After 28 years as an exercise rider and assistant in top stables of the Thoroughbred racing industry, ACTT Naturally’s founder, Valerie Buck, has taken the same patient touch that she used to guide many champions through their morning workouts to helping off-the-track Thoroughbreds toward bright futures through retraining and thoughtful adoption.

We believe in the philosophy of working with horses based on the horse’s natural instincts and methods of communication. The result is confident horses that are better adapted to life after the track and with a wider scope of opportunities available to them.

Through our adoption process, horses are carefully matched with human partners to create lifelong partnerships.

ACTT Naturally’s Hearts in Harmony programs are geared toward helping humans, with the participation of our Thoroughbreds. Sensitive by nature, these horses enable self-reflection of our own energy. While the focus on these programs is toward veterans and their families, first responders, and teens, we believe that everyone can benefit. Mutual respect, healthy boundaries, self-confidence, empathy, and compassion are among the benefits gained from time spent working on the ground with our equine partners.

“ACTT Naturally and Valerie Buck truly care not only about the racehorses that come through their doors, but the bonds that potential adopters have with those horses,” said Jackie Sears-Zaleski, who adopted Tiz Risky from the organization. “Valerie’s expertise and compassion for both horses and humans alike is second to none. She truly understands relationships and understands that they are para- mount in animal care.

“I will be forever grateful to Tiz Risky, ACTT Naturally, and specifically Valerie Buck for making this all happen and for giving racehorses a more-than-fighting chance after the track.”