Oceans Finer get a new Chance, and a new name

Oceans Finer, newly named Chance, is a thoroughbred gelding recovering from a really rough few months. Chance, (who won his last race as a racehorse), along with 3 other horses were sold by their owner/breeder at a slaughter sale in Louisiana. These horses along with others were purchased by a killer buyer. After several days they made their way to the holding pens of Eagle Pass on the Texas Mexico border to await their entry into Mexico for slaughter processing. With the intervention of many hard working dedicated volunteers who worked tirelessly raising money and making plans to rescue Chance he and the other thoroughbreds there were purchased and relocated to safety.

Chance seemed to be suffering from some aggression issues after all of the traumatic experiences he had endured. He frequently pinned his ears at the people trying to take care of him causing much concern. Lynn Parks, the woman in charge of finding Chance a new life, called me asking if we could help. Chance was moved to Remember Me Rescue for therapy and training.

Chance bit two people the first week he was here. When I arrived home later in the week we began working with him and to my surprise with no problems. One day I led Chance up to the fence to meet some folks and he pinned his ears at them when they tried to pet him. I began working him through some paces and brought him back to the fence. He was good that time. He was a very unpredictable horse to say the least.

After several days in a row of working with Chance with no issues I gave him a day off. The following day as I walked into the pasture to get him he started walking towards me, his big ears flopping and a kind look in his eye. Suddenly he charged me with no warning. Luckily I had a lead rope in my hand and swung it at him and he retreated.

Back to the drawing board. After I caught Chance I took him to the round pen and began a new more intense training regiment. Chance was desensitized to tarps, pool noodles and taught to walk up and down our mounted patrol training steps. He is also being ridden several times a week and on days he is not ridden he is worked in the round pen. We still do not let volunteers approach him without supervision but I feel like we have made big progress in teaching him he is not as tough and scary as he thought he was. Because of his previous aggression issues Chance will not be suitable as a family horse but needs a real job and a real leader to help him work through his issues.


(Training Obstacle Sponsored by Maggie Moss)




ADOPTION PENDING

Chance has a pending adoption with a young man who is an accomplished horsemen. He will have a challenging job and be ridden frequently by his new owner if the adoption is a success. I wanted to thank everyone who participated the rescue of this really neat horse. He has come so far and looks like it is going to be a success. A big special thank you to Michelle Fields who has donated her time to ride Chance and start him on his path to a new career. Thanks to Lynn and all who helped her by researching and raising the money needed to rescue Chance from Eagle Pass.

Attention Ladies of Horse Racing...

Calendar Model Opportunity






If you are woman involved in the horse racing industry we invite you to take part in a "Ladies of Horse Racing" Calendar. In the year of Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra it seems only fair we recognize the other hard working women in our sport. Proceeds from this calendar will be to donated to Remember Me Racehorse Rescue and will go towards rehabilitating and retraining the horses we all love so much.

You may submit your photo's to remembermerescue@live.com along with your name, address, and tons of information about YOU. We hope this fundraiser is a huge success for our program and with any luck we can do more than one calendar, hopefully several calendars for different regions of the country.

When you submit your photo you are expressing that you own the photo being submitted and are giving Remember Me Rescue and their agents permission to use the photo or photos for fundraising events. You are also giving Remember Me Rescue and their agents permission to use your name for advertising and promotional purposes upon submission of your photo.


Thanks to all the women of racing who send in photos and good luck!!

ZENYATTA could break the record of CITATION and CIGAR

On June 13 ZENYATTA could very possibly make history. By winning The Vanity she will break the record of 16 wins in a row by great horses in racing history, CIGAR, CITATION and MISTER FRISKY.

Remember Me Racehorse Rescue is auctioning a Mike Smith autographed photo of ZENYATTA, matted and framed. 100% of the proceeds from the auction will be designated to a Mounted Patrol Training Course for the purpose of retraining retired racehorses for new careers in the police field.



