Force of Nature released into a pasture at Tranquility Farm for the first time in early July 2004. It is probably the first moment of freedom this gallant old horse has known in many years.

 "I have a very steady supply of people who want to donate horses," said Berg, who works as a track steward on the Northern California circuit. "Unfortunately, most of the people who contact me about adopting just don't qualify. It will be a young child without any money who wants a pet. Or a parent looking for a free horse for a child who doesn't know anything about horses. And then there was the fellow from Canada who wanted to adopt a horse to train him for chariot racing. He said that at least the horse wouldn't have any weight on his back."
 Retired racehorses exist in a kind of twilight zone between the pressure-packed world of the track and the switched off lifestyle of the pleasure horse. These old warriors, most of them cut loose by their last in a series of owners, have spent their lives tapping into the deepest instincts of speed, power and flight. Many of them have paid the price in fractured bones, ruptured tendons and degenerated joints. Still, they are healthy enough to enjoy life as a pasture animal.
 "Potential owners who do have the right kind of experience tend to want a sound horse for nothing, a horse they can go on to show or whatever," Berg noted. "So there are few and limited opportunities to adopt them out. It simply isn't that easy to place retired racehorses."
 In choosing to honor Berg's work with retired Thoroughbreds, the Dogwood group is throwing a bright and welcome light on one of horse racing's dirty little secrets. For all the good work being done by groups like NTRA Charites, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and the Exceller Fund, there is no institutionalized, industry-wide mandate for funding a national racehorse retirement program.