By Bill Finley
When it comes to Hip 1049, who will be sold through Taylor Made Sales Agency, Agent XI, Wednesday at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky October Yearlings sale, the catalogue page doesn't tell the whole story behind the Super Saver filly. Whoever buys her will have done more than purchase a racing prospect–they will have helped out a terrific cause.
The breeder is Sandee Schultz, whose Twin Creeks Farm in Marcy, New York is far more than a place that breeds and raises race horses. It is a sanctuary for women in need, women who are hoping to overcome the adversity that is crippling their lives. Their therapy is the horses.
“I believe there is something very strong about the connection between the horse and people,” Schultz said. “I've had horses get attached to someone and didn't want anyone else. Somehow the worst horse seems to pick the worst child and it fixes them. It turns their lives around. It gives them something to be proud of and self esteem.”
Schultz is among the growing number of people who have discovered that the interaction between horses and people can heal a troubled soul, something she discovered firsthand.
Schultz was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, which causes weakness and rapid fatigue in the muscles. Her doctors prescribed numerous therapies, none of which worked. Schultz decided to try hippotherapy, which is the use of horseback riding as a therapeutic or rehabilitative treatment, especially as a means of improving coordination, balance, and strength. It was the solution she had been searching for for years.
“I've actually done much better than anybody thought I would,” she said. “I had tried all these therapies. I was so frustrated. As I moved, my muscles get weaker and weaker and I would fall a lot. I liked horses, so I thought why not give this a try? The horse I got, I think he was Teddy Roosevelt's horse. He was an old, swayback, an American Saddlebred. He was a big swayback, so you couldn't fall off of him. I fell in love with him and I started feeling better.”
Her experience with hippotherapy unleashed an inner passion for horses. She bought two more American Saddlebreds, and in 2008 she decided to get involved in breeding. She bought her first Thoroughbred, the broodmare Crookstown (Williamstown).
A year earlier, a 13-year-old in need had heard that Schultz had horses and was a kind-hearted individual and began to hang out at the farm. She started bringing some friends, and they brought some friends. It just grew from there, to the point that women in trouble in the area learned that Schultz and her horses were there for them. She currently has 11 people, with a variety of needs and issues, living on the farm that she is caring for. No longer does she only accept teenagers and children, but any female at any age who comes to her with a problem.
“There's no insurance code for just being a teenager who feels worthless,” she said. “There's nothing out there for them.”
They come because they know this is a place where they can get better and to be with the horses.
Schultz does have one helper, but much of the care of the horses is left up to women on the farm. Schultz said each person seems to gravitate to a particular area of care, from grooming to planning the feed and nutrition for a horse, to helping deliver foals. Some focus on riding. She says a favorite activity on the farm is taking a nap with the foals, sometimes literally lying on top of them.
“They're 90% of the cure,” Schultz said. “You just put them together, the girls and the horses, and it's between them and God. It's amazing to see.”
As more women and girls started showing up at the farm for help, Schultz realized she needed more horses. She started attending the fall sales and built up a broodmare band that currently numbers eight. The offspring are born and raised on the farm and most are sent to Taylor Made to prepare for the sales. Wherever they horse go, she hears the same thing, that they are as well-behaved as one can find. Schultz believes that their behavior is a byproduct of their interaction with the girls.
“The girls are singing and dancing all the time, music is going,” she said. “They're out in paddocks with them, they groom them without lead lines, walk them without lead lines. They trust them. [The horses] know they are not going to hurt them.”
Most of the mares Schultz acquired were inexpensive and had only modest credentials, so she has yet to sell a yearling for a large sum. She sold eight yearlings at other sales earlier this year and waited to sell the Super Saver filly only because she is a May foal.
“I hope we get over $30,000 for her,” Schultz said. “We should. She's very pretty, has a nice body on her and is by Super Saver. We call her Giselle and the reason we call her Giselle is when she moves, she moves like a ballerina. She is so graceful. I can guarantee you this, every day of this horse's life she has been hugged and kissed. When she left for Taylor Made, the girls told the people there they had to hug her every day.”
Schultz admits that the girls are saddened when the yearlings or weanlings head off for the sales, but they know there will be a new crop to replace them. These horses will wind up on the racetrack, but their true mission in life has been accomplished beforehand.
“The girls tell me all the time how much the horses mean to them,” she said. “Some, those who came here, got better and left, will write me letters. It might be three or four years after they left but they still write. They tell me that being here saved their lives. My God, that's wonderful.”
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