Beyond the Track. Anna Morgan Ford
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Treatment options improve all the time, but veterinarians are not miracle workers and owners are not always willing, or able, to pay exorbitant costs for medical care.
To be fair, when it comes to injury there are many variables at play and many unknowns to consider: once experienced, an injury might heal, recur, and then become chronic, or it could never be a problem again. An injury might require surgery or other expensive treatment and rehabilitation, or it might be best to just leave it to heal on its own over time.
Whatever the scenario, if an injury is treatable it always comes down to the same questions: will the horse be able to race again, and if so, how competitive will he be? In some cases, the expense of treatment in relation to these two all-important questions, rather than the severity of the injury, forces a horse’s retirement.
Unfortunately, far too many horses that need surgery are retired from the track without adequate treatment. Many of these horses live the rest of their lives with chronic pain. In some cases, the horse’s quality of life is in question and it is debatable whether retirement is the right option or if the horse would be better off humanely euthanized. We take such cases very seriously at New Vocations and are not opposed to humanely euthanizing a horse that will be in pain the remainder of his life.
Competitive Decline
The sport of racing is not complicated to score: the first horse to finish wins! But even the successful horse can lose his edge, whether he starts to physically slow down or he loses the desire to win. In addition, some owners will only race at a high level and refuse to consider less prestigious starts even if a horse is not performing well against tough competition. Horses that never win can actually be demoralized by consistently finishing near the back of the pack; some lose their desire to even try. In any of these cases, it is time for the owners to consider a new career for such horses, whether it is breeding for more valuable animals (see below) or retirement as riding horses for the others.
Reproduction
A racehorse’s retirement is not always due to lameness or loss of performance: Thoroughbred bloodlines can be a precious commodity, so some racehorses leave racing to stand at stud or become a broodmare. The more successful the horse’s career and the better the pedigree, the more lucrative he or she is in the breeding shed.
At the higher end of racing, many horses are retired in good physical condition. When a horse is to become a breeding stallion, not only is his competitive race record important, he must also be healthy and sound. The same applies to a mare: she must have a healthy reproductive tract and be at least sound enough to carry a foal to term. A broodmare may produce one to even ten foals during her lifetime.
Retirement Options
Most trainers and owners cannot afford or do not want to spend time and money on a horse that is not a productive member of the racing string, so they begin considering their options as soon as it is decided to retire a horse from racing. These include sending the horse to a Thoroughbred breeding stock sale—a common choice for mares with good pedigrees and respectable race records—or selling him at a general all-breed auction. The latter are typically held at venues where other livestock are sold, as well, and happen on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. These are heavily attended by dealers who “flip” horses, buying them cheap and reselling them privately for more money, as well as buyers for slaughterhouses (see more about this issue on p. 33).
2.2 One viable option for OTTBs is becoming breeding stock. For example, this lovely Thoroughbred mare was approved to have Hanoverian foals.
If an owner chooses not to sell a retired horse at auction, he may instead try to sell the horse himself (see p. 33) or send him to an adoption or rescue program, like New Vocations (see list on p. 245).
Becoming Breeding Stock
As mentioned, a mare with a decent race record or pedigree generally has value as a broodmare. A racehorse owner who is not involved in the breeding business will either sell the mare privately or through a breeding stock sale. However, a mare that does not have broodmare potential in the Thoroughbred industry may still be valuable for crossbreeding purposes—some wonderful sport horses have been the result of crosses with Quarter Horses, Paint Horses, Hanoverians, Oldenburgs, and American Warmbloods. Smaller Thoroughbred mares have become popular crosses with Welsh and other sport-pony breeds.
2.3 With so many Thoroughbred foals born each year and so few going on to successful racing careers, it is difficult to find caring homes for those retired from the track.
Unfortunately, only a small number of Thoroughbred stallions are retired to stud. The Thoroughbred breeding industry is very competitive and it is difficult, if not impossible, for a racehorse that does not have an impressive pedigree or race record to join these ranks. And, unlike mares, few Thoroughbred stallions are crossed with other breeds.
Early in training, a colt with a good pedigree may be left a stallion in case he proves successful on the track, although no matter how fabulous the bloodlines, if he becomes unmanageable, he’ll be gelded. Many colts with lesser pedigrees are gelded early on for just this reason—it makes them far easier to break and train to run. In direct relation to the value of the horses’ pedigrees, you will tend to find more geldings racing at smaller tracks and more colts racing at bigger tracks.
Stallions have been sent to New Vocations, ranging anywhere from three to nine years old, and in my experience they are easily transitioned to riding horses once they are gelded, probably because they were on the track and never actually used for breeding purposes.
Slaughter—The Grim Reality
Currently in the United States, there are no slaughter plants that process horses operating legally. However, there is still a demand for horse meat on the international market, so horses form the United States are shipped illegally across the border into Canada or Mexico to be processed and sold overseas.
Slaughter is a grim reality in the horse industry. It is a possibility for any unwanted equine. With so many Thoroughbred foals born each year and only a limited number of people willing and able to take them when their racing career ends, it is difficult to find them safe and caring new homes. While plenty of buyers are people with good intentions, there are many horse dealers who frequently visit racetracks to buy horses at low prices—sometimes only a few hundred dollars—and then send them to an auction to make a quick buck. Owners, too, sometimes send retired horses to be sold at auction, which I discussed on p. 31. There, horses are sometimes purchased by private owners but more often are bought by horse dealers who ship them directly to the slaughterhouse.
Trainers often sell a horse unaware of its future. Perhaps they need to move the horse to make room for another horse in training, or they just need the money; dealers typically offer cash and can take the horse away on the day of purchase. Sadly, though, horse slaughter is not always the result of “crooked dealing”; too often a trainer gives a horse to a family or person who lacks the skills needed to transition the horse to “normal” life. The new owner gets frustrated with the horse and the difficulties he may have as a result of his race training, and start to look for someone—anyone—to take the horse off their hands. Some horse dealers seek out such opportunities, and invariably good horses end up going to slaughter for no reason other than they are misunderstood.
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