I don’t feel like at any point I ever said that none of them do. I simply said from what I have seen this is the situation that I have become accustomed to. I also worked fairly large farms, and I rarely ever saw their racehorses around for layups, as in resting in between races.
I will add that I haven’t been in the racing industry in sometime, however, I still have people who are involved in it and I do ask if turnout is a frequent thing. They reply that they do not turn their horses out and they only get ponied or put on the walker
I am glad that your experience is different than mine, but I also feel like it’s really important that I speak my side as well due to the fact that I think that our industry can certainly do better. I think it should be mandatory that all training tracks have access to turn out, and that every horse is able to use the turnouts and that trainers are required to do so.
I’m really not sure how the narrative has been placed that I think that these things never happen for these horses, or that every racehorse in every part of the world gets treated the same. I feel like I have tried to make it incredibly clear that this is my experience and mine alone. (But my apologies if I haven’t.)
Also, edited to add. Looking at the thoroughbred training center only, there is space for 1180 horses. There are only 36 paddocks available for rent that comes at a first come first serve basis. So yes, while there are some trainers that can turn their horses out, the vast majority of these horses are not getting turned out. My sole point is that this should be mandatory versus who is willing to rent out a paddock. All horses deserve the right to turn out no matter what. But, I am extremely happy to hear that the people in your circle do these things and I hope those people filter into my circle and it becomes more normal for ME.
