Meet Baron Slew. He’s a six year old thoroughbred racehorse with quite an impressive bloodline. His grandfather, Seattle Slew, won the Triple Crown 38 years ago, and he was initially trained by the accomplished Graham Motion at Herringswell Stables at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, MD.
Baron Slew recently retired and is now under the watchful care of St. Michaels’ Trish Bosley. Together, they’re part of the Retired Racehorse Training Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover – a nationwide effort to identify and re-train retired racehorses. On a farm in Royal Oak, Bosley has just under five months to help Baron Slew recover from racing and retrain for a new life.
He needs the time. He arrived at Bosley’s barn exhausted, thin and with a leg injury – and upon arriving, slept for two days straight. Since then, Bosley has been working with him daily, and is seeing some remarkable progress. She’ll work with him until October 5th, when they’ll join the 25 other Makeover Project horses and trainers and thoroughbred fans at the Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore. For two days, they’ll participate in educational seminars, meetings and demonstrations. There, Bosley and Baron Slew will have their fifteen minutes in the limelight to show what they accomplished during their time together.
Hopefully, the right person will appear to take Baron Slew off to his new forever home. Bosley will select Baron Slew’s new owner. “I have to like the person and feel intuitively it’s the right match, and fortunately I have a knack for that” she said.
It becomes clear, after spending an hour or so with Trish Bosley, that her love for horses goes way back and runs deep. Her days start early at the stable in Royal Oak where she cares for her seven horses on a beautiful Talbot County farm. She leaves the stable mid-morning, goes to work at Bosley Brainger, her own custom hand-tailored apparel shop in St. Michaels, or her catering and provisioning business, then spends the better part of her evenings back out with the horses again.
Trish’s mother, Sylvia Hechter, was a well-known trainer in the hunter-jumper world, and Trish has been in barns and stables since she was a tiny kid. She recalls her best memories as a child napping with the horses, and learned very early that she could moderate her own bad moods by sitting or laying on a napping horse, slowing down to the rhythm and energy of the powerful, quiet animals.
Since then, she’s been involved with hundreds of horses, and has a special intuitive gift in dealing with them. No wonder she was selected to be a trainer for the Retired Racehorse Project, one of only 26 trainers in the country selected out of 140 to take part in the Thoroughbred Makeover – an effort to prepare and train ex-racehorses for other useful functions for the rest of their lives.
Racehorses start racing early, and learn just a few things – “go fast and straight, don’t let anyone ahead of you, and turn left”, said Rick Green, Trish’s partner. After about five years of racing, when they’re not making as much money for their owners, many get sold or are abandoned. Often these young, athletic racehorses end up going to auctions and the slaughterhouse, when they still have a long life ahead of them.
Racing careers over, these animals are still young, have personalities and are talented athletes. They have a myriad of opportunities to life long and useful lives – most Thoroughbreds live to be 25 – 35 years old. The 26 racehorses in the makeover program are in training for all kinds of work – from dressage to eventing, cross country stadium jumping, fox hunting, polo, endurance riding, vaulting, and one horse is even working with a trick rider.
Bosley said that Baron Slew appears to have a special interest and ability to work with children. By taking him to different events and shows, giving him opportunities to try anything from fox hunting to eventing, she’s going to let Baron Slew tell her what he wants to do. “My job is to get him to trust me, and to gradually introduce him to new things. I’ll watch him and let him guide me toward his new life” she said.
In her typical style, Bosley has enlisted the local community to help. From feed to veterinary care, supplies to dollars, local businesses and individuals are participating in helping cover Baron Slew’s expenses. One partner, Tempi Design Studio in Preston, has fabricated a special pendant with Baron Slew’s image on it. Proceeds from the sale of the pendants will help cover Bosley’s expenses.
The Retired Racehorse Project was founded in 2010 as a nonprofit organization by Steuart Pittman, a very accomplished trainer in Davidsonville. The project has since gained nationwide attention and has attracted participants from all over the US and Canada. They use public events, clinics, training publications, videos and internet tools to facilitate the placement of these horses in second careers.
All 26 trainers are presently blogging about their experience – you can read about Baron Slew’s regular progress here. And if you’d like to see the outcome of their work, you can purchase tickets to the event in October.
Until then, however, know that Trish Bosley wakes each morning with Baron Slew on her mind, and works with him every single day, with the goal of his forever home and a new life beckoning in the near future.
For more information on the project, click here.
To see Tempi Design Studio’s work and purchase a pendant, click here.
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