Most statistics mentioned on this website are taken directly from the Australian Racing Fact Book. The racing industry breeds thousands of horses every single year (although there has been slight decline to approximately 13,000 horses in the past couple of years).
There are only ever 31,000 racehorses participating in the industry in any one year, therefore if 13,000 new horses are being bred for the industry every year, the same number must also be leaving this year. A common argument by the racing industry is that these horses go into breeding, however there are a few important factors to note:
– Most racehorses are geldings, and therefore of no use to the breeding industry
– The number of horses involved in breeding (both mares and stallions) has been in decline by 10-15% over the past five years. Consequently, for every new horse that enters the breeding industry, at least one horse must also leave.
As the racing industry breeds without consequence, many horses are simply treated as economic commodities and like any bad investment, are discarded of when no longer profitable. The throwaway culture within the racing industry encourages people to send their horses to slaughter, as it is often an issue of convenience not compassion.
There is no retirement plan for all racehorses as it currently stands, and that is something CPR hopes to change through our ‘1% to stop the slaughter’ campaign: https://horseracingkills.com/features/1-percent-to-stop-the-slaughter/
