Woman races to save racehorses

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP)--Her love of animals drove Darci Anderson to buy her first racehorse.

That same passion propelled her on a months-long mission to ensure the safety of horses that she believes were abused.

The Columbus woman worked with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation to see to it that her own horse and two other former racehorses would never see the racetrack again.

Anderson first got involved in racing when she bought Carol's Prize last August. As an owner, she said, the only thing that was on her mind was winning and the glory that came along with it. But as she spent more time in the business and got more attached to her horse, she wondered what was to come the day that Carol's Prize wouldn't be able to race anymore.

"These animals live a long life. I should have thought more long-term. My option at the end of the year was to sell him to the killers because he had broke down," Anderson said.

Selling her horse to slaughter wasn't an option Anderson wanted to consider. She didn't want that fate for other horses she said she cared for during the racing season either.

Anderson said that her own horse and others were abused by an employee. The animals were lame from being raced too hard and that they weren't fed properly or given enough water. Often, Anderson said, she would go to the stalls herself and care for her horse and others there. Some were so weak that they were lying on the floor unable to stand.

"They were in too much pain to lift their head to a bucket," Anderson said.

Instead of selling her horse, Anderson found a home for it in Columbus. She took care of Carol's Prize for three months until she became ill and was no longer able to pay for its needs.

The Oklahoma chapter of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, a racehorse sanctuary, took in Carol's Prize. The organization was also involved in trying to acquire another racehorse that was going up for sale at the Columbus Sales Pavilion. That horse, My Request, was in the ownership of the Genoa National Bank. The bank had possession of that horse and several others by default on a loan.

Anderson said she was contacted by the bank to help find possible buyers for the eight horses that were now in the bank's possession. Anderson said with the possibility of the horses going back to the racetrack or going to the slaughterhouse, she wanted to do whatever she could to prevent that from happening.

After weeks of back and forth contact with the bank, Anderson managed to get enough money to buy two of the horses from the bank. She then donated the animals to the Thoroughbred Retirement Center. Those two horses have been living at a satellite farm in Oklahoma since February.

Leslie Hubbel, a representative with the Thoroughbred Retirement Center in Oklahoma, said the organization typically doesn't search for horses to purchase. The horses that come to the center usually come by way of the owner or are bought with funds from donors.

Hubbel gives credit to Anderson for her efforts.

"We couldn't have gotten these horses without her," she said.

The organization also took in seven horses that were seized from a Genoa man last year because of neglect. Most of those horses and the two that Anderson donated to the organization will be adopted out. My Request and another horse will be a therapy horses at a boys home in Oklahoma, Hubbel said.

Date: 6/8/07