In her former life, Gigi was known as Midnight Seas.
She raced at Canterbury Park without much success.
Now, she leads visitors on trail rides through the woods and an orchard near Jordan with her new owner, Jennifer Williams, who runs Dreamy Hill Trails.
"She just loves it out here," Williams said, describing the thoroughbred as sweet and curious.
Gigi moved from the racetrack to the trail with help from the fledgling Minnesota Retired Racehorse Project.
Dr. Jennifer Selvig, a veterinarian who works at Canterbury, and local horse lover Annie Gallus founded the organization as the summer racing season ended to help find homes for retiring racehorses at the conclusion of their high-speed careers.
The group's website, www.mnrrp.com, offers listings for trainers who have racehorses for sale and showcases the horses they have accepted for rehabilitation.
"What we're trying to do is keep them from the public auctions where there's a chance they'll be purchased by buyers who are sending them to Canada or Mexico for slaughter," Selvig said.
Many trainers and owners try to find good homes for retiring horses, she said, but others neglect them or sell them quickly for economic reasons.
So far, even as the Minnesota Retired Racehorse Project is in the midst of applying for nonprofit status, they have placed a couple dozen horses in new homes, Selvig said.
The group doesn't have a central facility, instead boarding horses in private barns in Prior Lake and Annandale. Members rely on donations and personal investment to feed and provide medical treatment for horses in transition.
Some horses come to them with bone chips or tendon and ligament problems, common racing injuries. "They just need some time off," Selvig said.
But "spokeshorse" Scotty was a more extreme case.
When Gallus acquired Scotty in December 2008 after his owner neglected him, he was a skeletal 803 pounds and had to be lifted into a trailer. He had left the racing world after a botched nerve procedure caused his muscles to atrophy, Gallus said.
By summer, Scotty was happy and healthy enough to ride. "He is absolutely the most amazing horse," Gallus said.
Now he roams a pasture with other rehabilitation horses, modeling another skill former racers need to learn -- relaxation. After years of constant fast-paced activity, some horses don't know how to live a low-key life in a pasture.
"They are creatures of habit. If you change that routine, some adjust easier than others," said trainer Bruce Riecken, who has worked with the Minnesota Retired Racehorse Project to place two retiring horses.
Jeff Maday, a spokesman for Canterbury Park, said it's great that there will be a local organization focused on retired racehorses.
Interest by the racing industry in providing for horses after their careers has grown in recent years, he said. Canterbury Park and horse owners have donated to the Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association and chipped in to help other people and groups that work with horses.
"[The horses] give it their all," Maday said. "They deserve to be treated well not just during their careers, but after."
Katie Humphrey • 952-882-9056
