About 15,000 thoroughbred and standardbred foals were bred in Australia last year for horse racing. They will have outlived their usefulness for racing before they’ve reached even half of their natural lifespan. Around one-third of retired racehorses are absorbed into the adjacent breeding sector. The remainder must compete for a limited number of suitable new homes.
Ex-racehorses that are useful for equestrian purposes have more post-racing opportunities than those that aren’t. It’s not that they owe us a lifetime of servitude; it’s simply the practical and economic reality. Horses make delightful companions, but as pets go, they are very high maintenance, demand a high level of skill from their owners and are very expensive. There are direct associations between utility, value and welfare.
Considerable resources are devoted to rehoming ex-racehorses, but once a horse has sold into a non-racing home its fate rests on the owner or series of owners.
Horse ownership is unregulated outside the racing industry and the jurisdiction of racing authorities extends only to the point of retirement. A National Horse Traceability Working Group was established in Australia in 2020 to develop an all-breeds database that will enable oversight of horses’ whereabouts beyond racing, but progress is slow. We need further research to learn why some horses maintain an upward trajectory post-racing and others enter a downwards spiral.
I’ve always gravitated towards ex-racehorses, from my childhood thoroughbred mare to my present standardbred gelding. Despite having a sturdier support network than most, there have been many training situations that have had me wondering whether I might have bitten off more than I could chew.
I’ve worked with horses for 20 years as a veterinarian, and with racehorses exclusively for the past three. I don’t have a horsey family, but I’m surrounded by people who know racehorses better than me, who know equestrian horses better than me and who are better equine veterinarians than me. I have an associate diploma and a masters degree in equine science, for crying out loud! I should know what I’m doing.
It makes me wonder: if I feel this way, what about those who don’t have such ready access to support?
Through the generosity of the Winston Churchill Trust, I recently undertook a fellowship in the UK and US, studying racehorse aftercare and welfare strategies. The problem that arose most often was unsoundness – a horse who is lame or sore. That is unsurprising, as unsoundness is a leading cause for horses to be retired from racing.
People who take on a horse with racing injuries, whether knowingly or unknowingly, can find themselves emotionally and financially drained and may avoid ex-racehorses in future. While many musculoskeletal conditions can be managed fairly inexpensively, the initial diagnostic costs are often a deterrent. Rehabilitating racing injuries also depletes the resources of aftercare programs intended for retraining and rehoming. As a result of one horse needing rehabilitation, others might miss out on an equestrian second career.
In an ideal world, the racing sector could provide for the lifelong care of every thoroughbred and standardbred, but this simply isn’t feasible. Nor should it be necessary: these horses are not a valueless byproduct, they are not rescues. They are sport horses.
It is reasonable to expect the racing industry to ensure horses are not left disadvantaged by their racing career. A simple solution would be to implement point-of-retirement veterinary assessments; recording information before horses enter the unregulated world after racing.
The problem is, findings obtained at this stage tend to lose relevance as the horse undergoes profound physical transformation in response to changing athletic demands. On the flipside, however, physical issues left undetected as the horse embarks on equestrian training can lead to behavioural issues, compounding the rehabilitation burden downstream. The British Thoroughbred Retraining Centre offers a possible model for this.
We also can’t ignore the most influential determinant of a horse’s future wellbeing: the equestrian owner. The equestrian market in Australia is not big enough to accommodate the sheer number of horses leaving racing, let alone to do so with satisfactory welfare. The sustainability and social licence of the racing industry hinges on finding suitable equestrian homes, and this means empowering more people with the essential skills.
The UK’s Retraining of Racehorses was early to recognise the importance of education, and Australian authorities are increasingly investing in education programs. While geography can present challenges, in-person education is supplemented by online options. There is scope for greater utilisation of coaching apps, camera-mounted auto-tracking and even virtual reality.
Promotional initiatives have been a longstanding focus of racehorse aftercare in Australia. They were instrumental in earlier years in showcasing the capabilities of thoroughbreds and standardbreds and continue to play a vital role in stimulating demand. The best example is the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover in the US, which has catalysed a 94% increase in the market value of the nation’s retiring racehorses since its 2015 inception.
However competition incentives only speak to a small number of equestrians. Only 7% of respondents to the UK’s recent thoroughbred census indicated interest in horse showing and no more than 11% in any one of the disciplines of dressage, showjumping and eventing. Yet these are the activities that remain most heavily sponsored here, despite studies demonstrating that the majority of Australians who acquire ex-racehorses use them for recreation.
The stratospheric success of the Thoroughbred Makeover is not simply the result of a generous prize, but the result of creating an experience and community around training. Cultivating community is, itself, a cost-effective way to build support networks and encourage learning. It is an investment that stands to benefit horses and owners of all aptitudes and abilities – including the less visible demographics that may need these connections most.
Owning horses is hard. Between urban expansion, global warming and the escalating cost of living, it is only going to get harder. Given the mismatch between supply and demand for thoroughbred and standardbred horses in Australia, we need to be innovative about optimising existing and potential post-racing homes.
