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All Posts & News Press Releases Success Stories Aftercare Editorials Retraining Tips Supporter Features Inspector Spotlights Humberger Toggle Menu Previous Post Andrew Beck: Aftercare Enthusiast & Musician Andrew Beck: Aftercare Enthusiast & Musician By: Alexis Arbaugh November 18, 2024 Other Tags:Aftercare Enthusiast, Andrew Beck, Gainesways Farm, Musician, Polo, Singer/ Songwriter, Thoroughbred Aftercare, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Equally at home on the polo field and the music stage, Andrew Beck approaches every endeavor with unmatched energy and commitment. Raised on the renowned Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, he developed a deep connection with horses early on. Alongside his passion for horses, Andrew discovered a love for music, learning to sing and play guitar at a young age. Now based in Nashville, Tennessee—known as “Music City”—he pursues a career as a musician while frequently traveling to Lexington to compete in polo matches. Gainesway Farm, a strong industry supporter of Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, is committed to the aftercare of retired Thoroughbreds. As a leading breeding operation, Gainesway is home to a significant number of horses year-round. While many of their Thoroughbreds go on to become racehorses, stallions, or broodmares, Gainesway understands that some horses thrive in new roles or simply enjoy life as companions. Established in 2010, the Gainesway Polo team became a great option for their Thoroughbreds that didn’t seem to fit into other careers. As a founding member, along with his two brothers, of the polo team and advocate for aftercare, Andrew and his team plays a key role in training and transitioning these horses to their second careers. Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance had the opportunity to speak with Andrew Beck about his involvement in the aftercare community and how his passion for music intertwines with his love for horses. He emphasized that a Thoroughbred’s value should not decrease once their racing career ends; rather it should increase, as the breed is highly capable of learning new skills. “Beyond racing, horses enjoy having something to do,” Andrew explained. Many Thoroughbreds will retire from racing at a young age and thrive when given a new purpose and goals beyond the racetrack. Andrew highlighted that polo is a discipline in which Thoroughbreds can excel due to their competitive spirit and athleticism. The best polo horses need to move swiftly, stop, and turn sharply, making former racehorses ideal candidates. Thoroughbreds are also highly intelligent, quick to grasp new concepts, and naturally enjoy being around people. As Andrew put it, “[Thoroughbreds] take their new job and run with it.’” Andrew Beck and Skittles (Photo courtesy of Cathy Allinikov) https://youtu.be/sLu7wCfZkIQ Teaching a horse to be comfortable with a mallet and mastering techniques such as the neck rein can be challenging, but Andrew noted that Thoroughbreds tend to be more “chill” than not when it comes to learning new skills. Throughout the training process, he and his fellow horsemen have learned a great deal about themselves and how to adapt to each horse’s unique learning style. “Hanging around these animals is so therapeutic,” he emphasized. Working with a horse, especially a Thoroughbred, is deeply fulfilling and provides a sense of purpose for both horse and rider. Immersed in both the music world and horse retraining, Andrew began to notice the versatility of horses beyond their athleticism. He would hum along to the rhythm of their hoofbeats or sway with the horse’s movements. Before long, he realized he could turn this into music. “Their beat could be the backbone of a song,” he remarked. He was also struck by the curiosity his polo horse, Skittles, showed toward his guitar and singing. “Horses aren’t afraid of unfamiliar challenges,” he said. Aftercare for horses can be more than retraining or providing sanctuary. “The opportunities are limitless,” Andrew said. Thoroughbreds are intelligent, loving creatures that deserve to be cared for and appreciated. Aftercare is essential not only for the horses themselves but also for the integrity of the racing industry and adopters. When horses are given the chance to thrive after their racing careers, it reflects positively on the entire industry. As Andrew put it, “these animals are individuals, and like all of us, they deserve a good life.” Share This Article

