Every issue of animal cruelty needs to be condemned and eliminated from our society no matter how big or small. Currently there are countless organisations doing fantastic work for animals, the environment and people as well and they are achieving positive outcomes.

The racehorse had been largely forgotten as many believed they were “the best looked after animals in the world”. CPR was formed to act as the voice of the racehorse at a time when they were considered a disposable commodity, by many within the industry.

CPR was established to address animal welfare issues within the racing industry. We believe that racing affects the largest number of horses, who currently receive the least amount of protection.

CPR is a not for profit organisation, which relies solely on donations from the general public to fund its campaigns such as ‘Ban Jumps Racing’, ‘Wastage’ and ‘No More Whips’.

Your donation helps to fund: the printing of banners, posters, leaflets, our website, spray chalk/car stencil kits and communications costs.
Larger costs include: purchasing photography equipment, (vital for our fieldwork e.g. documenting jumps racing cruelty) and our undercover investigations (such as knackery exposés).

Our Spring Racing campaigns are also funded primarily by the generousity of our supporters, and may include high profile billboards or televison ads to help us get the message out to as many people as possible.

To keep track of how your donation is working for horses, sign up to receive our regular e-newsletter updates
To make a donation, visit our donation page

General questions

If you are unable to volunteer with CPR, the next best thing is to financially support us by donating to ensure that we can carry out our important work for racehorses.

CPR as an entity is not philosophically opposed to horseracing, CPR is opposed to the widespread cruelty within the racing industry, such as:

The public executions of racehorses in jumps racing
The beating of horses with the whip
The throwaway culture which sees thousands of thoroughbreds sent to a premature death each year, usually at a knackery or abattoir.
The racing of underdeveloped horses in 2 year old racing which often predisposes them to further injury and death

CPR does not have a policy against horse riding or equestrian sports. We believe however that the rehoming and retraining of the few horses into other equestrian fields provides a good opportunity to reduce their likelihood of ending up a sale yard or slaughterhouse.

While the results that we achieve may not be immediately visible (especially to our newest supporters), progress is being made in several fronts including our major campaign areas.

The landscape is noticeably different to what it was some years ago when CPR was formed. No longer does the industry enjoy the reputation of being the ‘Sport of Kings’ as the truth behind the reality of horse racing is exposed.

We are currently working on a breakdown of our recent and longer term successes over the course of our campaigning, which will be published to this website shortly. In the meantime you can read about this recent win for horses, from the NSW Government.

CPR is concerned about all horses that end up at knackeries but must direct its attention to the largest cause of wastage – the racing industry. Through exposing knackeries, most people are horrified and will reject the idea of sending their horses there. CPR’s focus on racehorses ultimately benefits more horses by bringing attention to the serious welfare concerns of sending any horse to the knackery.

In the case of a horse requiring euthanasia, CPR would urge horse owners to put the interests of the horse first and foremost and opt to have their horse euthanised by a vet (where sedation can be administered and make your horse’s passing as comfortable as possible) instead of sending them to a knackery where their suffering will be prolonged.

For an inside look at knackeries, please view our undercover investigation

CPR believes that the racing industry who is responsible for bringing these horses into the world owes a duty to provide an alternative for these horses when they can no longer race. In August 2013, CPR submitted a Proposal for the Rehabilitation and Rehoming of Racehorses in Australia (link) which uses 1% of betting turnover ($143 million annually) to rehabilitate, retrain and rehome ex-racehorses, while also suggesting other initiatives to reducing breeding to a more sustainable level.

Given that the racing industry would not exist without the racehorse, we believe that contributing just 1% back to the horse is the very least the industry can do.

The number of people involved in jumps racing is so minimal that the economic impacts will be negligible. In Victoria in 2012, only 67 trainers participated in jumps racing and all of them also trained flat horses. In the same year, Victoria had only 27 jumps jockeys, again with most of them making their money through other forms of income such as track work.

Notwithstanding, high-weight flat racing is a suitable alternative for all of the jumps jockeys so their employment opportunities will not be compromised.

There is already a huge wastage problem within the racing industry as there is no retirement plan for all racehorses.  Horses are already being sent to saleyards and knackeries out of convenience, however they argue that jumps racing saves horses.

It does not save horses when they will either be killed on the track or discarded when they can race no more. Jumps racing is nothing but a cruel detour before being sent to the knackery.

Furthermore, CPR has stated on numerous occasions that it will facilitate the rehoming of every jumps horse when it is banned.

No horse has to be sent to the knackery. However, most of them are, as it’s a convenient way to dispose of a horse that becomes a financial burden.

Jumps horses are profoundly hard to rehome, as they will often sustain injuries in the sport. Therefore, they are a lot less appealing in comparison to flat racers, and often difficult and very costly to rehabilitate.

This could be over-come if the racing industry adopted a national rehabilitation and re-homing program. Read more about our retirement plan for racehorses

This is a common argument used to support the continuation of jumps racing, however it is more an indictment on an industry that uses horses as disposable objects.

If the racehorse was destined for the knackery before they started their jumps career, they will almost certainly end up there after its over – if they survive.

Jumps racing is nothing more than a cruel detour on the way to slaughter in an attempt to make some extra money out of the horse before they are considered financially unviable.

In Australia, there are no horses that are specifically bred for jumps racing. Jumps horses are horses who have failed on the flat and are then retrained to run over obstacles.

There have been five reviews since 2001 to try to make jumps racing safe however horses still continue to fall and sometimes die on the racetrack at 20 times the rate of flat racing. More importantly they continue to sustain injuries at a very high rate which results in more than 50% of all jumps horses being replaced from one year to the next.

Jumps racing cannot be made safe. The only solution is to ban or phase out the sport as it has been in other states.

Horses are creatures of flight. In the wild, it is their instinct to follow a pack rather than stand alone as it makes them a target for nearby threat. Domesticated horses have not lost this innate survival habit, which is why when a horse loses their rider over a jump, the horse will seek to stay with the herd.