After spending 16 years in a research facility, a descendant of Triple Crown winner Secretariat was rescued by an Alachua couple and now resides on a farm for retired horses.
Our Lady Slew, a 19-year-old thoroughbred mare, is the granddaughter of the famous horse who was portrayed in a recent movie. Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973, taking first place in the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes and the Preakness Stakes.
Peter and Mary Gregory run the Retirement Home for Horses Inc. at Mill Creek Farm in Alachua. They got Our Lady Slew and two other mares in May after a research facility had to get rid of 30 horses due to financial problems.
Prior to being rescued, she spent 16 years at the research facility undergoing experimentation and being run on a treadmill, sometimes up to 50 miles per day. She was also bred to pay the costs for her experimentation.
The Gregory couple said they agreed not to name the facility.
Our Lady Slew also suffered health problems in October.
“Our vet felt it was neurological,” Peter Gregory said. “She has recovered, but no doubt it will linger in the background before resurfacing. That’s my opinion.”
Our Lady Slew now shares a 10-acre pasture with Our Lady Soul and Rose, the other two mares that came with her, and Felix, a retired mounted police duty horse from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Other horses rescued are retired from circuses, police units, military units and equine education programs. Some are rescued from being abused or neglected. They normally only accept horses over the age of 20. Gregory estimates that each horse costs about $2,000 a year including food, cover and veterinarian costs.
The Gregorys believe that older horses deserve a home, proper care and an honorable death. While younger horses are more likely to be adopted, senior horses are sometimes abandoned after they are thought to be useless.
“We have two rules here,” Peter Gregory said. “The first rule is the horses will never be ridden or worked again. And the second is they stay forever.”
