Southern Horse Magazine June / July 2016 | Page 60

Celebrating 25 years of The British Thoroughbred Retraining Centre (TRC) The British Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre (TRC) was the UK’s first charity dedicated to ex-racehorse welfare, retraining, rehoming and protection for life. CEN E TR E TH TISH NING BRI CELEBRATING R R O RID O T TH AI YEARS UG HBRED RE E F OR RETRA INI NG Established in 1991, the TRC is now celebrating its 25th anniversary with a host of fundraising events planned throughout the year. and each horse is assessed individually by a team of professionals before beginning a bespoke retraining or basic rehoming programme. The charity is a centre of excellence, not only for the retraining of thoroughbreds, but also as an education centre to ensure best practice is maintained as more and more horse owners rehome and retrain retired racehorses. Once a horse achieves an appropriate level of retraining it is entered into the loan scheme. All horses remain under the ownership of the TRC, and are visited regularly in their loan homes by volunteer field officers. The TRC is proud to provide a secure future for these horses for the rest of their lives and keeps in touch with their new owners to ensure their new lives are full of development and enjoyment. Based in Lancashire, the charity retrains and rehomes all the retired racehorses from the centre which has fantastic facilities and is now fundraising to increase its stabling capacity. The centre currently has 40 stables, and the charity hopes all the money raised during the anniversary year will enable them to build a further 40, doubling the size of the current facility with the aim of helping even more of the thousands of racehorses retired from the sport each year. Horses are taken directly from racing and training or from post-racing homes [email protected] Over the last 25 years the TRC has rehomed hundreds of horses where they continue to lead appropriate post racing careers ranging from hacking and leisure riding to competitive disciplines. Said TRC Chief Executive, Gillian Carlisle: “To celebrate our 25th Anniversary we hope to participate in as many different events and shows across the UK to provide us with the opportunity to raise awareness of the important work of the TRC and hopefully meet as many of our supporters as possible. “All you have to do is sign up for the Ride for Retraining campaign on the website, to receive a free Ride for Retraining hi-viz tabard and ride as many miles as you can, on your own, with a friend or as part of a planned ride such as a pleasure ride or endurance activity. “The aim is to add the miles together so that by joining forces the total mileage achieved is more than 7,723 miles the distance around Britain’s mainland coast. “The money raised through Ride for Retraining along with the other events planned during our anniversary year will all go towards building the exciting new stable block.” www.britishtrc.co.uk “We are also running the Ride for Retraining campaign which is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to get involved in this great fund-raising appeal. Page 60