MARYSVILLE — The All Breed Equine Rez-Q celebrated the 75th anniversary of Seabiscuit’s final race May 16 with Windy Land, the great-great-great-grandson of Seabiscuit.

As chronicled in the film of the same name, Seabiscuit won the Santa Anita handicap in 1940, coming back from a career-threatening injury. Windy Land is the only son of Mixed Pleasure, who at 27 years old is considered the oldest living descendant of Seabiscuit.

Both Windy Land and Friskie, a descendant of Secretariat, have been guests of the All Breed Equine Rez-Q since they were acquired from a central Oregon farm.

“Windy had little muscle tone in his back legs when he came here, because he wasn’t getting worked enough, but he’s been thriving ever since he came here,” said Sharon Peck, outreach volunteer for the Marysville horse rescue at 2415 116th St. NE. “Neither he nor Friskie have ever been raced. Their owner wanted to send them to slaughter, but we were able to come to their rescue.”

One of the volunteers has even forged a close friendship with Friskie, but such relationships between the Rez-Q’s horses and its volunteers are not uncommon.

“I have two horses I’m really close with,” said Marysville’s Claire Mathewson, who’s volunteered at the Rez-Q for four years. “You get to ride them, and it’s almost like having horses of your own.”

As part of the day’s activities, two of the gentlest ponies, Lucy and Rick, gave rides to youngsters such as Rosie Anslow of Bellevue. Rick used to work the Grand Canyon, while Lucy was beaten nearly to death by her former owner. Like so many of the Rez-Q’s horses, they likely would have gone to the slaughterhouse if not for the volunteers’ intervention.

“As it was, Lucy could barely even stand when we got her,” Peck said. “She was in bad shape.”

Among the Rez-Q’s more sunny stories is the May 3 birth of Roseberry, a miniature horse, to her mom Blackberry, both of whom were happy to be fed carrots by children such as Daniel Nazarchuk.

Dale Squeglia, founder and president of the nonprofit group, honored both Peck and Jeanie Esajian for their efforts on behalf of the Rez-Q, with portraits of prize-winning racehorses California Chrome and Zenyatta by Niska Cheffet.

In addition to money, the All Breed Equine Rez-Q could always use more volunteers, who can be trained to perform basic tasks such as feeding and watering the horses, cleaning stalls, grooming and exercising them, sweeping the barn and cleaning the grounds.

For details, visit www.allbreedhorserescue.com.