I too know many horses who have been taken from the track and “rehabbed” into other disciplines, including my first horse, Boomer, and at first I was astonished at the rates. It seems like a majority of eventers are OTTBs, and they are gaining popularity in the Hunter/Jumper ring too, so you see them everywhere, but think about how few people actually compete in these ’sports’, and then think about how many horses the race industry churns out each year. If you look at organizations like CANTER, there are always more ex-racehorses in need of homes than there are people willing to take them.

I’ve met so many thoroughbreds that were at least “tried” at the track, but were retrained for pleasure, polo, hunter, dressage, etc.

that just seems a crazy high number . . is it real or sensationalized?

I think if you remove the premise that it’s our right to own them, you cannot have ethical animal “sports”. Therefore to claim that these sports can be ethical, we need to defend that claim. Can you do that? I cannot.

The claim that they are better off racing than in the wild seems false to me. Would certain groups of people be technically “better off” if we placed them in captivity in return for all the food they needed and an agreement not to treat them harshly? I think that your intuitive response is no, but why? They’d be better off! They’d have a better chance! Let us not forget also that there is a 75% slaughter rate for horses “born to run”. The mortality rate for America’s wild horses is clearly less than that, as the birth rate is estimated to be around 20% and according to the BLM we’re seeing herd size increases, not decreases. There is no evidence at all to suggest that horses are more or less likely to break a leg on the range, but that’s not even close to the point. I never suggested that we turn all race horses out to be “wild”, only that we cease to race them for money.

The truth is that as long as horse racing is an industry, i.e. a way to make money, then the horses will always always always loose out. As long as it is okay to use them as a way to make money, their interests will not be taken into account because they don’t technically have interests. I understand that horses love to run. My horse loves to run. However, removing the institution of horse racing from our world won’t stop them from running You do not need institutionalized horse racing to allow horses to run, or even to race. We don’t race horses because they love to run, we race them because we want to make money off them.

Thanks for commenting. I’d like to hear your thoughts.

What I DON’T agree with, however, is that horse racing is a bad thing, in itself.

There are ways to race horses ethically. Horses do love to run, and it’s clear that these horses enjoy their sport. They love it. Yes, they can break legs, but it seems to me they have a better chance racing than they would in the wild.

There needs to be some reform. We shouldn’t race horses who we know are MORE likely to break their legs (e.g. 2-year-olds), and we shouldn’t be shipping away our “useless” horses to the slaughter (or worse). There are surely many other things that we shouldn’t do. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t race horses… it just means that we should push for reform.

With that said, I definitely see where you are coming from. I just wish more people gave a damn.