Horseracing is one of the most popular sports in the world, but there’s a seedier side to the proceedings and dark deals going on behind the scenes when it comes to breeding winning animals. Corruption and greed have taken their toll on the so-called sport of kings, and whoever might be winning, it’s the animals themselves that are losing.
Thankfully, there’s a pro-active woman who has been stepping in and saving at-risk horses since she was a child, at the same time as holding a mirror up to the sport for what it really is and exposing the truth. Victoria Goss is the founder of Last Chance Corral – an animal shelter dedicated to saving the lives of the unwanted foals that are the by-product of a search for a thoroughbred. For decades, she’s been fighting for their rights and offering shelter to those that might otherwise be condemned to the glue factory.
Victoria explains what she has chosen to make her life’s work in the video below, shedding light on what goes on in the sport. She rescues the foals that are no longer needed, only born so that their mothers are able to successfully milk the thoroughbred offspring. The mare’s job is to actually produce a potential winner at least once a year – and that can mean a lot of foals cast aside who never make the cut.
Victoria has been running the rescue centre since she was 12-years-old, and as she so candidly and heartbreakingly explains – “if it weren’t for the fact that we’re here, all these foals would be dead.” And like most stories of animal abuse and neglect, it, unfortunately, shows no end in sight as Victoria and her team are inundated with calls from people who can no longer support a horse, or they need to cast aside a foal that is surplus to requirements. It’s a constant struggle in this financial climate to find the help and support needed to keep these poor creatures alive.
But as Victoria says (or rather her mother) every lid has a pot, and these animals still can bring so much joy to people willing to adopt and care for them. Based out of Ohio, Last Chance Corral needs all the help it can get to keep going in its vital mission to rehabilitate and rehome these beautiful beasts that still have so much life and so much left to give.
Watch this amazing story in the video below and share with your horse-loving and animal loving friends and family. And drop them a dime or two – every little helps!
