Adoption Success Story: Peter

12/4/25

New York.- “I had a very good experience adopting Peter. I had met him when I was in Lexington for RRP and had been talking about him and looking at his ads online for close to a month before I finally reached out about him. Anna was wonderful about answering the million questions I had about him. It is clear how much the Secretariat Center cares about their horses finding good homes and making sure people know what to expect when adopting a horse from them. Anna didn’t shy away from telling me things about his medical history or personality that might cause people to not be interested. I have only had Peter home for a few days, but so far he is exactly the horse that I was expecting. He has been such a gentleman for everyone and has not yet shown any signs of behavioral issues, so I feel like I was well informed about the horse I would be getting. Anna was also so helpful with her flexibility to do a virtual trial for me and be there for his PPE. It was a really good experience and Anna really helped to make it as easy as possible since I was doing this all from a distance. 

For the next year, I am hoping to train Peter to do dressage and freestyle at RRP in 2026. I have been really enjoying doing dressage over the past few years and I think Peter is going to be fantastic at it. I might work on jumping a little bit this year, but I typically prefer to wait until they’re closer to 5 years old before I really start working on jumping with them. I would be very happy if he could be a nice 2’6” hunter or something similar to that. I am also very excited for spring to come and I can start riding him around the trails at my barn. I mostly am hoping that I can train him to be a nice and obedient horse that I can ride and have fun with. I love educating young horses and helping them get to a point where they can reach their full potential. This was my plan when I bought the 5 year old paint that I already have 3 years ago, but he has been dealing with a lot of health and soundness issues this past year and is now extremely limited in what he is going to be able to do. I’m hoping that Peter will be able to help me accomplish my goals of successfully training a nice horse by myself and allow me love riding again. Right now, I am not totally against the idea of selling him at some point once he is trained if I can find the absolute perfect home for him. I have a friend whose ideal horse is a big pretty bay thoroughbred, so Peter is exactly her type, and she has already told me she wants to steal him after only meeting him for a couple minutes. If I can find the perfect home for him after a few years, once I feel accomplished in his training, I would feel like I helped him a lot. I like the idea of helping transition them off the track and educating them to the point where they can go on to another home and I could get a new horse to help. However, it is very likely that I am going to be so in love with Peter that it would be impossible to sell. In that case, I would continue to do local shows and just enjoy having a horse that I can have fun with. 

I think it is so important to consider OTTBs because of how many of them there are that need good and loving homes. I hate the idea of these lovely horses being retired at such young ages and not getting the future they deserve. I know too many horses that have come off the track and have had improper homes and then have eventually been donated to my trainer, so I have seen so many wonderful horses that have struggled with training and confidence. I hope by adopting Peter, I am keeping one horse from ending up with someone who is not equipped to handle them. OTTBs have probably been my favorite breed to ride for a long time and I have ridden a lot of them. They are so willing and athletic and have so much potential. I really like the idea of adopting a horse who is just starting their second career and training them to make them into the wonderful horse they have the potential to be. Going to RRP and seeing so many OTTBs that had made such huge transformations was very inspiring. It was a similar situation with me buying the horse I already own, where I just want to give them a good, loving home and teach them how to be good horses. There are so many horses that come off the track and just need some time to learn how to be a horse and be educated, and I want to be able to help them do that.

I have been having so much fun with Peter already and I’ve only had him home for a few days. He is such a good boy and everyone is loving him so far. I can’t wait for him to start going out with the rest of the boys and become best friends with my paint. I am so excited to start riding him. I don’t have many good photos of him yet, but here is a picture of him all bundled up and ready to face the Buffalo cold!”

- Cadence Mannino

2025 Adopter