is a registered charity in Maryland.
ATR in good standing with both the IRS and Maryland.
ATR is an accredited organization (through the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance)
ATR is an official adoption partner with The ASPCA Right Horse (equine arm of the ASPCA)
We strive to maintain a platinum transparency level with Candid (formerly Guidestar)
We update our website frequently, and will mark horses as “PENDING” as soon as we have entered the adoption process with an adopter.
If you see them on our Horses page, assume they are available.
While we do advertise on other sites, our website is always the most up to date.
Due to the high volume of inquiries and our limited staff, the most efficient means of contact is using the contact form on this site, e-mail sent to info@aftertheraces.org or sending us a message on Facebook. Once farther along in the process, we will provide both our barn address and phone number.
We show horses by appointment ONLY, and only to those who have completely filled out an application.
We show horses Monday-Saturday 8AM-1PM (closed Sundays).
Please respect our staff’s limited time off.
No.
We run an incredibly tight ship and busy schedule here with 20 horses and only 2 full-time staff. If you drop by without an appointment, you will be turned away.
Fees vary by horse and are listed on the bottom of each horse’s individual page. If it’s not listed, the horse is likely not available yet.
No.
Adoption fees vary by horse, their potential, any limitations, marketability, etc.
The fees are already below market value in the majority of cases.
These fees also directly fund the rehabilitation and retraining of all horses in the program.
Every dollar you negotiate off is one less dollar we have to pay for vetting, medical care, feed, etc.
“But it would be an excellent home.”
We require excellent homes for all our horses.
What video we have we assure you is already on the website.
We will absolutely add more when we can get it.
We can not take custom video requests (“just in the field is fine,” etc. is included in that consideration).
Things to consider:
We have 2 employees, 20+ horses, and a constant stream of demands on our time. We get video when the opportunity arises. It takes time, weather, and appropriate help to make these things happen and while we love to provide y’all with videos, a lot of things are higher on our priority list.
You are not the only person asking for video and there are lots of people out there that adopt without video.
If you’re seriously interested in a horse, and have an application on file with us, and are remotely local, we recommend setting up a time to come see them. We prioritize appointments to see horses over other things like getting video, etc.
No, we do not offer leases of any kind.
Not currently, however we may consider it in the future. If truly interested in fostering, please only contact us if you meet all of the following criteria:
You own your own farm and can add more than one horse to your setup
You are within 30 minutes of After the Races
You are willing to have your farm inspected by us and the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance
You are experienced at keeping and feeding Thoroughbreds
You are willing to house and possibly feed foster horses at your expense
Again, we have no current fosters or foster program, but if we were to consider it, we would likely provide:
All vet care for the horse
All farrier care for the horse
Possibly all grain and supplements (TBD)
Hay in the harder months
We would need to do some research and also would prefer to find one person who can foster a few horses vs several fosters each fostering one horse.
Short answer: yes, with a donation and if it is a Thoroughbred.
We are not a sanctuary. We cannot take in horses who will not recover to riding soundness.
We require a donation to accompany every horse entering our program. This donation varies depending on circumstances and never covers all of the horse’s needs.
Only Thoroughbreds that have raced or had race training are eligible.
We are full disclosure with our adopters and expect horse donors to be full disclosure with us.
Injured horses are eligible for our program as long as they have a good prognosis as we do not believe in adopting out pasture pets.
For fairly local adoptions, we do offer shipping at $4/mile, but arranging shipping is the responsibility of the adopter. Professional shippers will be more affordable.
We have several shippers we can recommend, or you can find your own. There's a list in the next FAQ question.
If horses are picked up between 10PM and 8AM, or on Sundays, there will be an additional $50 fee made payable to the employee meeting the shipper.
The only shipper we know goes to Canada is Northern Horse Transport - 587-433-5850. Most of our Canadian adopters have picked the horses up themselves.
Yes.
