Rehab ranch offers hope for injured racehorses

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- The tragic death of the thoroughbred filly Eight Belles during this year's Kentucky Derby is still reverberating through the horse-racing industry.

Yet retired racehorses may stand to benefit from what happened at Churchill Downs earlier this month.

The following is a transcript by KXAN Austin News' Jim Swift, who visits Bastrop County, where the fallout from Eight Belles' fall has received notice.

Lynn Reardon is a horse woman.

"A wonderful horse family near Houston donated this barn to us," says Reardon, director of the LoneStar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers. "It's a 2003 manufactured barn."

She loves horses of all kinds, but there is one breed that touches her heart like no other, and that is hurt horses.  

"Without this barn, we never could take in horses like Catalissa, and it makes a huge difference to these kind of creatures with these kind of injuries," Reardon says.

Catalissa, an 8-year-old with $350,000 in winnings to his name, broke a foot racing in Delaware and also suffered a dislodged bone chip in a knee.

But at Reardon's racehorse rehab ranch, Lope Texas, his prognosis is good.

"He's like, got the most spirit," she says. "He's like, the really kind of tough macho quarterback type. And they really deserve a chance when they have these kind of injuries."

But the injured animals on the site are just part of the deal. There's another whole breed that hangs out in these parts.

"We also get the couch potatoes," Reardon says. "There's a lot of horses in training that are kind of like the NBA candidate who can't dribble. They just completely wash out after two races."

But now that Reardon has the barn, the emphasis will be on the injured animals.

And none too soon, because in the wake of Eight Belles' death at the derby, calls to Lope Texas are up between 30 percent and 40 percent.

"There seems to be more kind of raised awareness that the public cares about these horses and wants to see them, you know, recover if they can," Reardon says.

In Seguin on Saturday, the Texas Horse Enthusiasts Board Forum will sponsor a benefit horse show for Lope Texas. It will be an informal affair and last all day.

Learn more about

• Lope Texas: www.lopetx.org/
• 2008 Second Annual LOPE Benefit Horse Show: www.lopetx.org/2008-benefit-show/