One Revered, The Other Forgotten.

“We love our horses”. How many times have we heard that phrase, from an industry that would like to promote itself as prestigious, civilised and compassionate towards the animals they depend on to make them millions of dollars.

Every year thousands of horses go ‘missing’ from the racing industry, but slowly, the dark veiled side of the horse racing industry is being exposed for the callous, greedy and heartless industry that is really is.

Just last month, it was revealed that Australian racehorses are being sold to South Korea, where many are ending up in slaughterhouses there. As reported recently by PETA Australia, one of the horses unfortunate enough to end up at one of these slaughterhouses was “Bareul Jeong”, half-brother of Winx, where he endured a horrific death.

But can we say that horses here in Australia are guaranteed a long and happy life? The answer is a resounding “no”. Horses are routinely sent to slaughter here in our own country and owners are coming up with more creative ways of making money from horses deemed to be ‘losers’.

At the time of writing, an owner in Tasmania is being investigated for allegedly selling horses to a zoo, where they are fed to the resident big cats.

Ultimately a racehorses’ life is most likely to end either in a slaughterhouse, a knackery or in a paddock, as breeding stock.

In the case of Winx, she will continue to be exploited, forced to be perpetually pregnant, followed by forced separation from her foals. She will be used to keep making her owners millions of dollars, and perhaps some of her offspring will also end up in the same slaughterhouse as her brother. Read more about what Winx future holds here.

It is abundantly clear that these beings are no more than objects for profit, especially evident when horses from the same bloodlines suffer such drastically different fates.

The Australian government has distanced itself from the export trade, but unfortunately, without a government ban, exported horses will continue to meet their fate, in a violent and cruel manner that is unimaginable.