Shippers: Two Hearts Equine Transport - 608-239-1908
Fairway Horse Transport - 352-642-5401
Jeff Lukens - 518-573-2899 *Northern Horse Transport - 587-433-5850
Cameron Macleod - 803-617-8448
**Joan Wolf - 215-206-4407
**Karen Freer - 804-314-4052
Scott Norris - 910-315-7875
JR Hudson - 508-427-9333
4 Star Equine - 910-603-8293
Equine Express - 800-545-9098
Lake Horse Transport - 859-987-0284
Charles Vondra - 936-546-4140
Brent Daak Equine - 320-583-3678
Horse Carriage Transport - 352-406-3042
Brookledge Horse Transport - 610-987-6284
Sallee Horse Vans - 859-255-9406 *This shipper definitely goes to Canada **These shippers are fairly local - will do within a few hours of the farm.
Yes, as long as the adopter pays for the required international health certificate and a fresh coggins if required. See the question above regarding shipping.
Our intake evaluations are meant to be thorough baselines but do not replace a full pre-purchase exam. Our vet:
Listens to and considers the history of the horse (whatever we have, some come with very little, some a lot).
Listens to the heart on both sides, checks the eyes.
Checks/palpates the spine from poll to tail, as well as the symmetry of the pelvis.
Runs her hands down each leg, palpating all joints, tendons, ligaments.
Checks the range of motion in all fetlocks, both knees.
Follows this up by assessing soundness on a straight line on concrete.
If at this point the horse is sound without any significant concerns on the physical or in the history, this is where we stop. It’s common for horses to have a mild lameness (which is noted in any exam) due to presumed foot soreness after having racing plates pulled and being turned out. Suspected hoof pain aside, if any other lameness is detected, we often progress directly to diagnostic imaging.
We do not radiograph every horse. We only radiograph if we have a reason to based on the horse’s history or a significant finding on an exam.
We do not perform full flexions on every horse or even most horses. We will do flexions as part of further diagnostics if a horse presents lame for the exam.
We are full disclosure and will report all findings on the horse’s page once they are evaluated, and share with the horse’s eventual adopter.
First step, fill out an application! And familiarize yourself with our How to Adopt page. We do not hold horses for anyone until they are adopted or pending PPE.
Pretty much all of our horses are available immediately upon arrival to the right home.
We will allow adopters with commensurate experience to adopt one that is right off the track.
Even if we have not yet evaluated the horse, we allow approved adopters to do their own PPE or take a chance on a horse as-is.
We know adopting a horse days or weeks off the track is not for everyone, but allowing them to be adopted this way makes room for us to help more horses every year.
Many horses in rehabilitation are available to adopt to the right situation. If there is an adoption fee on their page, it’s safe to assume we will allow them to be adopted to someone qualified to finish their rehabilitative care.
If we are not allowing a horse to be adopted out yet (due to acute injury, behavioral issues, etc), it will be explicitly noted on their page on our website.
Our horses are first-approved-home come, first served.
We only hold horses for up to 7 days for a PPE with 10% deposit. No longer, no less.
While it does not happen often, we’ve had people decide to adopt from a distance the same night or day after another has come to see them in person.
We don’t put pressure on anyone to adopt, but understand you are not the only person looking and we can’t afford to wait and see if Good Home A will work out when Good Home B is willing to step up sooner.
We’ve been burned too many times and passed up on too many good homes in the past to be flexible on this.
Please note that putting a deposit on the horse for a PPE does not buy you additional time to ride the horse or delay making a decision. A deposit on a horse means you want the horse, pending a successful PPE.
Yes! We welcome and encourage PPEs on every horse.
We are happy to recommend a list of great local vets and work with you on scheduling.
We allow 7 days to perform a PPE on a horse, starting when we receive a 10% non-refundable deposit.
We expect a decision to be made on the horse within 24 hours of the PPE.
Should you pass on the horse after the PPE, the deposit will be transferable for 30 days should another horse interest you.
Yes.
PPE Vets:
Griffin Equine - 610-713-8282
*Steve Berkowitz - 610-932-6800
Stacey Cordivano - 540-557-7877
Liz Klebe - 443-826-7231
Sports Medicine Associates of Chester County - 610-869-4000
Equine Vet Care - 410-392-6646
*Steve is out of the same practice as our vet Dr. Adams but never sees our horses for anything other than PPEs. People seem to like him.
If it has been restarted here, we’re happy to ride the horse for you so you can see it go.