You could own a piece of her history making career and help retrain retired racehorses at the same time. For current bid information or to place a bid please go to the Remember Me Racehorse Rescue site at www.teamkeen.com.

Remember Me Rescue is also looking for training obstacle sponsors. The cost to sponsor an obstacle is $1000 and your name, business logo, or silks will be placed on the obstacle to show your support in the retraining of retired thoroughbred racehorses.

Please mail your tax deductible donations to

Remember Me Racehorse Rescue
Obstacle Sponsor
4100 Conveyor Drive
Burleson, Texas 76028

Mike Smith autographed picture of Zenyatta Auction, proceeds benefit mounted patrol training of exracehorses at Remember Me Racehorse Rescue

Remember Me Racehorse Rescue is building a mounted patrol training course and to kick off the fundraising and awareness campaign we are auctioning a Zenyatta photo autographed by her jockey Mike Smith. The auction will be run through June 10th, 3 days before the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park. Proceeds from this auction will go towards purchasing materials needed to build a course specifically for training horses to overcome obstacles that they might encounter as a mounted patrol, police, or search and rescue horses. Many of the objects needed for training the horses to be qualified for police work are costly. Although we plan on building many of the training aids ourselves the expected cost to complete this project is around $25,000. All donations are truly appreciated and are tax deductible as Remember Me Racehorse Rescue is a 501(c)3 non profit organization.

Remember Me Racehorse Rescue has been endorsed by members of one of the most difficult and most challenging police departments in the United States, the New Orleans Police Mounted Patrol Division. After the training course is completed we plan on producing training and horsemanship videos to benefit police and mounted patrol divisions around the country.

As this project progresses our goal will be to provide these retrained retired racehorses to mounted patrols free of charge, but to do that we need annual sponsors. For more information you may contact Donna Keen at 817-689-1214.

Donations for the Mounted Patrol Training Course can be mailed to

Remember Me Racehorse Rescue
Training Course Project
4100 Conveyor Drive
Burleson, Texas 76028

You may email your bids for the Zenyatta photo to remembermerescue@live.com and check the Remember Me Racehorse Rescue website for updates on the bidding at www.teamkeen.com.

"Moneigh" to be Raffled at Lone Star Park

Remember Me Racehorse Rescue and Lone Star Park are raffling a "Moneigh" with 100% of the proceeds going towards the rehabilitation and retraining of retired racehorses. Raffle tickets may be purchased early for $1 each or you can buy them in person on Kentucky Derby Day at Lone Star Park.

For those of you not familiar with a "Moneigh" it is an original work of abstract art, created by a horse using a brush, muzzle, chin, whiskers, tail, and or hoof. The name is derived from the name of a famous artist and the sound a horse makes. The word "Moneigh" is a registered trademark of ReRun, Inc., a Thoroughbred horse charity.

The "Moneigh" we are offering was painted by FRANCONIA, a retired thoroughbred mare. The painting comes framed with a certificate of authenticity and pictures of FRANCONIA painting her masterpiece.

Remember Me Racehorse Rescue is operated by Dallas and Donna Keen in Burleson, Texas. RMR retrained and placed 36 retired racehorses in new homes last year. This year the need for donations and fundraising is greater than ever. The Keens have plans to begin retraining the retired racehorses to become mounted patrol horses and will place them free of charge to police and sheriff departments all over the United States. With your help and support of Remember Me Rescue we can not only provide these horses with the retraining they need to live productive lives after racing but become a helpful part of the safety provided by the brave men and women who need quality horses in our mounted patrol divisions.

Remember Me Rescue is building a barn, arena, and mounted patrol certified training course. Any donations towards the police project are tax deductible as RMR is a 501(c)3 non profit.

For more information contact Donna Keen at 817-689-1214 or go to www.teamkeen.com to see the horses currently available in the adoption program.

Please help us by forwarding this link with the information to everyone in your contacts.

