The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance announced that it had accredited its first three Thoroughbred aftercare facilities: Florida Thoroughbred Retirement and Adoptive Care near Palm City, Fla.; New Vocations near Marysville, Ohio; and Southern California Thoroughbred Rescue near Norco, Calif. The three facilities are now eligible to receive financial support from the TAA for the ongoing care of retired Thoroughbreds.
Following a detailed application process and onsite examinations by TAA inspectors and independent veterinarians, the three facilities were each judged to have met or exceeded TAA requirements in the areas of operations, education, horse care management, facility standards and services, and adoption policies and protocols.
"We are honored to be among the first aftercare facilities accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance," said Barbi Moline, director of Florida Thoroughbred Retirement and Adoptive Care, in a release. "The support of the TAA will help ensure that we can continue to give Thoroughbreds the lives they deserve after their racing days are over."
"We are proud to be accredited by the TAA," added New Vocations program director Anna Ford in a statement. "We have new horses arriving into the program on a weekly basis and it's only through grants and private donations that our doors have remained open."
Caroline Betts, founder and president of Southern California Thoroughbred Rescue, said, "This accreditation will go a long way toward rescuing additional horses and providing excellent care to those horses at our facility awaiting new adoptive homes. The TAA standards were thorough and demanding, and we are proud to have met those requirements."
Facilities eligible to apply for TAA accreditation include those conforming to the following four broad standards:
• Possess 501 (c)(3) tax exempt status
• Have been operational for at least three years
• Care for a resident population of at least five horses, with at least half the horses being Thoroughbreds
• Follow a euthanasia policy consistent with that of the American Association of Equine Practitioners
Applications for accreditation must be submitted by June 1 for organizations to be eligible for consideration for grants in 2013 and 2014. The complete TAA Code of Standards for aftercare facilities and the accreditation application are available at http://www.thoroughbredaftercare.org/.
