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Petey

Arrival Date:  October 2021

Farewell Date:  May 24, 2026

Petey arrived in October 2021 as part of a Department of Animal Services case.  As painfully displayed in his “before” photo below, he was terribly emaciated when he arrived.  Fortunately, he has recovered his weight well as displayed in his featured photo although keeping his weight up during the winters has proved challenging.  He still lives with Coco, who arrived with him, but he has become best buddies with Río Marañón.

Petey is one of several off-track thoroughbreds (OTTB) that have called the ranch home over the years.  Nicki Branch at Falcon Ridge used his tattoo to identify him as Jim Peters.  We presume he was named after James Henry Peters, a long-distance runner from England.  James Henry Peters broke the world record for the men’s marathon four times in the 1950s.

Karen Groebli at the Tijuana River Valley Animal Rescue looked up his race record for us.  He was born and raced in Indiana.  He started out strong but by his last few races, he finished very far behind.  Even though he did not achieve much during his racing career, he has found his way into the hearts of several of our volunteers and is flourishing in his forever home at the ranch.

Unfortunately, Petey lost not only his girlfriend Coco in 2023, but also his best friend Rio Maranon in early 2025.  However, he gave his heart to ‘Lil Girl, a beautiful thoroughbred, seventeen years his junior in the corral next to his.  Petey loves standing along the fence with his girl and gets quite upset when ‘Lil Girl wanders to the other side of the corral.

 

Farewell Date:  May 24, 2026

 

In recent years, Petey struggled with recurrent hoof abscesses.  While we suspected Cushing’s Disease, tests repeatedly came back negative.  Just prior to his passing, Petey had recovered from a pair of particularly stubborn abscesses.

It is hard to understand that we went from sending a text to Dr. Rivett on Saturday, May 23, 2026 saying, “On the good news front, Petey is doing GREAT today.  It’s like a light switch,” to a text on Sunday, May 24, 2026 at 2:30 p.m., saying, “We’re in shock.  We just found Petey passed away.  We were just adjusting his therapeutic boots at Noon.  He was 100% fine, wanting more food (now that his appetite had improved).  Wow. Heartbroken.  Thank you so much for all you had done for him in the last year.”

While his abscesses were completely unrelated to his passing, it is a heartbreaking reminder that in spite of the care we provide , and while we aspire to be Tir Na Nog (the Land of Youth) for all of our residents, we have yet to realize this magic.