Jet was born in 2012 on a well-known thoroughbred breeding farm. He has great bloodlines and was destined to be something special on the track. He began his racing career as a two-year-old. Being exceptionally large for a racehorse, I have to question if this was not the start of his downfall. 

By the time Jet was five he had regressed to low dollar claiming races. Exhausted and broken, he was sold to a dealer who then sold horses from his field for a couple hundred bucks each. Anyone could buy. And someone did.

But unfortunately, as is often the case, a well-meaning person took in a horse they simply couldn’t afford. Things happen, life changes. 

One of our board members,  kept seeing a desperate ad to place a free horse in her area. She felt compelled to help. As she brought her plea to our attention, our first thought was to help with feed cost until the horse could find a proper home. Beth went to see the horse, assess the situation, and offer our assistance. The situation ended up far more dire than originally thought. The horse was emaciated and couldn't walk; he needed immediate medical attention. We quickly took custody of Jet, got him to our quarantine barn, and attempted to save his life. This would be by far the most intense and expensive rescue our startup organization had done to date. 

Multiple X-rays of hooves and knees were taken. Jet had severe abscesses in three feet. Custom booties and mega-runner shoes were made for him. X-rays revealed multiple chips in his cantaloupe-sized knee, which we naively thought could be surgically removed. 

His feet healed and funds were secured for surgery. Then came the devastating news from the surgeon: while the chips could be removed, it would do little good. The bigger problem was the destroyed cartilage from many injections and running on a failing knee. 

His exact words were “sickeningly destroyed cartilage from repeated injections.”

This horse had been run on a failing knee and whoever injected it knew it! 

So here we were with a now lively otherwise healthy 6-year-old whose second career had been robbed from him. 

The plan then became one small step at a time to see how far we could go without hurting him. 

Step one: Get his hooves completely healed and see if he can walk without pain. Check.

Step two: Get his weight up to a healthy amount and see if the knee can carry him. Check.

Step three: Find just the right person who had the skill to handle a young OTTB, but wasn't interested in riding him. Sadly Jet had carried his last rider at his last race that was obviously one too many.

While riding is not an option for Jet , what is certain is that this beautiful, kind horse will have a safety net around him for the rest of his life, as do all the SHEW horses. He will never be hungry or without medical attention again.

Today, instead of running for his life he is now living a life of leisure on a beautiful farm with a doting dad.

I wish I could tell him how sorry I am for what he has been put through and convey to him that he will never want for anything again. Somehow I think he knows.