The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) has announced an agreement with the State of Illinois to open its ninth correctional facility-based farm, the Second Chances Ranch at the Vandalia Correctional Facility in Vandalia.

A vocational training program in equine care and management for inmate students, Vandalia’s Second Chances Ranch will commence with a capacity for 30 to 40 horses with room to expand in the future. The TRF will be moving horses from non-correctional facility-based farms to the new center. The organization will also be working with the Illinois Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association on a plan for funding the retirement of horses in need from Illinois tracks.

At Second Chances Ranch, as at the TRF’s eight other corrections based farms, inmate students will learn practical job skills and reap the proven therapeutic benefit of working with horses on a daily basis.

A fundraiser is underway for the TRF to raise the capital funds needed to build fencing and renovate barns at the facility. The organization is also looking for supply and equipment donations from the surrounding areas