Joy Nakrin took a huge leap of faith when she adopted a horse, sight unseen, from Blue Bloods Thoroughbred Adoption and Placement, located in Blanch, N.C. Blue Bloods is a 501(c)(3) volunteer-run organization whose mission is to help transition former racehorses from the track to their new homes. One of the organization’s unique qualities is its collaboration with the Equestrian Studies program at Averett University to help market the horses.

When we last left off everything was going great, but these are horses and not for the faint of heart. Scout suffered a kick to his front leg. Fortunately, it was up high and involved only bone and not tendons or ligaments. This meant some time off from training and digital X-rays to ensure it wasn’t something serious like a sequestrum (from Merriam-Webster: fragment of dead bone detached from adjoining sound bone). We lost about three weeks altogether.