It’s the time of year when shiny horses and colourful clothing fill our screens – the , which includes high profile races like The Everest, Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate.
Author
- Cathrynne Henshall
Post-doctoral Fellow, School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University
It’s also the time of year when questions are asked about the welfare of racehorses that compete in the so-called ” “.
Previously, , the and have been the focus of community concern.
But recently, as we’ve come to know more about what makes a , questions are being raised about the daily lives of racehorses.
Industry participants will point to the that racehorses receive – comfortable stables, specially formulated diets, the latest vet treatments and added extras such as massages and swimming sessions.
But does this care translate into good welfare?
The theory of ‘telos’
Firstly, a quick primer on the difference between care and welfare.
Care includes all the things that make sure racehorses get fit, stay fit and stay healthy. This care helps maximise the chance a horse will win races.
Welfare is the animal’s subjective or individual experience of its life – – and there are a number of ways to assess this.
One way is the concept of “telos”, originally developed by Ancient Greek philosopher .
Telos is a that have been shaped by millions of years of evolution.
Telos helps us to identify what matters to animals – their behavioural, psychological and physiological needs.
So to consider if racehorse care actually translates to good welfare, we can assess how closely it provides the animal with the things that matter to them, based on their telos.
Equine telos involves living in groups, forming long-lived social relationships, grazing fibrous plants and being on the move for up to 18 hours a day, as well as staying safe by sensing danger and then moving away.
It also involves living in variable environments to solve challenges, learn, engage in curiosity and play.
Let’s compare that to the daily life of a racehorse.
Movement and feeding
Firstly, the vast majority of racehorses live in stables – sometimes up to 23 hours a day.
have found continuous stabling harms horse welfare.
Stables significantly restrict opportunities for voluntary movement, and studies show stabled horses spend .
Even though stables house horses communally, most designs limit horses’ opportunities for social interaction.
Thirdly, there’s little for a horse to do in a stable other than eat, stand, drink or lie, and they often develop that are associated with stress. These are never seen in free-ranging horses.
When racehorses do get to move, they have little say over how far, how fast and for how long they move.
The kinds of physical exercise racehorses do are both significantly shorter in duration and at much higher speeds than horses voluntarily choose. It’s those speeds that place them at .
What about diet?
Although a lot of time and effort is spent ensuring racehorses enjoy high quality diets, they are mostly comprised of concentrated energy sources such as grains, rather the .
Horses are (grazers), with small stomachs that continuously secrete digestive juices.
In the wild, grazing keeps those stomachs full, which prevents the stomach lining from being damaged by digestive acids.
In comparison, racehorses often consume their food very quickly – instead of spending up to 75% of their day eating, .
This means their stomachs are empty for most of the day, which is why up to .
And having to wait to be fed rather than eating when hungry, as happens in free-ranging horses, .
Other difficulties
Racehorses , and will experience some form of musculoskeletal injury during racing, of which between .
Social relationships, in the limited form possible in a racing stable, are also frequently disrupted because horse populations are highly transient due to spelling, or even just going to the races.
So even if two horses are able to form a relationship of sorts, chances are one will be taken away. for horses.
Then there’s the gear that’s used to control them.
Horses, like most animal species, escape and avoid painful stimuli.
However, in racing (and many other equestrian activties) it is “bits” to control horses’ behaviour during riding and handling. Bits work by causing uncomfortable pressure and pain and may lead to mouth injuries.
Studies have shown many people don’t understand how . In addition, people also vary widely in their ability to read and .
So, racehorses may be repeatedly exposed to pain from bits and perform a range of behaviours to try to escape that pain, like bolting, mouth opening or head tossing.
To remedy this, additional items of restrictive equipment, such as , may be used to control the horse.
Racehorses frequently show signs of difficulty coping with the stressors of racing life, including “going off their feed”, aggression towards handlers, becoming hard to control when ridden and a range of stress behaviours and health issues, .
What about welfare?
Racehorse care is often directed towards managing issues that are the direct result of the demands of the racing environment.
Fancy stables and aqua sessions are not important to horses, and may even cause harm.
What matters to horses are opportunities to make meaningful choices, such as the freedom to move, form friendships and graze for the majority of the day.
Current racing industry practices often deny horses the chance to make these choices.
There’s no doubt people in racing care deeply about their horses. But to experience good welfare during racing, racehorses need more than just good care.