If it has been restarted here and we feel it is ready, you can also try the horse on the farm. This may be limited to our round pen or riding ring depending on the situation. We cannot allow children to try horses but you can bring their trainer to ride in their place.
While we understand not everyone is comfortable adopting a horse they haven’t ridden, we will not hold a horse for this purpose.
If it has not been restarted yet, it is being marketed as a prospect. Typically such prospects go to professionals and others with the experience to bring them along. Be honest about your abilities and comfort zone.
All horses who come to us get at least 30 days to let down before we sit on them. Please respect the horse’s well-earned vacation time. We’re still happy to let them free lunge, etc so you can see them move.
No.
We will keep an application on file for 6 months.
If your application is denied, we allow another attempt anytime after 6 months if your circumstances change.
As soon as you think you may be interested in adopting from us.
You are not required to have a specific horse in mind.
Applications are good for 6 months at a time. If you’re looking farther ahead than 6 months, go ahead and wait a little while before filling one out.
If you’re anxious that a horse might come along that you love and you want to be able to act quickly, fill one out and let us know you’d like to get approved ahead of time.
We reserve the right to make final decisions regarding suitability of a horse to an applicant or vice versa.
We are generally seeking patient, experienced horse owners who are comfortable with green horses and will not throw in the towel at the first sign of an abscess or when the horse has a bad day (the number of horses we’ve had returned that had abscesses or bad farrier work is astounding).
Most horses right off the track are not going to be good “first horses” unless you’re an adult who has ridden other people’s horses your whole life and can only just now afford your own.
Most will not be suitable for kids, husbands, etc. If they are, we’ll be sure to advertise this on their page (it happens occasionally)!
We’re very sorry to hear that. For the most part we’re pretty good at getting back to people within 48 hours (excluding weekends), though horse work always takes priority and sometimes we get behind.
Please feel free to forward your confirmation e-mail with a note to info@aftertheraces.org to check on the status of your application.
If you just haven’t heard back from us at any point in the conversation, feel free to send us a reminder. I can’t stress enough how many inquiries we receive and if one slips through the cracks it’s not intentional.
We’re never offended by reminders (unless it’s been less than 24 hours or it’s a weekend). 😉
No.
Our process has been developed over the years to avoid tire-kickers and those who really shouldn’t be adopting a young Thoroughbred.
I know you probably have a wonderful home to offer, but so do 95% of our applicants.
Even 4* event riders have filled out our application.
My favorite thing to say when people ask if I’ll make exceptions if the horse goes to “a good home,” is that we require good homes for all of our horses.
Yes.
Shippers: Two Hearts Equine Transport - 608-239-1908
Fairway Horse Transport - 352-642-5401
Jeff Lukens - 518-573-2899 *Northern Horse Transport - 587-433-5850
Cameron Macleod - 803-617-8448
**Joan Wolf - 215-206-4407
**Karen Freer - 804-314-4052
Scott Norris - 910-315-7875
JR Hudson - 508-427-9333
4 Star Equine - 910-603-8293
Equine Express - 800-545-9098
Lake Horse Transport - 859-987-0284
Charles Vondra - 936-546-4140
Brent Daak Equine - 320-583-3678
Horse Carriage Transport - 352-406-3042
Brookledge Horse Transport - 610-987-6284
Sallee Horse Vans - 859-255-9406 *This shipper does go to Canada regularly **These shippers are fairly local - will do within a few hours of the farm.
We update our website frequently, and will mark horses as “PENDING” as soon as we have entered the adoption process with an adopter.
If you see them on our Horses page, assume they are available.
While we do advertise on other sites, our website is always the most up to date.
What video we have we assure you is already on the website. We will add more whenever we get it.
We do not take custom video requests (doesn’t matter if you say “just in the field is fine,” or any other type of qualification).
Things to consider:
We have 2 employees, 20+ horses, and a constant stream of demands on our time. We get video when the opportunity arises, and not before. It takes time, weather, and appropriate help to make these things happen and while we love to provide y’all with videos, a lot of things are higher on our priority list.
You are not the only person asking for video and there are lots of people out there that adopt without video.
