Mareworthy was actually inspired by Worthy of Wings (pictured here) when our co-founder, Kyle the OTTB Mare Guy, was working with her for the 2019 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover.

Worthy came to Kyle from Puerto Rico thanks to the efforts of Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare Inc. who worked to get her retired from racing at age 13 after her 138th race. Kyle has always been a fan of hard-campaigning warhorse mares, so Worthy's race record and existing relationship with CTA made her an obvious choice to select as his partner for the Makeover in 2019.

Worthy arrived at Kyle and Sean's farm in Ohio in November 2018, and over the following months as Kyle worked with Worthy he became determined to inspire more people to fall in love with these older often misunderstood mares. The tough mares often need a little more time to adjust to their new life after the track, and that can result in people getting frustrated and labeling them as difficult.

In reality, these mares who raced more than 5 years are similar to someone starting a new job at a new company after being with their previous company in a different role for several years. They're not difficult or uneducated, they're just feeling out of place and probably also frustrated. It takes time to transition to a new role, and it takes even more time when you were in your previous role the majority of your working career.

So in the summer of 2019 Kyle coined the term "Mareworthy" and had a logo created as a way to celebrate Worthy and all the people who love mares. The name was definitely inspired by Worthy's name and consequently was used on t-shirts as Worthy's "brand" for the Makeover.

What started as something that was intended to be nothing more than a fun way to inspire people to show their pride and support for mares continued to evolve as Kyle saw the greater need for something more formal to help the misunderstood and overlooked mares.

In 2020 Kyle and Sean sent their first homebred, Lady Dyanaformer, off to race training in Kentucky, and that's when everything really started to accelerate. Kyle's weekly trips from Toledo to Louisville to see Dyana gave him the opportunity to become more involved in racing and learn more about breeding. That exposure paired with his love for Thoroughbred mares made it clear he and Sean needed to move the farm to Kentucky and establish as a 501c3 to always have first-hand opportunities to influence the Thoroughbred industry as a member of the community. Being in Kentucky means having direct access to build a strong network of like-minded people and organizations working to protect the Thoroughbred mares we love.

It took over a year of farm shopping, but in June of 2022 Kyle and Sean moved the farm from Toledo to Georgetown and began the process of formalizing Mareworthy Charities. They've used the winnings Lady Dyanaformer earned during her racing career to go directly to setting up and initially funding Mareworthy Charities, and they are committed to continuing that support.

A lot has happened since Worthy first inspired Kyle with our name, and there is so much more to come. We are excited to be building a strong infrastructure focused on networking, data, and analytics so we can continue to build the best programs to engage the community and educate Thoroughbred mare owners about due diligence for rehoming and end of life and estate planning. And as we raise more money we'll also be able to directly help even more horses with sanctuary and placement into safe homes.

Thank you so much for being a supporter and following our story. Your support is what will make us successful in our mission to protect every Thoroughbred mare.