Hitting Pause on a Downward Spiral: How Stall 13 Is Rewriting the Story for Hard-to-Place Thoroughbreds

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Take a look inside the program built to catch the horses who fall through the cracks — and set them back on the right path.

Not every Thoroughbred lands softly after their racing days. Some fall through the cracks — quietly, steadily, and without the safety net they deserve. Stall 13 steps in at the moment when the spiral needs to stop, giving these horses the pause, the care, and the second chance that can completely change the trajectory of their lives.

And in typical Thoroughbred fashion, the organization’s mission is bold, athletic, and ready to run the long game.

Generation. Photo courtesy of Aubrey Graham.

A Different Kind of Safety Net

Most organizations helping off-track Thoroughbreds step in right as horses retire from racing. Stall 13 absolutely does that — but they also fill a gap most people don’t realize exists: addressing horses who “look” like they’ve already landed safely.

These are the horses who:

  • Ran 50+ races and left every ounce of heart on the track.
  • Made it into a sporthorse home… until something went wrong.
  • Struggled with a nagging injury that was never fully addressed.
  • Became “too much horse” for an owner without the trainer or resources to help.
  • Found themselves passed from person to person, each a little less equipped than the last.

Stall 13 provides the do-over these horses desperately need — a reset button for their bodies, their minds, and their futures.

Spin at the 2025 RRP Thoroughbred Makeover. Photo by Lauren Kingerly.

Where Hitting Pause Saves Lives

What Stall 13 does best is step in before a struggling horse slides into even more precarious situations. Their head trainer and team of veterinarians, farriers, dentists, and body workers evaluates each horse with one core question, “What does THIS horse need to have a real chance at a good life?”

Not the generic version. Not the quick-fix version. The right version.

Every horse receives a custom treatment plan and, once able, goes into consistent three to five-day-a-week training. This isn’t the “one ride for the adoption photo” approach. This is real, purposeful, discipline-appropriate work that reveals:

  • What each horse enjoys
  • What each horse is good at
  • What each horse needs
  • What kind of human and home will help each horse thrive

Because at Stall 13, the goal isn’t speed — it’s success.

Spin schooling at the 2025 RRP Thoroughbred Makeover. Photo by Lauren Kingerly.

Founded by a Familiar Face

If you’ve spent any time on Horse Nation, you know Aubrey Graham, the brains behind the Thoroughbred Logic series and a longtime champion of tough OTTBs. She founded Stall 13 to give the hard cases the time, expertise, and second (or third … or fourth) chance they deserve.

Her other business, Kivu Sporthorses, is a for-profit training and sales barn that works with all types of horses, but with a focus on Thoroughbreds. Stall 13, however, is strictly for the off-track Thoroughbreds needing extra time, resources, and rehabilitation — with donations supporting only the nonprofit’s horses and operations.

Same barn. Same trainer. Completely separate finances and missions.

The Origin

Since Aubrey has been training Thoroughbreds, she has been taking risks on the unlikely ones — the ones folks say can’t be fixed. The ones who aren’t sound, the ones whose back stories would have most folks running the other way. Patience, a great team, and stubborn determination has seen these horses through to new careers. Mountain Holiday is the horse that made the need for this organization clear. Mountain came in with feet with his coffin bones basically sitting on the floor. The farrier said he’d need to be euthanized. The vet recommended the same. While Aubrey isn’t afraid of euthanasia in many cases, this horse deserved a shot. So she built a team around him and over a year of stall rest and light work, specific farrier fixes and hand made shoes, he grew sole and became sound (see his article “When Feet are Really Bad” here).

Mountain Holiday during one his first post track rides. Photo by Alanah Giltmier.

Mountain was never going to be her upper level horse, but he was headed to the Makeover to event and to show what a horse with supposedly damning limitations can do. The week before the 2022 Makeover, Mountain cribbed his way to colic surgery — from which he never fully recovered. The day before the Makeover, Aubrey laid him to rest and carried his tail and the weight of his purpose to Kentucky.

Mountain Holiday competing at the season opener at Chatt Hills in February of 2022.

Many helped horses later, in the summer of 2024, Aubrey had just moved to the Fingerlakes region of New York and was helping Sarah Hepler list horses for Fingerlakes Finest on the backside of the Fingerlakes Track. A three-legged lame chestnut was presented for photos with a clearly problematic knee. The track handler begged that he needed to be taken home — “Just please get your trailer and come get him.” Eventually, she did. And Major Spin and his disastrously gnarly carpus loaded onto her trailer and walked into her 13th stall.

