Baby horses as Athletes?

There are advocates out there that swear that the training of these young horses is not harmful to them. There are voices out there, that I have a great deal of trust in, that go into detail about how the training of these young athletes should work. In their experiences, it has not been enough of an issue for them to speak against it. To that I still have to disagree. While I understand that their experience has led them to believe that this is not a problem for the young horses they work with, I still strongly disagree with the riding and training of horses under 3 years old.

It really isn't rocket science to see that the industry responsible for creating these horses is failing them on multiple levels and has been for a long time. From the oversaturated breeding operations that are creating horses born with multiple physical issues, to the early riding of foals with underdeveloped bodies, the exploitation of these talented athletes may just be one drop in a whole bucket of issues, but it's the one drop I just happened to catch hold of. It's a drop, like so many others, that should not be ignored.

Yes, I know the correct term for a baby horse is Foal. Colt for male and Filly for female! Though I am no expert when it comes to horses, I do have over 20 years of experience in the care and maintenance of these animals. As flawed as almost all horse-related sports are, there is one aspect of racing I just can't get my head around.

The age of these athletes.

Thoroughbreds are only 2 to 3 years old when they are entered into the big stakes' races, and this is not a secret. In my opinion, the training required for these horses to be rideable by the time they are 2 to 3 years old, should be a much bigger concern. Not to mention the rising concerns over just how much strain this sport is putting on their under-developed bodies. People have a right to be concerned about these things. This common practice for a racehorse is majorly frowned upon for every other breed, in any other discipline. I've always been told, like so many others, that you start training a horse to ride at 3 years old. This is generally done to a minimal degree where small steps are taken in teaching the horse how to wear the gear and accept a rider on their back. Training sessions may be long at times, to keep things low stress, but this should not be physically taxing to the youngster. Most horse bones are finished developing at 5 years old when the growth plates close, and the horse now has the capability to build up to more robust work. This process does not happen overnight. Typically, It takes around 3 years for a horse and rider to actually become a synced-up team.

Does this mean that, for some reason, Thoroughbred horses grow faster than any other breed? No, of course not. I wish I could remember where I heard this lie being told, as if it were a fact of this breed. "Thoroughbred horses grow and mature faster than other breeds." Because it was actually said at some point, somewhere, by someone. If I ever remember who said this, or where I heard it, I will update this post with that information.

        I am aware that the justification for starting the racing horses so early is largely due to their having 'rubber bones'. Which is obvious! Young people also have 'rubber bones' and certain types of human athletes are also the most viable in their youth. However, we're finding toxicity in the human realm with all these things too. Fortunately, for a human athlete, if they break a leg, it isn't a death sentence.

There is an article I read, where the author insisted that in observing the performances of the younger horses vs the slightly older horses, it had been found that the younger horses fared far better. I'm almost certain they aren't making that up, however, I'd like to know just how the older horses had been treated prior to the races they ran. Which older horses were used in these races? Were they on the same training program for the same amount of time as the younger horses? Inquiring minds…and all that. I found an article (*cited below) online that has some nice graphs that show the performances of the 3-year-old foals compared to the 'older' foals/horses, and there is a strong bias toward the younger horses outperforming the older ones. However, if the races are more saturated with older horses than younger horses, the younger horses did NOT win as often. Therefore, if we stopped racing 3-year-old foals there would still be perfectly good, viable racing horses! So why are they pushing so hard to keep 3-year-old foals racing?

Another article (*cited below) states that because of the way the younger horses are trained, leading up to the actual races, they are much better conditioned for the races, and therefore tend to have less issues. That absolutely may be the case. Does that make it ethical to race them so young? Does training and conditioning for races stop after 3 years of age? Training for a race, and racing are not the same thing. During the race the horses are pushed to their absolute limits. If you condition horses so that they are able to push their limits at 3 years old in a race, why not just keep training them longer? There isn't much wrong with training and conditioning young horses, and the more time you spend training, the better the quality of the end result will be. Training and conditioning for longer would also result in less use of harsh bits and equipment for control of the horse. If this sport is so hazardous to a horse's legs that they either "run at 3 or nothing", then that is another issue entirely.

If we dive even a little bit deeper into the facts here, it is also not a secret that some horses run in races well past 3 years old. Some of them have long, very productive racing careers before they are retired. So it is possible for a horse to be conditioned while young, and run races once it's older than 3. Why not make this the norm? I mean they have already PROVEN that it can work. Could it have something to do with the turnover rate if you're saddled with a dud? Yes, it does make the process of finding your 'winner' less time consuming, or more time consuming if you're continually unlucky (which really sucks for those horses by the way).

        One of the most beautiful life lessons horses have ever taught me, is how to take my time, and enjoy the process. If you're in a hurry maybe horses aren't the right fit for you. These young horses are still breaking down at the tracks, even with all of the so-called 'data' on why racing them younger is best. Please, make it make sense.

There are many factors at play that are contributing to the decline of the quality of this sport. The fact that these horses are kept mostly in stalls for much of their careers, the feeding of a diet heavy in grains, and the fact that they are over breeding these horses are enormous factors. Not to mention a large portion of them are in-bred to varying degrees. My own horse has one ancestor that shows up on both sides of her pedigree a total of 3 times! No matter what animal husbandry business you're in, having an ancestor show up 3 times in your pedigree is NOT healthy. This is not an abnormal practice in the horse racing industry. I am pretty sure it's common sense that the over-breeding (and in-breeding) of these horses is largely to blame for the plethora of issues we see in many of the racing horses these days. Issues such as poor hoof quality, bad teeth, and spinal issues have become common in this breed.