Remember Me Racehorse Rescue

Pre Race Veterinary Exam, Changes Are Needed

Early on race days at most tracks across the country veterinarians inspect horses for soundness prior to racing. The attending state veterinarian will check the horses tattoo, feel or look thoroughly at the legs, and then watch the horse jog away and back towards him. Horses that do not pass the pre-race soundness exam are scratched from the days race card and placed on the vets list. Once on the vets list the horse must have a published workout before the state vet and often a barn exam follows to ensure the horses soundness before he can be entered in another race.

This has been a good practice and many horses have been saved from injury from trainers who neglect their best interest. Although I applaud the pre-race vet exam I feel like it does not go far enough to protect our horses. In my opinion a horse should also be evaluated on his or her overall health as well. An underweight or unhealthy horse should not be allowed to race. This is overlooked in many pre-race exams as long as the horse appears to be sound.

On February 27th, 2010 an owner contacted me about a 3 year old filly that he was interested in claiming. She had been performing poorly in Maiden Allowance races and was dropping in for a claiming price of $10,000 at Sam Houston Race Park. I glanced at the filly before the race and called the owner to pass on the claim. I informed him she was very, very thin and has large sores on her hocks that usually come from a lack of bedding in their stalls. Her overall shape was very poor. I requested that the owner allow me to make the trainer an offer of $500 the next morning after the race, a much more realistic price for the skinny filly. The owner asked me, "What if he will not sell her, what will happen to her?" He insisted that we make the claim to 'save' the filly.

After the claim was made and the filly returned to our barn I examined her thoroughly to find she was in worse shape than I had originally thought. Although her legs were clean and tight and she passed her pre-race soundness exam I could count every rib on her side and several vertebrae in her back. Her shoulders and hips protruded from her thin body. Her teeth were some of the worst I have ever seen on any horse, especially a three year old filly in race training. I would dare to say they have never been touched before. Of course she couldn't eat much of the grain we feed so the next day we ordered a couple of bags of Equine Senior and made a mash for her. She loved it and carefully ate every bite.

Until she is in better condition and the sores in her mouth have healed we will not send her to back to the track. Her new owner is thrilled with his claim and her condition is dramatically improving daily.

My concern with the pre-race vet exam is why are horses in this shape allowed to race without so much as a mention to the trainer of their condition. This particular filly ran back in 7 days in this horrid shape. Since the veterinarians perform these exams to protect our horses why can they not, 1. at the least mention the horses poor condition to the trainer, 2. Offer suggestions to help the horse gain weight, or 3. Give the trainer a warning and place the horse on the vets list for 30 days.

I leave you with this question, just how many bones should we be able to count on a horse before they are deemed unfit for racing?

(ATTENTION COMMENTORS, Please keep in mind this article is not only about protecting horses but changing the way our horses are viewed by the public at the races. Do you really think the public doesn't notice unusually thin horses? In no way is this article meant to attack any certain trainer or stable regaurdless of how it has been perceived by some. Unless attention is drawn and an example is made out of the issue of extraordinarily thin horses the improvement in care of these animals will not be addressed. The article was suggesting the state vet could potentially help trainers with thin horses by offering suggestions towards their care or madating a few extra days before a horse could race again to possibily put on weight. Each and everytime we go to the paddock we are putting on a 'show' for the public. Without the public none of us could enjoy this sport we love so much.)

Asmussen happy with Rachel Alexandra's work

Rachel Alexandra worked a half mile in 49 seconds flat early this morning at the Fair Grounds in preperation for her return to racing this Saturday March 13th. Steve Asmussen commented that he was very happy with the work.
Rachel Alexandra schooled in the paddock earlier this week. She was very quiet and was in terrific form. She did show off a little leaving the paddock breaking into a slow diva-like jog inbetween her groom and assistant trainer Scott Blasi as they walked back to the barn. We expect her to school in the paddock again on Friday.