Thunder Run Stables offers
the gamut of horse-related services for all your needs. As well, you can
feel secure in the knowledge that the person you speak to on the telephone
about your horses is the person who has fed them, medicated them, held them for
the vet, foaled them, and loved them. The only people
who will lay their hands upon your Thoroughbreds are Roberta Smoodin, Henry
Smith (we live in the center of the Farm), and our Vet, Dr. David Grinstead. We pride ourselves on our minute-by-minute
knowledge of your horses’ well-being—each and every horse here at Thunder Run
is considered a family member. When your mare is due to foal, we will be
by her side through the night, without fail, and when your mare is being bred,
we can give you day-by-day reports on her breeding status and readiness.
Boarding rate: $20/day (considerations offered for
year round boarders and multiple mares)
Foaling fee: $250
Lay-ups: $25/day
Critical care: $25/day
Breeding:
Thunder Run Stables
maintains excellent working relationships with many of the large stud farms,
and once you have reached a decision regarding which stallion or stallions you
desire to breed your mare to, we will attempt to negotiate the best possible
contract for you and your mare. Because of our established relationships
with such farms as Ashford, Overbrook, the Vinery, Hill ‘n’ Dale, and others,
we can frequently arrange for discounted seasons for our clientele, or, at very
least, a delay of the payment date to Stands and Nurses, so that you do not
have to pay for your season until you have a live, healthy foal on the
ground.
Equine Problem Solving:
We relish the challenge of
working on mares with breeding problems, such as placentitis,
Cushing’s Syndrome, geriatric issues, etc. As
well, mares with a history of foaling problems are welcome at Thunder Run, as,
with our old fashioned methods of spending the night with all of our foaling
mares, we do not depend upon technology to get our foals on the ground, but on
simple, age old horsemanship. We live with your mare, and will do
everything possible to get your foal on the ground, healthy and
nursing. Other types of equine problem solving such as
temperament-challenged horses and various types of critical care which demand
extra attention are challenges we welcome as well.
Consigning:
Because we insist upon the
hands-on nature of the daily care we give to your horses, we do not do our own
sales consigning. However, we maintain relationships with several
excellent consignors, and, depending upon the nature of the horses you desire
to sell, can recommend the ideal consignor to you, and arrange for your
relationship with this consignor, working with the agency to ready your horse
for public sale.
Bloodstock-Related
Services:
Thunder Run Stables is the
sibling enterprise of Smith-Smoodin
Bloodstock and because of this we are able to offer private sale of your
horses, the acquisition of a specific horse or type of horse you are seeking,
and acquisition of horses at public sale for you. Smith-Smoodin
Bloodstock also specializes in sales and acquisition of Thoroughbreds for the
European marketplace.
We are proud to have
retired the wonderful race horse Grits'n Hard Toast
at Thunder Run.
Grits won the Holy Bull
S. (G3), the Iowa Derby, and other races, but had fallen on hard times, and was
being run at the lowest claiming levels, as happens to many geldings. We
encountered him, by chance, at Dr. Ric Redden's clinic in
We mentioned to the
owners how much we'd loved Grits when he was running, and their response, to a
total stranger, was, "do you want him?" The horse looked
terrible, ribby and rough coated, and it was clear
his treatment was not going to improve following Dr. Redden's
retirement advice. We answered "absolutely."
They brought Grits right over to Thunder Run and, when he got off the
trailer, they removed the leather halter he was wearing. Grits has been
Thunder Run's mascot ever since. He is sound and happy, and gets daily
peppermints.
Here at Thunder Run, we
believe that it is every farm owner's and racehorse owner's responsibility to
help out with Thoroughbred retirement--if every farm, no matter how small,
would commit to retiring one or two ex-racehorses, part of
the issue of neglected ex-racehorses would certainly be
solved. We must laud one of our longtime friends and clients, Mr. Jim Pino, who has retired his race gelding, Mike's Thunder, to
Thunder Run (click here to
see to his care). Grits and Mike have another retired friend, Marky, in their paddock and the fellas
spend their time reminiscing about their days on the track and admiring the
beautiful ladies in the paddock next door.