Major Spin’s knee rads from the track. Courtesy of Farmington Equine Practitioners.

After months of rest, rehab and training, Major Spin got the chance to do what Mountain hadn’t — he beat the odds, stayed sound, and traveled to the Makeover. There he passed his vet checks and competed in dressage — sound, happy, and ready for a new life.

Spin at the 2025 RRP Thoroughbred Makeover. Photo by Lauren Kingerly.

This past Saturday, a year and a half after he came home from the track, Spin again loaded on a trailer. This time though, he headed out for the next chapter in his life as a young woman’s dressage horse. And with him comes the guarantee of the Stall 13 support system and the ability for him to come back if ever he isn’t working out.

Spin at the 2025 RRP Thoroughbred Makeover. Photo by Lauren Kingerly.

*And in the odd serendipity that is life, a day after Spin headed to his new home, a new horse required help — also a chestnut Finger Lakes horse, also a kid with “knees,” but this time, one whose purchase from the track traded him into a kill pen not 10 days later. Stay tuned for updates on Wine Responsibly, a 15.3h four year old by Vino Rosso (Curlin) on the Stall 13 page.

Who Stall 13 Helps

Stall 13 specializes in horses who are:

  • Warhorses — the tough, gritty campaigners with 50+ starts
  • Fresh off-the-track and needing significant rehab
  • Mid-career horses whose sporthorse experience left them anxious, confused, overwhelmed, or simply without a safety net
  • Individuals with pain-related behavior, training gaps, or complex physical and mental needs

Many of these horses would otherwise end up on Craigslist, in backyards, at local auctions, or in situations where they’re over-bitted, under-trained, and misunderstood.

Stall 13 exists to stop that slide.

Generation

The Adoption Difference

Graduates don’t just get handed to the first person with a trailer. Instead, Stall 13 aims to find the right fit for each unique case. They:

  • Tracks each horse’s training and progress
  • Honestly evaluates each horse’s personality and potential
  • Compiles a detailed history for adopters
  • Carefully matches each horse with the right home

Prospective adopters can schedule a meet-and-greet or an on-site trial ride (with a lesson included), and — like responsible programs across the industry — PPEs are welcomed.

Adoption fees vary depending on a horse’s abilities and maintenance, and every dollar goes back into supporting the next horse in need.

Spin in September 2025.

What Donations Support

Caring for challenging cases isn’t cheap — and Stall 13 breaks down exactly where help goes:

  • Feed: Purina Senior Active, beet pulp shreds, alfalfa cubes; Hay: Alfalfa and timothy
  • Supplements: Madbarn Omneity, flax, biotin, vitamin E
  • Turnout & stall supplies: Bedding, round bales, water troughs, buckets
  • Veterinary care: Routine + specialized treatments
  • Farrier care: Every horse goes in four shoes custom built to their needs
  • Training & show expenses
  • And yes… peppermints (because healing is easier when bribery is involved)

Support can be one-time or through monthly sponsorships.

Sews (Lord Darnley). Photo courtesy of Aubrey Graham.

Why Stall 13 Matters

The horse industry has come a long way in supporting OTTBs — especially fresh retirees. But mid-career horses who hit a wall? Those are the ones who often have nowhere to go.

Major Spin when he came off the track in August 2024. Photo by Aubrey Graham

Stall 13 is built for them. For the horse who doesn’t just need a new home — they need a whole new chapter. For the horse whose best days could still be ahead, if someone takes the time. For the horse who has heart left to give, if someone helps get them right first.

Sews (Lord Darnley) is a good example. Purchased soon off the track, Sews shipped to Washington state to a knowledgable home. But the turnout didn’t suit him. The big, playful Thoroughbred has a pony across the fence, but the lack of interaction set up his spiral. He became grumpy, then angry, then violent. Under saddle he quit going forward. Stall 13 took him on and he shipped back across the country. Aubrey kicked him out with a herd, retrained his manners and after a few months of getting to be a horse again, put him back to work. He has evented a bit, ridden trails and logged the miles with amateur riders necessary to prove that he can behave, and that he’s ready for a new family (but this time with other geldings to mess with). Sews is currently pending placement to exactly that type of home.

So for the people who believe in doing right by these horses, Stall 13 is a way to be part of that change.

Sews (Lord Darnley). Photo courtesy of Aubrey Graham.

How to Help

Right now, Stall 13 horses find the program organically and the organization is yet able to accept outside horses, but the nonprofit is growing — and every bit of support helps them continue building a safety net for the horses who need it most.