All Posts & News Press Releases Success Stories Aftercare Editorials Supporter Features Inspector Spotlights Previous Post All About Accreditation & Inspections All About Accreditation & Inspections By: Samantha Smith March 19, 2024 Other Tags:accreditation, accreditation application, accredited aftercare, FAQ, Informational, Inspection You may wonder what makes Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance unique in its mission. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance accredits, inspects, and awards grants to approved aftercare organizations to retrain, retire, and rehome Thoroughbreds using industry-wide funding. The accreditation and inspection process are fundamental to our efforts in supporting Thoroughbreds after racing, bringing integrity and assurance to the entire process. Each year, the application cycle opens for organizations to apply for two-year accreditation status. The process involves a thorough review of five key areas based on the established Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Code of Standards. These five areas include: operations, education, horse health care management, facility standards and services, and adoption policies and protocols. Applications are due on April 1 of each year. More detailed information on the application requirements, as well as the application itself can be found on our website here. After applications are submitted, they are reviewed. If you are approved after the application process, the next step is a site inspection for each of your facilities. Site inspections are conducted by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance staff or representatives. This thorough review process is set to ensure a comprehensive accreditation program which provides confidence in the organizations receiving accreditation and grants. This validation assures donors that their funds support entities with the highest standards of care for Thoroughbreds after racing. Additionally, it establishes a network of trusted organizations for industry professionals to confidently entrust their horses post-racing and for adopters to find Thoroughbreds for second careers. This ecosystem of trust enhances the welfare and safety of retired racehorses. As we head into this year’s application season, we have put together a short video series to provide insight into the accreditation and inspection process. Join Janice Towles, Director of Accreditation & Grants, and Suzie Picou-Oldham, Inspections Administrator, as they share insights into their roles, answer common questions, and delve into the details of Accreditation and Inspection. Questions that will be answered include: What is Thoroughbred aftercare? What is accreditation in Thoroughbred aftercare? Why is accreditation important to the industry? What are the basic requirements to submit an application? Once you are accredited, how long does it last and how often do you need to re-apply? Does everyone who is accredited receive a grant? What if you don’t need a grant but still want to be accredited, is this allowed? After you apply for accreditation, what is the next step? If you have multiple facilities, do all facilities need to be inspected, or just the main one? Who conducts the inspections? How often do you need to do inspections? What things do you look for during an inspection? Watch the videos below or find them on our social media and YouTube channel! https://youtu.be/QDbgvoC64no?si=7lqrLDpwH-hhDjakhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiYkM2Cxv40 Part 1: Meet the Team Part 2: What is Thoroughbred Aftercare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfWEOuZ-ABghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLTz1aqxqh4 Part 3: The Accreditation Process Part 4: More About Inspections For more information and to apply visit: TAA Accreditation Information Share This Article

After nine starts, he was retired to the Secretariat Center with a record of 1-1-2 and earnings of $13,494. Not taking to a career as a racehorse, the 3-year-old began his journey to a new job and, eventually, a home to call his own.

Initially looking for an experienced Quarter Horse, adopter Kelly Meng fell in love with a chestnut Thoroughbred mare at Friends of Ferdinand. Now, this “Penny” is beginning to shine.

Onlythewinetalking made his way to TAA-accredited MidAtlantic Horse Rescue as an unraced 5-year-old.

Most recently, they earned sixth place in the MCTA Jenny Camp Horse Trial in the open beginner novice division.

