MELBOURNE -- As a child growing up in Finneytown, Suzanne Cummins would race into her back yard each Christmas morning, hoping to find a horse.
Last September, she realized her dream of one day owning a thoroughbred when she adopted ex-race horse Agriculture through ReRun, a 2-year-old Kentucky program that finds homes for racehorses.
The program, started by Northern Kentuckians Lori Nagle and Shon Wylie, gives former racehorses a second chance at a productive life by evaluating their temperaments, talents and physical capabilities, and matching them with new owners.
The non-profit group keeps horse adoption fees at about $1,000. ReRun, a division of the Humane Society of Kentucky, relies on donations of feed, hay, tack, supplies and veterinary and blacksmith services.
"Unfortunately, a good number of thoroughbreds go to the killers after their racing careers end," Ms. Nagle said. "The sad part is what the horses go through to get to that point."
Since starting the program in September 1996, ReRun's founders have placed 28 horses in adoptive homes from California to New York. Mrs. Cummins adopted Agriculture, or Aggie, after she expressed her wish to one day own a thoroughbred to a visiting inspector at the Covington import-export firm where she works.
"I said I would love to have a thoroughbred that was more laid back, and she said, "I know of just the horse for you,' " Mrs. Cummins recalled.
Suzanne Cummins acquired Aggie through Rerun, a program to save retired racehorses.
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Mrs. Cummins, who has seven horses at her Brooksville farm, was matched with Aggie, a 10-year-old thoroughbred, who had raced in Florida and Ohio.
Mrs. Cummins had to teach him to break the racehorse habit of always running to the left, and help him develop a slower pace more suited to his new life.
ReRun benefits humans, too, Ms. Nagle said.
The program counts at-risk youths among the volunteers who help retrain the animals, so that they become more marketable, she said.
It also gives owners -- who can take a tax deduction by donating former horses to ReRun -- an alternative to running sore horses because they don't know what else to do with them, Mrs. Nagle said. That, in turn, promotes safety for riders and a better image for the Kentucky thoroughbred industry.
Besides adoption by private owners, ReRun's horses have gone to Asbury College's horsemanship program, the Children's Baptist Home in Somerset, and several facilities for troubled youths. "This is a program where everyone's a winner," Mrs. Nagle said.
