A Simple Way to Track Your Thoroughbreds

This title is written with a decent amount of sarcasm. If there were a simple way to track your Thoroughbreds, I would not spend hours every week keeping tabs on our former horses. I have written about my process several times previously. If you are interested, you can learn about my methods in this article.

As I also have written, I did not start tracking our former horses until late 2019. I had over two years of horses to find, a number of whom were no longer in our barns. However, those aren’t my only pain points. Even active horses can disappear from my view. If there are non-responsive trainers and owners, a horse’s whereabouts may not be known. These are typical frustrations in this role. However, I don’t give up on these horses.

Finding Due to His Charm

One of my many spreadsheets tracks what I term inactive horses. I organize this sheet both by year and status. For example, Due to His Charm was categorized as 2019 and inactive. Horses on this sheet were claimed/bought by Wasabi Ventures Stables in 2019 and no longer run. I also don’t know their current status. On a weekly basis I perform searches on the internet and social media, in hopes of finding a newer update.

Many weeks these efforts result in zero successes. Then, once in a while I use a different word or something in the algorithm changes, and I find a horse. Such was the case with Due to His Charm. I put his name into a search engine with a few other keywords, and there appeared a link to a Reddit post. Even more random, his owner’s post was from two years prior!

I reached out, explained who I was, and asked if the poster could share a photo and update. That is when I learned more about Due to the Charm. He’s now known as Roach and has a forever home. His owner described him as “one in a million.” Not only did I find this horse, but I learned that he is another happy retiree, who is living his best life. He now has been moved to the 2019 and retired category in my spreadsheet.

A Simple Way to Track Your Thoroughbreds

I wish I could say that there is a simple way to track your Thoroughbreds. What if we could expand the current Equibase tracking? We could make it mandatory that when a horse leaves the track, it needs to be noted where the horse goes next. Off to a farm for a layup? Update the system. Retired to an individual owner or aftercare organization? Update the system. Future owners would be part of this system, too, and could provide updates.

I know it’s not as simple as just wishing or making a few minor changes. However, I believe the effort required would be paid back tenfold. Isn’t the safety of all our horses worth it?