This article was originally featured in the July 2025 Issue of BloodHorse Magazine in the Second Acts series.
This article is the original format and text. To read the BloodHorse article or to subscribe click HERE.
By: Suzie Picou-Oldham
Sisters, Susan, and Karen Wagner head the staff at Equine Advocates located in Chatham, New York. Accredited by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance since 2014, the organization is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3). Founded in 1996 when Susan Wagner rescued her first horse, Gandalf, from slaughter. He was a Thoroughbred/Quarter Horse cross that Susan calls a life-altering experience.
Prior to founding Equine Advocates, Susan worked in the racing industry in various capacities, first as a hotwalker at Belmont. With a desire to learn more, she moved to Maryland and worked as a groom for Alfred Vanderbilt at Sagamore Farm. She wrote as well, including articles about racing while working out of the Belmont Park press box. From there, she took a job at a zoological institution during which time she found Gandalf in 1993.
Equine Advocates Rescue and Sanctuary was established in 2004. Located in Chatham, in Upstate New York, the facility boasts a 173-acre haven of paddocks and shelters. Susan and Karen alongside a resolute staff have created more than just an equine haven, they have developed a village where equines live a life with daily care, love, and guardianship. The Wagner’s have made it the mission of Equine Advocates to promote the humane, responsible treatment of horses.
We have rescued and/or helped with more than 2,000 equines 32 years if you count the three years between the time I acquired Gandalf (and Rain Man who just turned 35) and founded Equine Advocates. I would estimate the number of Thoroughbreds we have assisted over the years has been in the hundreds.
When asked about their first Thoroughbred and reflecting on the number of Thoroughbreds they have taken in, Susan said, “We’re going back to 1996 which was when I founded this organization. One of the first or perhaps the first Thoroughbred we ever acquired was a 3-year-old Chestnut Thoroughbred Filly named, ‘Alarmingly Irish’ (Y20308) in 1998. I vividly remember the circumstances – She had been in training for her first race at Suffolk Downs and while in her stall, her leather halter got caught on a nail and she dislocated one of the bones in her skull (possibly the axis) when she was struggling to free herself. Somehow her trainer found me and asked if we could take her. I boarded her at Robin Hill Farm in Hunterdon County, NJ which was where we were keeping some of our horses at that time. A young woman fell in love with her, adopted her and renamed her, “Piper.” She kept Piper at that farm, and I got to see her often. I also remember how large and gorgeous Piper was. She was almost orange in color with no other markings and quite striking and beautiful. We have rescued and/or helped with more than 2,000 equines 32 years if you count the three years between the time I acquired Gandalf (and Rain Man who just turned 35) and founded Equine Advocates. I would estimate the number of Thoroughbreds we have assisted over the years has been in the hundreds.”
The Humane Education and Welcome Center opened in 2006 and is the schoolhouse of the operation. Classes and tours are offered to the public, especially to younger audiences to educate future generations about proper care and responsibilities of equines. Local schools, youth groups, Scout troops and other organizations have taken part in the Humane Education program.
Now 30 years in operation, they are not only a haven for Thoroughbreds but also for donkeys, mules and other equine breeds including former Military Working Horses. Equine Advocates has been honored by the New York State Humane Association and the Thoroughbred Charities of America for excellence in equine protection and rescue work and are also accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) and the American Sanctuary Association.
Symposiums have been held on equine cruelty for law enforcement where experts discussed how to recognize abuse/neglect cases and how to effectively enforce the cruelty laws. The importance of Responsible Horse Guardianship, behavioral traits, history, and origins of all breeds at the sanctuary, are among topics in classes at the Education Center. “We discuss what to do if a situation arises where one can no longer keep their horse to ensure that the animal goes to a good home or reputable sanctuary and never to a low-end auction and/or placed in a situation where that horse can fall through the cracks,” says Susan.
The organization has published a book called Do Horses Sleep Standing Up? created and written by Karen Wagner.
Staff includes a Social Media and Communications Manager, Humane Educator, Donor Relations Manager, Equine Care Managers and Maintenance Supervisor. A full board of directors are actively supportive. Melissa Murray, Equine Care Manager, has been at Equine Advocates for eight years.
Explaining the roles between Karen and her sister, Susan explains, “I wear many hats here at Equine Advocates, as does my sister, Karen who runs the organization with me, but we mostly do very different things while working together on others. We both fundraise for the organization in different capacities, put on events, speak with and cultivate donors, and share in all the major decisions, projects, and development issues, etc. My job also involves expediting all the rescue operations and overseeing everything pertaining to the horses. When we send horses to Cornell in Ithaca or Rood and Riddle in Saratoga for surgeries and special treatments, I am the one who goes with them. I also do a lot of writing for the organization, and I am its main spokesperson. In addition, besides working in the office during the day, I spend several hours each evening (mostly from M-F) directly with the horses for night check.”
An endearing Thoroughbred story retold by Susan as she recalls the story of Press Exclusive and daughter X Squared.
“X Squared”, the daughter of Press Exclusive whose career we had been following and hoping could come to the sanctuary one day. Press Exclusive’s story was well known and had gone viral in 2012. She had been born in Kentucky and sold to Canadian interests where she successfully raced earning more than $436,000 and giving birth to nine foals, the last of whom was a filly born in 2010 named, X Squared. Mindy Lovell of the Canadian Thoroughbred organization, “Transitions Thoroughbreds” had rescued “Press” and was the person who sent her to us in 2013 to be permanently retired. We both were happy to hear that X Squared had been sold to an American and was living in Texas. I contacted that person about eight years ago and said that we would love to reunite Press and her daughter, X Squared, when her racing career was over. Miraculously, I was contacted in June of 2024 that X Squared could come to the sanctuary. She arrived here in August after first undergoing an exam at Cornell University Hospital for Animals. We renamed her ‘Swiftie’ and you can see a photo (below) of Press Exclusive (left) being reunited with her offspring after so many years! To our great sadness, Press passed away in December. This is the last sentence of the eulogy I wrote for her, “. . . I will always cherish the memory of this great mare and feel so very fortunate to have Swiftie with us now. Press lives on in her and our hearts forever!”