If you’re seriously interested in a horse, have an application on file with us, and are remotely local, we recommend setting up a time to come see them (if our current COVID policy allows). We prioritize appointments to see horses over other things like getting video, etc.
We know this isn’t a question, but it’s one of our most common requests. All the information we could think of for a horse is on the website and updated fairly frequently. If you ask us specific questions, we are happy to answer them!
Generally all of our horses have just retired from racing, which means they have no training in any discipline outside of racing. They should be expected to be green and need experienced riders and trainers to help them train up for their next career.
Please read the full description of a horse on the website as it will state if the horse has been restarted and, if so, how much it has done under saddle since racing.
If a horse’s description does not discuss what riding it has done, it has not been restarted yet since racing.
Our intake evaluations are meant to be thorough baselines but do not replace a full pre-purchase exam. Our vet:
Listens to and considers the history of the horse (whatever we have, some come with very little, some a lot).
Listens to the heart on both sides, checks the eyes.
Checks/palpates the spine from poll to tail, as well as the symmetry of the pelvis.
Runs her hands down each leg, palpating all joints, tendons, ligaments.
Checks the range of motion in all fetlocks, both knees.
Follows this up by assessing soundness on a straight line on concrete.
If at this point the horse is sound without any significant concerns on the physical or in the history, this is where we stop. It’s common for horses to have a mild lameness (which is noted in any exam) due to presumed foot soreness after having racing plates pulled and being turned out. Suspected hoof pain aside, if any other lameness is detected, we often progress directly to diagnostic imaging.
We do not radiograph every horse. We only radiograph if we have a reason to based on the horse’s history or a significant finding on an exam.
We do not perform full flexions on every horse or even most horses. We will do flexions as part of further diagnostics if a horse presents lame for the exam.
We are full disclosure and will report all findings on the horse’s page once they are evaluated, and share with the horse’s eventual adopter.
While we are looking for long-term homes, we do allow resale and resale projects (just not quick flips).
You get 100% ownership of the horse when adopting.
Horses cannot be sold by means of livestock auction and we require first right of refusal when you do sell.
If your circumstances change and you can’t keep a horse, they can be resold or returned, though we frequently help adopters place them in new homes prior to being returned, so reach out to us.
Especially when a lot of work and value has been put into the horse, we recommend attempting to resell prior to returning a horse to ATR unless circumstances are dire.
Yes, horses can be returned here by getting placed back on our wait list, but we do not offer refunds.
If you’ve hit a roadblock in your training, reach out to us! We’re happy to help brainstorm, recommend trainers, or help you connect with resources that may help.
If your reason for return is “someone doesn’t like the way my horse’s knee looks,” or “someone said she looks lame,” etc, be prepared to share documentation, radiographs, etc that you have followed up with a vet. We recommend PPEs for every horse. Take advantage of that opportunity!
We will require a monetary donation if returning a horse injured and in need of rehab.
We understand accidents happen and that issues can develop in any horse. We also understand after years in your home horses become like family and it can be difficult when faced with making tough decisions. However, please do not try to bring back a horse who needs to be euthanized. Do right by your horse.
Also, if your horse develops a condition or injury that leaves it only “pasture sound,” please understand it is against our policy to adopt out pasture pets.
Short answer is that some do and some don’t. They do come with 100% transfer of ownership in all cases.
Horses are signed over to ATR by way of the horse owners legally, but not all horses come with papers and try as we might we just can’t always get them (but we can almost always get photo copies).
Some track programs will release papers after 6-12 months ownership. Some release them immediately. Some never release them.
Unless you want to breed Thoroughbreds to Thoroughbreds and register with the Jockey Club, there is NO NEED to have the original foal papers. It’s just a luxury.
Papers are NOT required to compete in the Thoroughbred makeover.
Papers are NOT required to compete in TIP shows.
Papers are generally NOT required for most warmblood breeding (though they make it easier, there are ways around it).
Papers are NOT required to complete a transfer of ownership. People legally sell horses all the time that were never registered and have no papers, and horses whose registration papers have been lost to time and circumstance. It’s the contract that makes the sale, not the papers. They are a document whose soul purpose is to identify a horse for races and for breeding racehorses.