If everybody actually keeps up with this, it will provide more and better oversite for the horses- but, it is all in the doing…
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-rac…red-racehorses
Still in all, I would love to see something like this in the US.
We have this in the USA. Been active at least 5 years…
https://www.retiredracehorseproject.org/link-to-bloodline-brag
Em
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Thanks so much! I was not aware of that!
How effective is it here in the United States? Are the trainers and owners consistently entering horses into the database? Are they following up?
It’s newer and I think it’s more reliant on the folks who are retraining the horses for sport as people are often trying to figure out what race lines are in fact also dominant lines in sport. (And thus worth seeking out)
Not sure how well or if race trainers know this exists.
Em
All racing in the UK is under one administrative body, the British Horseracing Authority, and there are only about 14,000 racehorses in total. A close eye is kept on horse welfare by the BHA and other interested bodies and the style of training in Britain is such that probably the majority of racehorses are sound and well adjusted. The culture is to retire them once they no longer enjoy the game: they can not be drugged to mask pain or to improve performance and it is simply not worth keeping a slow horse in training as prize money is not particularly good and the majority of horses fail to cover their training costs… By contrast, the opportunities for new jobs for ex-racehorses are diverse and the vast majority have always had second careers after racing. Yes, there is some limited slaughter of unsound horses but that is a pragmatic response to a horse with no future as a working animal. Most mares go to the paddocks, a few stallions are considered worthy of breeding and the remaining few thousand geldings can be found all over the place doing many things. The idea is not exactly new: The Duke of Wellington, for example, rode an ex-racehorse, Copenhagen, during the Napoleonic wars in the 1800s.
RoR (Retraining of Racehorses) has done a fantastic job in raising the profile of these sane, brave, athletic and versatile horses over many years but there is increasing recognition within the bloodstock industry that more needs to be seen to be done for horse welfare in order to retain public support - and the social licence to operate - and to counter the negative views of those pressure groups who claim all racing is lethal or abusive. The latest BHA initiative will formalize what is already the majority practice.
