# Questionnaire into the welfare of horses in the racing industry



## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

I am going to answer this as honestly as I can, however I do feel it necessary to point out that we have a VERY modest horse racing community with virtually no big name races (we have a "big" Stakes race once a year), so we're dealing with mostly $2,000 claimers here. I truly believe that due to the fact that no big money is on the line where I come from, we treat our racehorses IMMENSELY better. We also have a huge English riding community that takes on almost all the retired racehorses we produce, most retiring sound, and we leave very little left for slaughter.

*1. What connection do you have to horses? 
*I have been riding horses my entire life (25 years) in a while slew of disciplines, mostly pleasure riding and training with some competition

*2. Do you have any experience of the racing industry? (If so, please state
what, no matter how small)
*Yes, I volunteered at our local track when I was 12 for several months, as well as a close family friend owns several racehorses and her husband is the leading jockey in our area for wins and money earned.
*
3. Do you have first hand experience of dealing with racehorses?
*Yes

*4. Do you believe in horse racing?
*Yes

*5. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
before their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) 
*Our racehorses I would give above a 5 depending on the owners

*6. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
during their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) 
*Again, over a 5 depending on owner

*7. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
after their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) 
*Around an 8, we have an amazing show community made up at LEAST 50% of retired racehorses

*8. How do you think the care of racehorses could be improved?
*I would like to see more rules in general about the age of racehorses - I think pushing everything back a year would immensely help reduce the breakdowns we see. I think people also need to be held accountable to the amount of healthy stock that hits slaughter houses for no other reason then mass breeding.

*9. When injured do you believe racehorses are given the best chance
of recovery? 
*Again, it depends on the owner, however an owner willing to rehabilitate the injury is usually willing to provide the best possible care available.

*10. Do you believe in the rehabilitation of racehorses? 
*Yes

*11. Would you take on a healthy retired racehorse? 
*Yes

*12. Where are you from?
*Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

*13. Approximately how many racehorse deaths are their from injury a
year, where you are from?
*I would have to say none directly. You never hear of breakdowns or accidents on our tracks, and although I'm positive there are some who are euthanized due to injury, it's almost unheard of.
*
14. Do you know if this number has increased or decreased in recent * *
years?
*I haven't heard of a racehorse death due to injury in years. I can't say accurately what goes on behind closed doors, but certainly nothing as public as breaking down on the track.

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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

*1. What connection do you have to horses? *
I've owned & worked with horses for years, some rescue, some just riding, training, sell, etc as well as some breeding experience.

*2. Do you have any experience of the racing industry? (If so, please state what, no matter how small)*
I've been an active horse racing fan since the age of 11 lol (still want to be a jockey ha ha!) and have followed certain parts of the racing scene both here in Canada but mostly the US & watching the Triple Crown races  etc..

*3. Do you have first hand experience of dealing with racehorses?*
I havent dealt with TB's on the track, but have spent time with those that have found new homes off the track. 

*4. Do you believe in horse racing?*
I enjoy it & find it to be a fun sport to watch & maybe some day be involved in.

*5. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
before their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) *
Well it all depends. Each barn, trainer & owner are different but on a whole i'd say 7 or 8. These horses are worth alot of money and breeders will want to take good care of them so that they can fetch a good sale price & possibly go on to be winners. 

*6. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
during their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) *
Again it depends but i'd say 8 or 9. These horses are pampered & have regular vet care, are stabled properly, very regular exercise as well as the proper feed. Most arent acutally raced that often (definitely not as often as they used to be) and have the proper training in between. Drugging is also illegal in this sport, which cant be said for some others.

*7. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
after their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) *
In most cases i'd say a 5. This is the only problem i find with the business in that the horses arent always found suitable homes afterwards unless they did well on the track. Some do find excellent homes, however & go on to excell in other areas of riding.

*8. How do you think the care of racehorses could be improved?*
People are always looking for new ways to improve the health & lives of racehorses but it is a process. I think most are rather well cared for, it is only after their life on the track that some issues arrise. Because there are so many racehorses going on & off the tracks it's hard to find people who can take them in, retrain them & find good homes. 

*9. When injured do you believe racehorses are given the best chance
of recovery? *
I belive that most do get good care unless of course the injury is too serious in which case they'd be put to sleep but injuries happen in ALL areas of horse sports & even with pasture puffs. 

*10. Do you believe in the rehabilitation of racehorses? *
Yes

*11. Would you take on a healthy retired racehorse? *
Definitely

*12. Where are you from?*
I live in Alberta, Canada

*13. Approximately how many racehorse deaths are their from injury a
year, where you are from?*
No idea

*14. Do you know if this number has increased or decreased in recent 
years?
*I believe the numbers have decreased all over the world as care for TB's has improved drastically, the tracks are getting better & horses aren't raced as regularly.


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

Using the above format as it was nice and easy to read. 

*1. What connection do you have to horses? *
Have ridden all my life, owned for most of that, but with a chunk of time off due to finances. 


*2. Do you have any experience of the racing industry? (If so, please state what, no matter how small)*
Yes. My dad owned race horses, quite a few of them, til he discovered that children (at the time in England) were not allowed in the winners enclosures. After that my sister and I 'owned' the horses as they could not deny the owners access to the winners enclosure. I spent a good amount of my youth at the track, but mainly just race day. We went to few training sessions, although we did go to some. 