As you may have heard, there is a new and exciting horse racing event happening in Saratoga this summer, “Equestricon”. Equestricon was created to be a horse racing lifestyle event to celebrate the sport of horse racing, its stakeholders, industry insider’s, horseplayers, and the fans. For three days in mid-August, events that discuss everything and anything you can imagine about horse racing, including Thoroughbred aftercare, will take place. Early on in the development of Equestricon, its creators, Kathryn Sharp, Justin Nicholson and Dan Tordjman, approached the TAA to become the official charity partner. The TAA was asked to join the team and help represent the many aftercare groups across North America. To say we were excited to accept this charge was an understatement. The TAA was honored to be the Thoroughbred aftercare liaison and official charity of this event. Being a part of an event like this emphasizes the importance of Thoroughbred aftercare to the horse racing Industry and shows our fans at large that, as a sport, we do care. In addition, it gives our accredited groups an opportunity to share their stories, information and their missions. Equestricon officially kicks off on Sunday, August 13th, and will continue through Tuesday the 15th. You can find information on all of the TAA accredited groups in the Aftercare Hub located in the main exhibitor hall. Eighteen of the accredited organizations will be represented in person over the two days. In addition, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance has been given the wonderful opportunity to help create two exciting and positive panel workshops on aftercare. On Monday at 10:00 AM, there will be a session in meeting room 1 on Aftercare Success Stories. We will hear from Equestricon keynote speaker Soledad O’Brien speak about her own experience with Thoroughbreds after racing. Soledad, a respected journalist and equestrian, has adopted two thoroughbreds from TAA accredited group “Thoroughbred Rescue of Aiken “. Soledad will also lead the discussion on the Thoroughbred racing industry panel Aftercare Success Stories.  It will feature presentations from Herringsworth Stable’s Anita Motion who has been actively involved in several OTTB’s moving on to high level eventing. Lisa Malloy, from Re Run, will also speak about the growth and history of their aftercare group, and trainer and aftercare advocate Rick Violette will speak about the NYTHA “Take the Lead” program and The Stronach Group’s Nicole Walker will speak about her family’s commitment to aftercare and the importance of supporting Thoroughbred welfare to be a successful industry partner.  Michael Blowen, who is guaranteed to make us all laugh, will speak about the ongoing tremendous success of Old Friends, and  finally TAA founder Jack Wolf will speak about his vision for the TAA and why it had to happen for our sport.  http://equestricon.com/schedule/ottb-successes On Monday afternoon, the hype on Thoroughbred aftercare continues with an eclectic, out-of-the-box discussion on Thoroughbred Aftercare Pathways. Post racing traditional occupations for Thoroughbreds will be discussed in conjunction with the development of breed specific horse shows and equine Assisted Therapy programs. Anna Ford from New Vocations and Bev Strauss will speak about their own paths of developing Thoroughbreds for the horse show ring and the casual rider. Diana Pikulski will speak about the ongoing success story of the use of Thoroughbreds in Prison Programs, and Joel Dunlap will speak about Thoroughbreds in therapy programs for Autism.  Finally, Earl Mack will present some ground-breaking research on therapy use of horses in PTSD for Veterans. http://equestricon.com/schedule/aftercare-pathways  Equestricon is the first and only of its kind premiere horse racing lifestyle event designed to celebrate the sport of racing with its fans. Equestricon is an international horse racing convention, fan festival, and trade show that will bring together fans, stakeholders, industry insiders, and horseplayers to participate in a lively atmosphere of engagement, discussion and entertainment. The TAA is truly thankful to Equestricon for many reasons.  Mainly because of the opportunity to highlight the many aspects of the Thoroughbred aftercare world and what they’ve been doing with these beautiful animals after racing. Tickets are still available and can be purchased here: http://equestricon.com/ticket-packages

Depending on who you ask, the success of a race meet and/or racing event is somewhat dependent on a few well known things; the weather, horses, attendance and amount wagered. (Sometimes it is the soft pretzels.) Thoroughbred racing’s biggest and best events almost always “plan” for good weather. The weather will almost always reflect attendance. Good weather brings more people in the gate and with it a bigger celebration. And you can always bet the biggest racing events will bring out great horses. Great horses bring an increase in wagering…you get the gist. The amount wagered is a constant roll of the dice reflected partially by field size, grade of the races, the quality of the athletic choices and potential outcomes. You may be asking what does this have to do with aftercare? For the most part when racing does well, aftercare does well. When there are big events in racing  where the TAA is involved, we not only have a chance to raise much needed funds, but it also sets the stage for a greater awareness for all the positive things the Thoroughbred racing industry is doing. As we wrap up a successful month for the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance in South Florida at Gulfstream Park, and in Las Vegas at the National Handicapping Championships contest, we reflect positively on all the events that happened last month and we thought we should share. There were so many items to list, and it was a whirl wind but here is a basic break down of how the TAA was present at Gulfstream park and Las Vegas over two weekends this January. The TAA was named as the beneficiary of the Friday evening Eclipse Awards Pre-Party. The next day we presented the TAA Best Turned Out Horse Award Sponsored by Star Ladies to a groom in each race on Sunshine Millions Day. Gulfsteam Park and Elite Turf Club sponsored the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf to benefit the TAA. On January 21th, the 46th Annual NTRA Eclipse Awards named the TAA as the official aftercare partner of the awards and allowed two private airline charter trips to be auctioned off by LUXAIR. That following Monday the 23rd, the TAA participated in a photo-op with two time Horse of the Year winner California Chrome, US Polo Team Captain Nic Roldan and equestrian Nikki Walker. XBTV conducted an interview with Nikki Walker discussing Thoroughbred aftercare and the TAA which aired on the Gulfstream Park simulcast show and also online. Meanwhile in Las Vegas, during January 27th- Sunday January 29th, NTRA rasied funds for the TAA via the NHC Tito’s Charity Challenge presented by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. On Saturday January 28th, the TAA was named as one of the Official Charities of Pegasus World Cup Invitational. During the Pegasus World Cup invitational, the TAA had our 30 second commercial air on the NBC broadcast. View commercial here. Again, the TAA presented an award for each Best Turned Out Horse Sponsored by StarLadies Racing to each groom for each race on Pegasus World Cup Invitational day. Acclaimed street artist Magda Love was on site to preform a live painting in honor of the Pegasus World cup Invitational to benefit the TAA. Last month was a great and positive example how through big events in horse racing we can help the growth of aftercare awareness and funding. The TAA is an industry united initiative and our industry stakeholders showed their commitment not just for the TAA but for all of our 64 accredited aftercare organizations across North America. When we work together as an industry there is no limit to what we can achieve. And by the way, Gulfstream Park has a great soft pretzel!

