By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Alice Crow, founder of the Second Chance Horse Rescue, shows off Flash, one of the animals awaiting a new home. (Michael Snyder photo)

CLEARCREEK TWP. - They are unwanted horses waiting for new homes. On Saturday, Second Chance Horse Rescue and Outreach Center hopes to find some for them.

The center is hosting an open house at its new location, New Millennium Farm just north of Lebanon. Several of its 90 horses are up for adoption, as are more than 200 pregnant mares and foals that were used in the making of the hormone drug Premarin.

"All our stalls are full," founder Alice Crow said. "They're not all abused and skinny; they're good horses. We stand by all of them and we want them to go to good homes."

The center had been in Middletown. But the owner of New Millennium Farm, who lives in Lexington, needed someone locally to take care of the property and offered Second Chance a deal on the lease, Crow said.

The new facility is much larger, and volunteers do chores such as grooming horses and taking care of the stalls.

Here, the horses are kept in three barns instead of two. They also have a large indoor arena with viewing area, half-mile outdoor track, grazing pastures and a swimming pool that the horses use for exercise.

"Now, because we have the space, we can immediately assess the horse and put it on an exercise program," Crow said.

The center also hopes to open its barn doors to pregnant mares and foals from Canada. Crow said they were among the thousands of horses used in making Premarin, a popular drug used to combat the symptoms of menopause and help prevent osteoporosis. The drug is derived from the urine of horses in the seventh to 11th month of pregnancy.

It will cost about $1,000 for each horse that is brought here, and the center is still working to get the funding.

"I can't take them all," Crow said. "But if they get adopted, we can hold them for a time."

If you go

What: Open house

When: Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: 4080 Weisenberger Road in Clearcreek Township (north of Lebanon)

Adoption: Adoptive families go through an application process and background check. Horses cost anywhere from $1 to $5,000 depending on the horse and circumstances, founder Alice Crow said.

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com