Old friends retirement- where horses learn to be a horse and become "free"

In 2009 I had a wonderful opportunity to not only visit Big Brown but I also had the chance to visit "Old Friends", a retirement facility located in Georgetown Ky by Lexington. It is not a stud farm or a place where the owners make profit off these animals but a place where "old" horses can go and relax, eat all the grass they wish, roll the mud, and be a horse.


It was a rainy day when I went, I was sick but my love for horses kept me going. If you drive to the place, you will notice nothing but spacious green fields , white fences , and horses grazing in the distance.




First let me share a few of my pics before I go onto a discussion about the farm .

This horse lost an eye in a stud farm accident






























When you arrive at the farm , you enter the main building and there is a gift shop of little horse nick nacks and pictures of the horses that you can buy with a donation. Your donation includes the picture of the horse you loved, and you get to "own" a piece of that horse. Now let me talk about the farm and the horses who call this place home

Old Friends Retirement Home is a nonprofit retirement home for retired and pensioned racehorses, that was established in 2000.

There are a variety of horses who reside at this farm- some of them have disabilities , some are movie stars ( seabiscuit star) and some are gelded retired racehorses who have no other place to go. As we were guided out to paddocks, I heard neighing in the distance, and was overcome with emotion as we passed by Ferdinands grave. Ferdinand was a derby winner who resided in Japan as a stud, and was later slaughtered. Old Friends was developed in honor of him, and they had wanted to bring him to their farm , but it was too late. Every horse has his own paddock, with a barrel for food, and mud to roll in. The horse with one eye lost his eye as a stud, the tour guide told us, but he was a sweetie. He loved carrots, and he enjoyed being rubbed by the tour guide. The movie star of Seabiscuit was named Popcorn Delites and he was a handsome boy.

The thing that strikes me most about this farm is the happiness of the horses there. Every horse there seems to be well taken care of and enjoying their days. It is kind of sad to visit this farm, because most of these horses are very old, but the owner of the farm is a sweet old man, who loves and gives each one attention.
I am amazed by the love that is given to each horse, and the dream that the owner has - to save every retired racehorse from slaughter or worse. I encourage everyone to go and visit this farm, you can visit it for free, but they like donations!