In a little more than four months 100 Thoroughbreds have found new homes through TheHorse.com’s Thoroughbred Adoption Service. Actually that number is higher as many folks who placed Thoroughbreds on the adoption list said they had other horses, some Thoroughbreds and some non-Thoroughbred, that also found homes when people inquired about the Thoroughbreds listed on TheHorse.com.

The 100th Thoroughbred was Bar Ticket, a 2008 filly based in Humboldt, Ariz., was listed with this description: “This pretty filly is a bit too crooked legged to make it at the racetrack. She would be fine for any other discipline or as a riding horse. She would be a good project for someone who wanted to work with a young horse.”

Here’s some information from the person who put Bar Ticket up for adoption:

• Tell us a little about the horse (age, color, markings, sex, personality): Bar Ticket is a plain bay yearling filly with a ton of personality.
  
• How did you become this horse’s owner? Tell us a little about that: I bred the filly to be a race horse. Unfortunately she came with bow legs. She would never have survived the racetrack, but I felt that she would work in most other disciplines.
  
• Why did the horse need to find a new home? I breed a few homebreds to race and because of her bow legs she was not going to make a racehorse.
  
• How did you hear about TheHorse.com’s Thoroughbred Adoption Service? I am a subscriber to The Horse.
  
• What kind of response did you have from the Thoroughbred Adoption Service? I was surprised that I got so many queries. Of course many of them were from far away and the shipping would have negated the “free horse.”
  
• How did you select the horse’s new owners? Although I had many people asking about her, the one I selected was close to where I lived, and I had a chance to see where she would be going. And because they had other horses I could also see what things would be like.
  
• Anything else you’d like to add? I think you do an excellent job and can’t thank you enough.

TheHorse.com’s Thoroughbred Adoption Service was the brainchild of Gainesway Farm owner Antony Beck. He was concerned that in this economic downturn there would be Thoroughbreds who needed new homes and new careers outside the racing and breeding industry. His hope was to combine the efforts of The Blood-Horse Thoroughbred magazine and its Web site, Bloodhorse.com, to allow Thoroughbred owners to find good homes for horses they no longer could use in their specific industry through the general horse Web site TheHorse.com. (Both publications and affiliated Web sites are owned by the same company.)

Antony was right!

The good news this service has spread beyond the occasional horse coming off the track that either has been injured or wasn’t competitive to include Thoroughbreds from all walks of life; from youngsters to retirees, stallions to mares, geldings to fillies. Some come directly from the track, some come through rescue groups, and some from private owners who for whatever reason can no longer keep the horse.

Below are comments from some of the folks who found homes for horses through TheHorse.com’s Thoroughbred Adoption Service.

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“That’s No Bull has been adopted by a young woman who fell in love with him when she came to meet him. I am confident that he now has a great home and they will have many happy trail rides together. I had several responses to the ad, and I was happy that he went to a place in Washington, where I could visit him if I am in that area. Thank you for having this service. It seems to work very well.” Julie

“Respectability now has a new owner. You may take her off of the list. I was surprised and pleased with the multiple responses I had for her.” Diana

“Thank you for your wonderful Web site. I have found a great home for Valentino. Please remove this horse from your list. Another success story. Thank you.” Brenda

“My horse, Johnny Legit, was adopted. Please remove him from your list. Thank you very much for your assistance.” Pam

“Please remove River Ghost from the available list as she has been adopted! The adopters also adopted her pasture buddy, another Thoroughbred mare that was rescued off the feedlot. So two wonderful Thoroughbred mares are now in a loving home with spacious pastures! Thank you so much for offering this service and helping rescued Thoroughbreds find forever homes! Thanks!” Faye

“Thank you so much for your Thoroughbred adoption listings! We were able to find a wonderful home (actually, they found us!) for our Savannah during a really difficult time. We had so many wonderful people contacting us from all over offering to help. Thank you to all of them!” Sandra

“Please remove my horse, Mercury Rising, located in California, from your available Thoroughbred adoption listing. You can now place him in your success stories! Thank you so very much for this incredible service. My horse now has a forever home located very close to where I live. His new owner is wonderful and says that I can visit him at any time. Again, thank you very much; he was listed on your incredible service for less than 24 hours! I am thrilled to say the least. I am telling everyone I know about TheHorse.com