I am often asked, as a country girl and a horse girl, what I think about racing. City people, many of whom have never been near a horse, want me to join in the cries to abolish it entirely. A similar campaign has been partially successful with greyhound racing, which is being phased out entirely in Tasmania and tracks closed across Australia (the sport was an easier target for eradication, as it was composed of more working-class owners and fans without the political power and traction of those in horse racing).
I remember once receiving a message from a girl who was very vocal about #nuptothecup (a campaign referring to the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s most famous horse race). I had posted a video of one of my ex-racehorse mares galloping across the field: “wow I thought they could only do that with a rider on their back!” she had replied. Ignorance leads to increased divisiveness on both sides of the horse racing debate and has unfortunately stalled more practical discussions about how to move forward with improving the welfare of horses in the racing industry.
Often people see cruelty in the sport itself, but I believe it is the industry around it, and its commodification of horses, that is the real cruelty. There is nothing inherently wrong with running horses against each other on a track and seeing who wins; thoroughbreds have been bred for hundreds of years for this purpose and love to run. The issues are with their treatment on and off the track, such as the fact they are raced as two-year-olds when their joints aren’t fully formed to carry weight and strain, are always kept indoors, and are viewed as expendable. Most horrifyingly, some are disposed of at the end of their careers, with no attempts made at rehabilitation. Here in Australia, they often become dog food (although I do wonder if dog owners are aware that without the supply of ex-racehorses for their dog’s dinner, other meat sources would have to be found and farmed.)
The racing industry accepts what it calls “wastage”, which is the huge number of excess horses bred that either don’t make it to the track at all or don’t end up winners, and are either sent to the slaughterhouse, too injured for rehabilitation, or retrained by people like me. This large-scale culture of breeding and racing for profit cultivates an objectification of the horses, and extends even to the treatment of successful horses such as Black Caviar, one of Australia’s most famous racing mares, who was bred from repeatedly after her retirement from the track, putting even more strain on her body.
Having bought and retrained three ex-racehorses, I’ve seen the psychological and physical damage that can come from the sport. I also know, from growing up rurally, how many communities rely on the jobs provided by it and how many small-time breeders and trainers treat their horses well because they don’t have the wealth or sheer numbers to treat them as disposable. I personally would like to see strict regulations placed on the industry—for instance so that a horse could not be raced before four years old—and a tax placed on all breeders, trainers and owners that meant that 5 per cent of their income from racing went towards the rehabilitation and rehoming of ex-racehorses. If those who profited were forced to be financially accountable for horses after the track, it would help curb the rampant breeding.
Interestingly, these suggestions mirror some of the demands of the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, which also advises that a 1 per cent levy should be placed on all betting turnover to fund retirement plans for the horses. I think many people would be surprised by how pragmatic its requests are, as the group is most famous for a polarising billboard showing a dead racehorse, which created divisive debates about whether racing was “good” or “bad”. This I believe, is a moral quagmire that does nothing helpful to aid the horses within the industry.
My other issue with the racing industry is its intersection with gambling industry; an industry that is so ginormous in Australia that in New South Wales alone we have the second largest number of poker machines of any state in the world (Nevada has the most). The state’s willingness to profit off people’s addictions is so blatant: we now have CGI greyhound and horse racing in sports. Computer-generated horses and dogs racing against each other on screens in fake races, with the computer deciding a randomised outcome. This is pure incitement to bet on anything, throw away money on nothing. Nobody who supports this can make a claim about passion or interest in animals, breeding lineage, training methods, athleticism or sportsmanship. It only exists for money. I will continue to love and look after ex-racehorses and hope we can find a middle ground between the warring sides of the debate.
