New Vocations Graduate

From Mission Hill's Owner: Mission Hill is a 2016 handsome trotter by Muscle Hill. This stunning gelding was a high six-figure yearling and put into training with a hall-of-fame trainer. He only raced 38 times before retiring sound from the track. 

He was adopted in 2020 and has been a wonderful trail horse in California, where he is currently located. Mission Hill has been trailridden a lot in the past five years. He is confident alone or with other horses. He has a fast, ground-covering walk and is faster (as most Standardbreds are) than his stock horse friends who ride with him. He typically trail rides 1 to 2 hours at a time. He is quite happy both leading and following. This lovely horse is brave and has no problems going past barking dogs, bulldozers, cars, trailers, etc.  Mission Hill is always eager to come in when called from the pasture. He has a big puppy dog attitude and is an in-your-pocket type of horse. He is confident and does not get buddy or barn sour. He is very easy to tack up, stand in the crossties, longes easily, and can fetch too! Mission Hill can walk and trot beautifully. 

Mission Hill has been working on his canter and is learning to hold it. He is offering a rocking horse-style canter. It is very smooth. He still needs more strength, but has the potential to canter nicely for a Standardbred. Mission Hill does have something that makes him special. Sometimes you can hear a "ticking" sound when he is excited or running.  He has had extensive evaluations done at UC Davis (happy to share) and was diagnosed with a cardiac rub. This was never heard during his time as a racehorse and does not bother him at all. He was cleared to do all types of riding. Mission Hill has been sound and could also be taught to jump, do cross country, endurance, or drive. Due to the adopter's life changes, this very nice horse is now available to approved adopters. 

ABOUT OUR ADOPTION FEES

New Vocations intentionally sets our horses’ adoption fees lower than the average cost of buying a Thoroughbred or Standardbred from a private seller (in today’s market, horses coming right off the track are often listed at $5,000 to $10,000!).

Our fees range from $0 (waived) to $3,500.

• Fees typically correspond with a horse’s Anticipated Physical Capability. So, horses that are found to be best suited for non-riding careers (our Pasture Potatoes) have waived fees, while the fees for horses assessed to be suitable for high-impact careers will be up to $3,500.

While our adoption fees are low, it’s important to remember that costs associated with ongoing care and additional training for a horse can be high. We hope that by helping adopters save money upfront, you’ll have more funds available to cover the costs of properly caring for and training a retired racehorse.

When you adopt a horse through New Vocations, you’re helping two horses; your new family member and the one who takes their place in our program. Our facilities are nearly always at max capacity, which means we can’t take in a new horse until one is adopted. Keeping our adoption fees low helps us find appropriate homes for horses quickly, enabling us to help even more horses transition off the track as stalls open up in our barns!

Another perk of adopting from us: we do all we can to give you the most value for your adoption fee. Most adoptable horses have been in the program for a minimum of 60 days, during which they've rehabilitated (if needed), socialized with other horses, been evaluated by trainers and veterinarians, and have been in regular training with a professional. On average, the monetary value of these services exceeds $5,000. Any medical records (often including X-rays and ultrasounds) and pertinent history we have on each horse are also available to interested and approved adopters.