Retired Racehorses

WALLKILL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Located in New York‟s Mid-Hudson Valley, Wallkill Correctional Facility is the home of the
Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation‟s first and model corrections/retired horse program. There
are currently 61 horses residing at the facility. Approximately 600 inmates have participated in
the program, with stints ranging from 2 weeks to as long as 12 years. After rehabilitation, most
horses move on to other facilities or are adopted out for second careers. A population of lifetime
retirees remains there as well.
The prison program has been replicated at TRF farms located at the Blackburn Correctional
Facility in Kentucky, the Marion County Correctional Facility in Florida, Putnamville
Correctional Facility in Indiana, James River Work Center in Virginia, Plymouth County
Sheriff‟s Department Jail in Massachusetts, and the Wateree River Correctional Facility in South
Carolina.
Since May 1984 at least 514 horses have been retired to Wallkill‟s program, where inmates –
under the supervision and direction of a vocational instructor – care for and rehabilitate horses
that have come off the track.
Inmates in the program earn approximately $.95 a day providing daily care for the retired
athletes and receiving vocational training. This is significantly less than what inmates are paid at
other prison industry programs. From a correctional perspective, the program seeks to give the
inmates a sense of responsibility, job skills and change inmates‟ attitudes toward other living
things and themselves, according to the TRF.
The TRF developed a state-accredited vocational training course in horse care and management.
The Foundation also funds all direct horse care costs including feed, hay, supplies, hoof-care and
all other preventative and veterinary expenses.
According to Jim Tremper, Vocational Instructor of Horse Handling and Care at Wallkill, quite a
few of the horses in the program have lived to 31 years, which is the age of the oldest horse
currently at the facility. Tremper said that horse is expected to live for at least another year.
The Wallkill facility prides itself on successfully rehabilitating horses that would have otherwise
been euthanized. According to Tremper, many horses have come to Wallkill with track
veterinarians recommending that they be put down. However, of all the animals that have arrived
at Wallkill, only two were injured so severely that they required euthanasia.
“About a year ago, we received (a horse) that our horse shoer said had the worst feet he‟s ever
seen. The hooves are healing well and he‟s been sound without shoes or bandages for over 3
months now.” (Jim Tremper, Vocational Instructor, Horse Handling and Care at Wallkill
Correctional Facility)
The Wallkill program serves as a transition and retraining program for horses and enables them
to complete this process at the facility before being adopted out for new careers. Depending on