Retried racehorse dissertation research

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phoebetaylor

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hello, I am currently in my 3rd year at the Royal Agricultural College and I was wondering whether anybody interested in horses or not, (you don't have to follow racing) would mind carrying out my survey as part of my dissertation research. All the data collected in anonymous,

Many thanks

Phoebe Taylor

here is the ALL IMPORTANT LINK:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2RG982F
 
I found it difficult to say that a horse should be put down after 5 years out of racing, not quite sure why there is some time limit?
There are a few retired racehorse who spend their lives on a farm, with someone who has experience and is particularly fond of them, Richard Johnston has a Gold Cup winner and Frankie Dettorie has the seventh horse of his seven winners at Ascot, a few owners have paddocks with old favourites, but these are the exceptions.
With respect to owners responsibility , this works with a one man band situation but many horses are in syndicates, or are in a large complex commercial organisation. The only way to secure the future is to set up a pension fund for each individual horse. This is open to abuse, and controversy. Best thing is to ensure more are re habilitated, and this has to be funded by the horse pension fund, if a horse is in training for a very short period there will be very little money in the fund.
There is no perfect answer, what happens at the moment is that many are sold cheaply to private homes, or given to private homes, once this is done, owners have no further responsibility.
Well bred mares will go to "the paddocks" ie stud.
Please post a synopsis of your findings, as normally we fill in these surveys, and get no feedback.
 
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There is no right answer as all horses differ, some will make nice riding horses in the right homes and I would hate for this opportunity to be taken away form the horses and potential owners. However, those that are long term unsound or have health or behavioural issues should be PTS and the owner or trainer should do the responsible thing. I think it would be unfair to 'force' racehorse owners to provide a long term home for their horses (I think that was what some of the choices in your survey were suggesting), no one knows what the future will hold, ie, although I hope to provide the animals I have with a forever home, if things go wrong for us financially it just wouldn't be possible and I would have to let them go, be that by selling, rehoming or PTS.
 
Lanky Loll said:
Done - would say regarding your last question, the option given isn't the worst thing that can happen to a horse.
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I agree with LL. Far better that the animal is slaughtered than a fate-worse-than-death home with novice owners who have no idea how to deal with an ex-racer. Or the poor horses which end up being passed from pillar to post for next to nothing and end up in some horrific homes, only to be put down in the end anyway.
I have some fairly strong views on this topic, would be interested to hear any feedback of your research.
 
Done - although I agree with a previous poster that it would be unfair to 'force' the owner (or the trainer for that matter) to give the horse a long term home. Why would this be applicable to the racing world? It isn't elsewhere, no one has to give a 'home for life' in other disciplines (often we do, but it's a choice).
Does this ultimately boil down to a numbers thing? the fact that there are so many ex-racehorses rather than ex-showjumpers/eventers/show horses etc? and hence the additional focus? (just musing really)
 
Bonkers2 said:
I found it difficult to say that a horse should be put down after 5 years out of racing, not quite sure why there is some time limit?
There are a few retired racehorse who spend their lives on a farm, with someone who has experience and is particularly fond of them, Richard Johnston has a Gold Cup winner and Frankie Dettorie has the seventh horse of his seven winners at Ascot, a few owners have paddocks with old favourites, but these are the exceptions.
With respect to owners responsibility , this works with a one man band situation but many horses are in syndicates, or are in a large complex commercial organisation. The only way to secure the future is to set up a pension fund for each individual horse. This is open to abuse, and controversy. Best thing is to ensure more are re habilitated, and this has to be funded by the horse pension fund, if a horse is in training for a very short period there will be very little money in the fund.
There is no perfect answer, what happens at the moment is that many are sold cheaply to private homes, or given to private homes, once this is done, owners have no further responsibility.
Well bred mares will go to "the paddocks" ie stud.
Please post a synopsis of your findings, as normally we fill in these surveys, and get no feedback.
Click to expand...

Bonkers - I like the idea of a pension fund for the horses - but who do you see funding it? The owners? trainers? or maybe the ultimate winners in racing - the bookies? :) If it were the owners then I am not sure that would work for the one man band scenario - very doubtful that the horse woudl get much of a pension. perhaps then the bookies could contribute say a few pence in every pound that they make? (but I guess this would be passed on to the gamblers). Sorry for the random post but this has got me thinking a little...
 
Optimissteeq said:
Bonkers - I like the idea of a pension fund for the horses - but who do you see funding it? The owners? trainers? or maybe the ultimate winners in racing - the bookies? :) If it were the owners then I am not sure that would work for the one man band scenario - very doubtful that the horse woudl get much of a pension. perhaps then the bookies could contribute say a few pence in every pound that they make? (but I guess this would be passed on to the gamblers). Sorry for the random post but this has got me thinking a little...
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Its not my idea, it has been suggested before, it would be added to the training fee, therefore it is the owner who funds it, but while it is a nice idea, a little impractical, some owners see their operationas as a business, or try to manage them as a business, and therefore they need to sell off their assets at the end of their usefullness.
RE the bookies: racing is the core interest for many punters, but the most profitable [risk averse] payout for the bookies is their Fixed Odds betting machines [one armed bandits gone digital], and if they could line our high streets with those machines they would think they have died and gone to heaven.
 
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Done it :) Although I said that the owner should be responsible for the horse after retiring from racing, I took that as responsible of keeping it or getting it a good home etc
 
Done. I would never send a horse through a slaughter plant. A bullet in a familiar field is kinder, but I know that isn't realistic for the people who intend to squeeze every possible penny out of these creatures.

I do agree that a percentage will never be suitable for riding homes (often because they are in pain) and should probably be euthanised before that dilemma even arises. I hate to see ex-racers in a different home every six months, and because they are so cheap they do end up in unsuitable places. I also am not sure about charity money going to animals that will never even be field sound.

I know that this can never be enforced, but I personally think that pressure should be put on owners to take some kind of responsibility for the horse after racing. I bet for a lot of them it's not something they have even considered. They probably have no idea of the sort of fate that awaits many ex racehorses. The only way to achieve this is to raise awareness of the number of retired racehorses that go to slaughter each year, and increase prestige in things like the RoR scheme.

The Kauto Star situation gave me hope, and then of course there was this recent backlash, which may put owners off sending their animal to be retrained.
 
Pigeon said:
The Kauto Star situation gave me hope, and then of course there was this recent backlash, which may put owners off sending their animal to be retrained.
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Kauto Star would never be send to slaughter. The backlash is due to the owner not taking the advice of the trainer, and all that unnecessary angst that followed thereafter.
One cannot generalise, but after a few years of horse ownership, or even syndicateship, most owners have an idea of what happens, not all end up in bad homes.
Sometimes it is cheaper to send them to a local rider than to the sales, and that may work, or it may not, the problem is if they are sold at the poorer sales, it is a lottery, but its always a lottery when you sell a horse.
Pressure on the bigger owners has resulted in support for re-training centres, things are better than they were.
The worse cases are because people buy unsuitable animals, and that occurs with ponies and horses of all ages and breeds. We see it on here every day.
 
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