Abandoned racehorse moving on to greener pastures

MARYSVILLE -- In an arena smelling of tobacco smoke, leather and urine, Steve Porter moved his finger almost imperceptibly yesterday as an auctioneer barked out ever-increasing numbers.

You couldn't tell from his poker face, but Porter was dying to buy the strapping, athletic racehorse in the ring.

"He wanted him so badly," said Porter's mother, Cynthia, a horse breeder. "He was so upset and afraid he was going to go for pet food."

The mysterious thoroughbred showed up on the road near Porter's Lake Stevens home six weeks ago, and his family agreed to put him on its pasture until his owners realized he was loose.

The horse was well cared for, elegantly shorn and sported an expensive gold-plated halter with his nickname "Stretch." But despite widespread publicity, no one ever came forward to claim him.

That's how an abandoned racehorse with an unspectacular earnings record at the track and a bum leg wound up on the auction block at the Marysville Livestock Auction.

Afraid that the horse might be sold for slaughter, 4-H clubs in King and Snohomish counties raised more than $1,200 in less than a day to give Porter's family a chance at saving him.

Yesterday, when the bidding escalated to $1,375 and a taciturn competitor in a cowboy hat shook his head no, Porter's extended family squealed with delight as the auctioneer yelled, "Sold!"

"He's a retired racehorse, and that's the way he's going to stay," said Porter, whose family boards horses on their property. "I'm going to let him be out in the pasture and eat carrots. He's not going to be used for anything but taking it easy."

The 7-year-old bay gelding was found eating on the side of a Lake Stevens road shortly before Christmas. Neighbors mistakenly thought he belonged to the Porters, who agreed to temporarily care for him after animal-control officers dropped him off there.

When no one claimed him, the horse's identity was divined through a blue numbered tattoo on the inside of his lip that all racing thoroughbreds are required to have.

Despite his name -- Flying Algonquin -- the Canadian-born horse wasn't so fleet of foot. He earned only $8,160 in three races at Hastings Park in Vancouver, B.C.

His original owners sold him to a Lake Stevens-area couple who wanted a horse for pleasure riding, said Ralph Vacca, general manager of the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association, who helped track the horse's complicated ownership history.

After that plan didn't work out, the animal changed hands several times. No one was able to find the person who last cared for him.

Impounded animals like horses are required to be sold at the closest livestock auction.

Once the horse's plight became known, Vacca fielded calls from people nationwide who worried it might be killed. The local 4-H clubs raised their bidding money by word of mouth and e-mail after learning someone wanted to give him a good home.

"There are a lot of horse lovers out there who can't understand how someone could turn a horse loose," Vacca said. "This thing just kind of caught fire."

Because veterinarians found evidence of ringbone, a bony growth above his front hoof that can make a horse lame, the auction advertised the Flying Algonquin as unsound.

Julie Edmondson, manager of the Marysville Livestock Auction, said they're not sure whether he could be ridden. But the condition hasn't restricted his mobility.

"He can still walk around, and he would be a wonderful companion horse," she said.

Erin Porter, Steve Porter's wife and an ex-barrel racer who's been around horses all her life, said the family tried not to fall in love with horse while it stayed at the Porter farm. The family assumed he'd be there only a few days.

Flying Algonquin was skittish at first, obviously spooked by whatever he'd been through after escaping or being turned loose. As the weeks passed, he grew friendly, and the Porters resolve melted.

"If it had been a dog, we probably would have gotten attached, too," she said. "I think with any animal you take care of, you just end up growing fond of them. I think he deserves to be at peace and do what a horse does best, which is graze."

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