I’m well aware as I start to write this edition of the TAA blog that I will be dating myself, but with no other way to write this, here goes… “Back in the day” the Off the Track Thoroughbred was often seen as a champion in the show world. “Back in the day” riders on Thoroughbreds included Olympic riders Michael Matz, Jim Elder and Jimmy Day, to name a few. These energetic characters were well known for their athletic ability to ride Thoroughbreds to the top of the show jumping world. Indeed another popular American Hall of Fame equestrian-turned-racehorse trainer was Rodney Jenkins, aka “The Red Rider” with his famous Thoroughbred Idle Dice. All of these riders (and many more) mastered their craft on the Thoroughbred; there wasn’t too much thought about it. Many will tell you to this day that they made great show horses. Many of you may have heard the story of the infiltration of flashy expensive Warmbloods that came to North America in the 80’s and 90’s. The popularity of this type of horse, for whatever (debateable, yet accurate) reasons, made the Thoroughbred less appealing in the show ring… but I’m not going to write about that. What I want to talk about here is the now ever-growing popularity of the Thoroughbred in the show world. Thoroughbreds are becoming more popular as sport horses than they have for decades and it is happening because of three important reasons: 1) The growth of aftercare organizations that retrain Thoroughbreds, 2) The affordability of a Thoroughbred, and finally 3) Infrastructure development of the OTTB horse shows. Over the last 5- 10 years, the Thoroughbred shows have popped up everywhere. It started out slow but the momentum grew. Beginning with “Thoroughbred only” classes as a part of larger equestrian events, the Thoroughbred riders squeezed into spare time slots.  LongRun, for example, a 20-plus-year-old Canadian organization, had Thoroughbred only classes at Palgrave Show Grounds in Ontario as early as the early 2000’s. Eventually, aftercare groups like New Vocations, MidAtlantic Horse Rescue and others started their own in-house shows. Thoroughbred racetracks such as Turfway Park, Pimlico and Santa Anita also initiated non-racing events for Thoroughbreds. Bit by bit the Thoroughbred once again had an arena in which to shine. In 2012, The Jockey Club initiated its T.I.P. program which started out supporting 150 shows in its first year and now has grown to support over 2,500 shows through 2016. That alone should show how people began to recognize that there is a market for the Thoroughbred and the versatility of the Thoroughbred continues to be highlighted. Additionally, other large events have come about to highlight the Thoroughbred, including the Calcutta in California, the Thoroughbreds For All showcase and the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover in Kentucky. And if you hadn’t heard the 2016 Olympic Games featured an American OTTB, Blackfoot Mystery who happened to graduate Thoroughbred Rehab Center in California, which is an organization accredited by the TAA! I’m sure I’ve missed mentioning dozens of events that now support the resurrection of the Thoroughbred. The point I want to make though is that all of these efforts by groups and many individuals to highlight this breed have not gone to waste. Building an infrastructure in which the Thoroughbred could retrain and compete has been one of the best things to happen for all of us connected to these horses. Now that we have started to believe in the breed again, the return of their brilliance has just begun. Perhaps in a few years we will be saying “back in the day,” but for the better.

As the days start getting shorter and the TAA inspection process for 2016 draws to an end, I thought it would be a good time to talk about the expectations of the site inspections and the inspectors of a TAA-accredited (or to-be-accredited) organization.

Pretty much how most people end up in Lexington: horses.