Royal Vindication Finds Perfect Home With Craig-Gillman

Royal Vindication is led to his paddock by Josh Rogers (Photos courtesy of Carissa Craig-Gillman).

Every foaling season, a wobbly-legged colt romps through a springtime pasture, unknowing to the ripples he will send.  By the very act of being born, this single foal affects the future of breeders, owners, trainers, handlers, racetracks – an endless web of those who will come in contact with him.  Foals like him are a precious commodity, and regulations are put in place to protect the many livelihoods dependent on him and his future.  Extraordinary costs and painstaking plans go into the most opportune mating of stallion and mare.  Intensive care nurtures a foal to adolescence – the process of preparing him for auction and educating him in racing is a costly process.  The investment grows with each passing day – vet bills, boarding, training, transportation, and time all culminate in the “return-on-investment” of racing.

An exceptional effort for the horse’s well-being as an athlete is obvious when one attends the high caliber racing venues.  However, there is an existing imbalance in the horse racing industry that begs the question: What happens to many of these athletes, after all the investment, once they leave their racing career?  Fortunately, there are forces at work around the United States striving to preserve the lives of these precious animals.   Volunteers come from within and outside the industry - impassioned people motivated to action by the precarious circumstance of these glorious horses. – B. Hinzman, October 2012

In 1992, Dot Morgan founded New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, a racehorse rescue organization that pairs ex-racehorses with experienced, qualified people with locations spanning six states.  The rescue organization has adopted out over 3,700 Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds since its inception.  In one year alone, New Vocations matched 423 racehorses with responsible owners. Carissa Craig-Gillman of Atlanta, Georgia is one of those owners. Her love for the Thoroughbred began at an early age.

“I think for any child who grows up adoring horse racing like I did, no other breed of horse will ever mean to you what a racehorse does,” she said.
It’s no surprise when she spotted “Vindy” on the New Vocations website, something clicked.

“His looks and his breeding. The second I saw his picture and that he was by Vindication, I had to have him. It was complete love at first sight.”

“I put my application in on December 16, 2010, and it was approved on December 20th. I was at work eating lunch when New Vocations called me on my cell phone to give me the news, and then I danced around the break room in front of my co-workers. He shipped down here, from Ohio, on New Year's Eve, arriving almost exactly at midnight as fireworks were going off in the distance. It was like a story book.”

New Vocations professionalism made the adoption process smooth for Carissa and Vindy to unite. Impressed with the way the organization conducted themselves, Carissa stated, “They have a thorough screening process, which includes checking your references, including speaking to your veterinarian. But even with their thoroughness, they are efficient and move things along quickly. The faster they can find suitable homes for their charges, the more horses they can help every year.”

“They do things the right way. They photograph the horses well, put up riding videos, and write insightful descriptions of each horse.”

Vindy had captivated Carissa. She did not want to miss out on acquiring the gelding. So much so, she was willing to adopt Vindy sight unseen.  Carissa felt comfortable enough with the information New Vocations provided.

“Their website is attractive and functional, which makes a huge difference,” she said. “They also advise you on the career for which that horse will be most suited. Their adoption fees are reasonable, as are the terms of their adoption agreement.”

Carissa’s patience and sound understanding have been instrumental in Vindy’s success transitioning to his new identity away from the racetrack. 

“It's not a race to see who can retrain a racehorse the fastest. Especially at first, if the horse is having a day where he's especially anxious or excited, for example it's windy or there's a lot going on at the barn, it's OK to just lunge him or do groundwork. You're not a failure if you don't get in the saddle that day. If it doesn't feel right, listen to your instincts. It's much safer that way,” she said.
“New Vocations had warned me that Vindy was a bit on the lazy side and didn't have much of a work ethic. At first it was a bit of a struggle just to get him to move off the leg and go to work. He also had trouble focusing and got bored easily.”

She was dedicated to the challenge of developing Vindy into a well-balanced horse, physically and mentally. She placed him with a trainer who has experience with off-the-track Thoroughbreds (OTTB).  He began to blossom.

Trainer, Kay Johnson of  “Kay Johnson Performance Horses” in Conyers, GA, approached training Vindy by keeping him interested and focused on his new occupation by mixing things up for him – lunging, flatwork, poles, different types of jumps, riding in the pasture.  

“One of the first things we worked on was figuring out that he has a right side and that it should be as supple as the left.  Vindy’s intelligence and boldness was clearly on display during ground schooling lessons and resulted in many ‘battle of the wills’ sessions, but each time we came to a deeper understanding and built on the progress we had previously made. A relationship began to form based on compromise and understanding,” said Johnson.

Vindy competed in his first show last month with Johnson aboard. Carissa remarked on the milestone
“He acted like it was all old hat and came home with a bunch of ribbons, including blues in his first two classes. I was so proud, not because of the ribbons, which were nice, of course, but just because he was so relaxed and focused on his job. He has matured a lot in the last 3 years,” said Craig-Gillman.

Vindy’s first show at the Georgia International Horse Park with Kay Johnson's barn manager Josh Rogers
“We redirected the attributes that had made Vindy a successful racehorse, and we have literally made leaps-and-bounds,” Johnson said. “Vindy is such a great example of a talented horse that is stimulated, happy and enjoying his new career.” 

Adopting an OTTB requires a serious commitment of not only time but money. 
“You have to find different ways to motivate them to want to work or learn new things, and a lot of folks don't want to put in the time and ingenuity that takes.” Craig-Gillman said, “The positives are numerous. They've seen so much in their short lives that a lot of things don't even faze them. They're used to being tied, used to baths, used to having their legs wrapped, etc. They're incredibly athletic and have a ton of try in them. Plus you can get an impeccably bred horse with excellent conformation for a few hundred dollars. You'll still invest time and money in training, obviously, but you can get incredibly nice, gorgeous horses for a steal.”

Royal Vindication was a stakes winner and graded stakes placed at two. He raced for three years for E. Paul Robsham Stables LLC and earned over $100,000 as a juvenile.  At two, he won a pair of races and placed in two others.  He broke his maiden in his third start and got a stakes win in the Trapp Mountain Stakes at Belmont Park.  Vindy was then third at Aqueduct in the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes. 

He made three starts the next year and placed in two.  In his seasonal debut, Vindy was the runner-up in the Rumson Stakes.  Following that effort, he crossed the wire sixth-best in the Tap The Admiral Stakes.  His connections dropped him down to allowance optional claiming company for several starts, but brought him back up into the Tony Gatto Dream Big Stakes where he finished fifth.  In Vindy’s final career start, he was eighth in an allowance optional claimer at Monmouth Park.

After three years, on October 20, Craig-Gillman and Vindy will be showing together for the first time.

To contact Kay Johnson Performance Horses: http://kayjohnsonperformancehorses.weebly.com/

For more information about New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program:  http://www.horseadoption.com/