With help from Rosie Napravnik, New Vocations opens Louisiana facility

The New Vocations Thoroughbred adoption program has announced it has opened a satellite facility in Louisiana with the support of retired jockey Rosie Napravnik.

The New Vocations facility at the Equi-Best Equestrian Center in Covington, La., will focus on taking in horses retiring from Louisiana's four racetracks as well as training centers and farms within the state.

Napravnik, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Oaks, retired from racing in late 2014, and the lifelong equestrian has since deepened her ties within the sport-horse community by working with retired racehorses. She has several times competed in the Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover, a national competition to raise awareness of the suitability of ex-racehorses for multiple other disciplines, and is entered to compete again this season.

New Vocations says that Napravnik initiated talks last November with the organization and the Louisiana HBPA, expressing concerns about the need for more Thoroughbred aftercare options within the state. Napravnik will now work to spread awareness for the new facility, which has already taken in a handful of horses, and to seek further funding for its long-term sustainability. In a release, New Vocations said the expansion has been well received and funded by both the industry and an outside granting source.

“It was clear that Louisiana needed help with Thoroughbred aftercare and I knew there had to be a way that I could assist,” Napravnik said in the release. “After making the connection with Morgan Vaughn and Lynn Quast of Equi-Best Equestrian Center, I felt we really had all the right people in place. In my experience with aftercare, New Vocations has always been at the top of the list, so reaching out to them was a no brainer. With the support of the Louisiana HBPA, we are all very optimistic about the new facility. We are excited to offer the horseman in Louisiana another alternative for their horses when they are finished racing."

New Vocations, which was founded in 1992, is the largest racehorse retraining and adoption program in the country, with almost 500 retirees served by the program each year. The program, which works with both Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, has existing facilities in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

“We had been following some of the issues that were going on in Louisiana concerning aftercare, so when Rosie approached us, we were very interested in seeing if we could help,” New Vocations program director Anna Ford said. “Every time we have opened a new facility it has naturally allowed us to increase our capacity and ultimately serve more horses.”