The largest thoroughbred racehorse retirement foundation in the United States came under heavy criticism in a New York Times story that alleged horses at several facilities had been neglected and were starving.
However, officers of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation disputed the charges, saying the article from last Friday "mischaracterized" the findings of a report, while admitting that the economy had hindered its ability to raise money.
TRF chairman Tom Ludt also admitted the foundation had been behind on payments to some of the 25 farms allied with it.
The Times noted that veterinarian Stacey Huntington took stock of the entire herd of 1,200 and found the most dramatic problems at the 4-H farm in Okmulgee, Okla.
Huntington was hired by the Mellon estate, the largest benefactor of the foundation.
The Times said Huntington found 47 horses in such poor condition, she filed a report wit the local sheriff's office. Three of them were considered starving and nearly all of them required "urgent care."
Ludt said Joe Drape, the author of the newspaper article, hadn't discussed the herd evaluation with all parties. He said another veterinarian, T.J. Loafman, who oversaw the removal of horses from the farm last month, reported that several horses were "thin" but bright-eyed, in good health and trotted off the van, checking out the surroundings.
Ludt said that one of the horses was a 24-year-old gelding with no teeth, and many of the horses were older horses, living out their days.
"You're dealing with an aging herd that's being maintained for the rest of their lives, and I think there's subjectivity about the quality of care or condition of the horses," Ludt said. "It's a very delicate subject. I'm not an expert and we have third-party vets going out there, and we get differences of opinion."
Drape said he had documents from Loafman saying the horses were starving.
The estate of breeder and owner Paul Mellon set aside $7-million (U.S.) for an endowment for the foundation, but Ludt said it can draw just 5 per cent of its worth every year. That amount makes up about 12 to 13 per cent of their operating expenses.
Ludt said the foundation was in favour of the Mellon estate taking stock of a herd that had grown dramatically to 1,200 from 300 in four years. It is currently limiting the horses it takes in until it gets its financial house in order.
"There is a misunderstanding that the TRF is somehow very wealthy and…. I'm not going to give to the TRF because they have this endowment," Ludt said. But the foundation has just two employees, and it had a particularly difficult year raising finances in 2009, when the economy hit horse racing hard.
Although Ludt said the foundation had made payments to the end of the year to its satellite farms around the country, "We're not proud that we haven't been able to keep these farms current, because it is a financial strain on them," he said. "But the communication is that they're doing what's in the best interest of the horses, which is most important to us."
Ironically, the Times article did the foundation a favour, Ludt said. Since the story ran last Friday, the foundation has been "inundated" with calls from people asking to take horses or to support it financially.