TORONTO, April 4, 2025— Growing up in North Pelham, Ontario, Lauren Millet had always dreamed of working with racehorses. Today, the Farm Manager at LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society can proudly say she is living her dream. Millet, who joined the non-profit organization in March 2017, has played an integral role in furthering LongRun’s mission of finding retired Thoroughbreds caring, adoptive homes and providing them with the support and resources to embark on fulfilling post-racing careers. Located in Hillsburgh, Ontario, less than an hour’s drive northwest of Woodbine, LongRun is the first industry-funded adoption program in Canada. In operation since 1999, the 100-acre property has found new adoptive homes for over 1,000 Thoroughbreds. Q: It takes a village for a place like LongRun to be successful, from the staff to supporters to adopters and everyone in between. What can you say about the people who work tirelessly to make LongRun’s vision a reality? A: “LongRun is very fortunate to have a ton of support from the racing industry, whether that’s owners, trainers, Woodbine or horse racing fans who support us because they love seeing what we do for these horses after they’re done racing. We’re also very fortunate to have a great board of directors who really grasp the vision, want to see LongRun succeed and are really passionate about the cause. They work hard to keep making us better and always trying to where we can go for the future. “We have a great team of staff here that work really hard. It’s a little bit of a thankless job because there’s always more to do, but we’re here because we love the horses, we love the cause, and we love what LongRun does. At the end of the day, it’s all about the horses. We love that these horses get a second chance after they’re done racing to go on and do something else, and we’re able to give them a place where they can come after the track and start to develop those skills that they’re going to need for the rest of their life. “We have a great group of adopters. I’ve been here eight years now, and we’ve grown exponentially in our adoption pool. It used to be that we’d get one or two applications a month to adopt a horse, and now I’m getting almost one or two a day. “It’s mostly word of mouth. It’s people talking about the fact that we’re here and we exist, and we have these great horses available for adoption. The growth is pretty remarkable, which is amazing, because the more horses we adopt, the more we can take in.” Q: What has been the most rewarding part of your journey with LongRun? A: “I started as the adoption manager/re-trainer. I was the primary rider who did all the restarting of the horses and the adoptions. Now, I still do the adoptions, but we have a full-time rider on staff, because as manager, I just don’t have time to do all of it. But adoption is really what it’s all about. That is the most gratifying thing to see a horse come off the track and see it change from this high performing athlete to something that a 12-year-old can get on and show in the hunter jumpers. “It’s incredible to see these people come and react like, ‘Whoa, this is an off-track Thoroughbred?’ They’re so different from what the rest of the industry thinks about them. They’re not crazy. They can do absolutely anything, and it’s so cool to see people come, the smiles on their faces when they’re taking their horse home. “That, to me, is the most satisfying part of the job – matching adopters with the perfect horse, matching the horse with the perfect adopter, and seeing their faces and the connections developing between horses and riders. That truly is what LongRun is all about.” Q: Talk about the importance of Thoroughbred aftercare for everyone involved in racing. A: “Over the last few years, there’s definitely been a push towards, ‘What happens after?’ A lot of horses retire at 3-4-5- years old, and they still have 20 years of life left. They’ve worked their entire life, so a lot of them want to continue to do something. At five-years-old, they’re not ready to be done. “The importance of aftercare is what happens to them. It’s our responsibility as people involved in racing to provide a second career for them because we’ve asked them to do a job, and now they’re asking us, ‘Well, what’s next? I’ve done that job. I want to do something else now.’ I think it’s very important for us to support them in their next career, because as we’ve seen, they can do absolutely anything. “I truly believe it’s on us as the racing industry to promote the thoroughbred as a horse that can do absolutely anything and give them the support that they need to make that transition, because it is a very difficult transition. All they know how to do is race, and they’re all of a sudden, we’re asking them to do a totally different job. The aftercare support for the horses, to allow them the time and to gain the knowledge that they need to succeed in the second career is super important. “A lot of people in the non-racing industry, but in the riding horse industry, think that when they’re getting a horse off the track that it’s super broke. It’s been ridden every day. But what they don’t understand is these horses have only been ridden in a certain way. They don’t know about what regular riding horses know. It’s our job, and I try to do this with every adopter, is explain to them what the horse is missing in their information. “If we can understand what they don’t understand, then we can help them to get the information that they need in order to understand what is now being asked of them, because it’s completely different from what they’ve known all their lives.” Q: Have you had any favourites over the years? A: “I’ve adopted three from here, so those ones are probably top of the list for favorites. We had one horse who came here, his name was Manicou. He came as a three-year-old. He had slightly damaged his knees because he was a big guy, and he just wasn’t ready to be a racehorse, so he came here and needed time off. “He was such a lovely, sweet, good-looking guy. Unfortunately, he tried to jump out of a paddock here and flipped over the fence and then injured his neck. So, he wasn’t going to be rideable, and he was going to live here forever, which was great for me, because I got to see him every day. “One day a lady came along, and she was looking for a therapy horse, and there was a fit. We weren’t looking for a home for him, and she wasn’t really looking for a horse, but they just came together, and now he’s being re-trained as a therapeutic riding horse. While he can’t be ridden in any competitive fashion, he can do lead line, and it’s great to see him succeeding in a job that is fulfilling for him, because he loves people. He wants to be around people all the time, so the fact that he now gets to do that is very cool. “I remember pretty much every single horse that’s come through here while I’ve been here. I enjoy seeing them all go and do something else that’s really great for them. Every single horse is different. Every single horse wants to do something else. Some of them, therapy would not be enough; they want to be a jumper or an eventer. Other ones, they want to hack on a trail. They don’t want to go in a circle on sand ever again. They want to go straight on a trail and see the world and do stuff like that. “It’s really cool to see their personalities come out and figure out what they want to do, so that we can help them find that exact job.” Q: What part of the day do you look forward to most when you are at the LongRun farm? A: “It depends on the weather. Honestly, I really enjoy the first thing in the morning. I’m always the first one in the barn, and for most of the year, the sun is just rising when I come out to feed the horses. I generally come out to feed the barns before the other staff gets here, so that the horses inside the barn can eat and relax before we turn them all out. “The farm is always so quiet. You can’t really hear anything, maybe a little bit of a breeze or some birds, but the sun’s rising, so the light is hit or miss, and it’s beautiful. Then you walk in the barn and hear all the horses nickering. They’re just waking up, so they’re still a little dozy and nickering for their breakfast, and they’re all really cute and cuddly at that point in the morning.” Matthew Lomon, for Woodbine Share This:Share