*3. Do you have first hand experience of dealing with racehorses?*
As above, but that was just viewing them, I was young. Since then I have owned a few OTTBs. I do not have a massive list of horses I have owned, as I can only afford one at a time and I stick with them, but I have owned more ex racehorses than other horses. 

*4. Do you believe in horse racing?*
Yes and no. I suppose I'd like to see some changes in several areas. I'd like there not to be such a flood of breeding, I'd like them to be older when they start to race/train. And I'd like for there to be changes for the poor jockeys too, there is little reason why it could not just become standard that they don't have to starve themselves, throw up and all that to maintain an insane weight - if everyone became a larger (not huge) it would not be a problem. 

*5. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
before their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) *

*6. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
during their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) *

*7. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
after their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) *

All the same answer for me, totally depends on each individual trainer/breeder/owner. There is no one answer for everyone. 
As it is a business there are some that consider them livestock and profit, there are also others who treat them very well as they are worth a lot. Depends on the human involved and what they are like. 

*8. How do you think the care of racehorses could be improved?*
The most blinding thing would be to stop racing 2 year olds. 

*9. When injured do you believe racehorses are given the best chance
of recovery? *
Totally depends on who owns them. I think the work of Canter and other orgs are greatly helping this, but at the same time injured horses are taking up yard space and need to move quickly. 

*10. Do you believe in the rehabilitation of racehorses? *
Of course

*11. Would you take on a healthy retired racehorse? *
Have one now. 

*12. Where are you from?*
Originally Cheshire in England, have lived in PA, USA for the last 10 years. 

*13. Approximately how many racehorse deaths are their from injury a
year, where you are from?*
No clue. I do not have a morbid need to know that, nor indeed how many other horses die in general from injury or any other cause. 

*14. Do you know if this number has increased or decreased in recent 
years?
*Wouldn't know any of the numbers to have a clue.


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## EquineLover (Jan 24, 2011)

1. What connection do you have to horses? I have been riding for maybethree years and a bit now.
2. Do you have any experience of the racing industry? (If so, please state
what, no matter how small) Nothing. I have only been to watch one once, it is not a big part of my connection to horses.
3. Do you have first hand experience of dealing with racehorses? No.
4. Do you believe in horse racing? Yes. 
5. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
before their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) It depends on the place. They generally seem happy and well-cared for, and are obviously very fit, so they must have been traind well and had good experience with humans. It depends though 7-8.
6. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
during their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) Well, they have to be fit and well-cared for to race. 8-9.
7. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
after their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) They are mostly sent to sale and sometimes used as riding horses. I agree with AlexS, with this it depends on the human and the trainer. I can't speak for everyone.
8. How do you think the care of racehorses could be improved? They seem well-cared for on the whole, but two year olds seem too young to race. Riding horses in schools are normally not broken in until 2-3. 
9. When injured do you believe racehorses are given the best chance
of recovery? It depends on the place. Some places, they are taking up thier space and it's the meat yard for them, others I can't speak for. They are probably all for it to spend as much time as needed to nurse their horse to health, but unless it is a VERY good horse, fo most places, I suppose it's gone.
10. Do you believe in the rehabilitation of racehorses? Yes 
11. Would you take on a healthy retired racehorse? Definitley.
12. Where are you from? England.
13. Approximately how many racehorse deaths are their from injury a
year, where you are from? Why would I know that? I don't make a habit of counting every horse that die from injuries, I switch the channel if it's on the news. 
14. Do you know if this number has increased or decreased in recent 
years? ^same, no idea.


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## boldstart (Oct 11, 2009)

*1. What connection do you have to horses? *Been riding since I was 7.

*2. Do you have any experience of the racing industry? (If so, please state
what, no matter how small) *Been working at a racing stable as a stablehand for about 6 months. Also have done Cert 1 and 2 In Racing (stablehand) and currently finishing off Cert 3 in Racing (Trackrider).

*3. Do you have first hand experience of dealing with racehorses? *Yes - all ages, all genders.

*4. Do you believe in horse racing?* Yes - its natural. Flight or fight reflex.

*5. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
before their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) *Depends what country you are in. Here in Australia (where I work) about a 6.

*6. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
during their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) *Again depends where, but here a 8.
*7. How well on a scale of 1 to 10 do you feel race horses are treated
after their career? (1 being badly and 10 being well) 6.*

*8. How do you think the care of racehorses could be improved? *Dont think we can improve apart from greating education of staff, medication and facilities.

*9. When injured do you believe racehorses are given the best chance
of recovery? *Depends on how good the horse is. We give more care to our better horses than the ones who run too slow.

*10. Do you believe in the rehabilitation of racehorses? *Yes.

*11. Would you take on a healthy retired racehorse? *Yes.

*12. Where are you from? *Adelaide, Australia.

*13. Approximately how many racehorse deaths are their from injury a
year, where you are from?* I wouldnt know. 

*14. Do you know if this number has increased or decreased in recent 
years?* I would say it had decreased.


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