The following points are things that, I believe, if they were changed could help to improve the horse racing industry, and the quality of the horses themselves. These are not my original points of view and are things I have heard from actual Equine behavioral specialists. I just happen to agree very strongly after listening to them and experiencing positive changes in my own horse!

Point 1. Horses are stalled more often than not.

Horses that are left in stalls for the majority of the day end up bored, lonely, and will develop vices like cribbing. Yes, the stall is kept really clean, the horse is less likely to sustain a bodily injury, but at what cost? Horses are social animals and they need to be part of a herd. What about when they retire, they get to go live in pastures then, right? Sometimes they might, but an 'at last' scenario is not going to fix everything that horse has missed out on as it has grown up.

Young horses need to learn how to be part of a herd. It is incredibly important for their overall development. I’m sure there is a percentage that are owned, raised, trained, and maintained by wonderful people that do everything they can to keep their stock as happy, and healthy as humanly possible. I'm sure some people do allow them to roam in paddocks with small herds day in and day out. It is definitely not the norm, though. Allowing these young horses more free choice play, roaming, and grazing time would help their overall condition for the better. I wouldn't be surprised if it also improved their overall natural limberness to be allowed to roam for the majority of their day, rather than being cooped up in a stall getting tense from boredom and frustration.

Point 2. Their owners, and caretakers.

You cannot tell me that each horse gets all of the enrichment it needs on a daily basis from a groom, or a handler. No. Not under most circumstances, anyway. In most circumstances there are a number of horses to maintain, and the grooms/handlers rotate through their set number every day. That means that the majority of each horse's time is spent alone in a stall. I'm sure the caretakers do the best they can with the time and resources they have. I don't think they are going around twiddling their 'bad guy' mustaches, sniggering to themselves that they are glad the horses aren't happy, but I do wonder how much they try to gear things toward positive change.

If you take a horse out of a herd, all it has is you. If you're not meeting all of the needs of that animal both mentally and physically then you're doing it a huge disservice. I will also re-iterate that these are mostly BABY horses, no more than 3 years old. I have actually seen the willing nature of these horses, first hand. Thoroughbreds can be extremely eager to please their human caretakers, and it is actually heartbreaking just how minimally they are rewarded in a way that would be meaningful to them.

Point 3. Fed like royalty?

I suppose this is accurate, if you take into account that human royalty often ate things so bad for them that they'd become sickly.

It is pretty well known that most racehorses are fed grains in large quantities, on top of their hay. While this has been a common practice for a long time, and I'm sure there are reasons behind it, the reasons don't take away the harmfulness that heavy grain feeding can cause. Horses that are fed this way are far more likely to get stomach ulcers. High grain diets are also known to contribute to digestion issues, and poor hoof quality. Why is this still a common practice?

Point 4. Over breeding and inbreeding.

Obviously, this needs to stop. The decline in health, and quality of Racing Thoroughbred horses is likely, mostly, due to the over breeding of them. Also, the rampant inbreeding. No man-made animal breed is as robust and hearty as their wild/original counterparts. This is exacerbated by inbreeding, which allows the really problematic traits to flourish alongside the desired 'good' traits. I once met a yearling foal with a sway back. Not an unusually high wither, no. The sway wasn't slight due to lack of muscle tone, oh no. This was a full on 'U' in the yearling's back, and I was flabbergasted when I saw it. IF a sway back occurs in a horse, and it does not always happen, it is a much older horse. This kind of flaw should not be happening. Enlarged hearts, crooked legs, tiny brittle hooves, and weak bone structure are only a handful of common issues among today's Racing Thoroughbreds.

There is also the fact that over breeding has caused an overabundance of unwanted horses. Many of the horses that don't live up to their owners' expectations are 'thrown away' in one way or another. There are a few circumstances that are beneficial, but there just isn't any way that there are enough beneficial circumstances for these horses. We would be incredibly naïve to believe that a large portion of these horses don't end up in the slaughter pipeline. The majority of humans are either not able to keep a horse or have no desire to keep a horse. Among people who do keep horses, there are many who have no desire to keep Thoroughbreds. The pool of horse owning, or potential horse owning people, who desire to take on OTTBs just isn't big enough to save the majority of the 'losers' of the racing world. Continuing to breed so many of these horses is absolutely irresponsible.

Point 5. Whipping

There is no excuse for this. You cannot insist that whipping isn’t harmful to a horse because they have such thick skin and also have it out there as common knowledge that this breed is notoriously thin skinned compared to other breeds. It is absolutely true that they have thin skin. If you compared a Thoroughbred to any other breed, I’m not sure how much of a difference there is, but there was a time I couldn’t fly spray my horse without her completely wigging out on me. Her skin would jump as if I was poking her with needles. This is so well known, when it comes to the Thoroughbred horse, that it’s common to supplement them with Lysine. Whipping them is just plain wrong! If the horse isn’t running as fast as you want it to, whipping is not going to make it faster. All you're doing is hurting the horse. There is no benefit. They might run faster for a few seconds, but once a horse is out of steam that’s it! Whipping isn’t going to magically re-charge the batteries or anything. Let’s let the whip die.

There are definitely places where the racing industry can make changes for the better, without sacrificing the entire sport. It may be hard to transition to a new way of doing things, but if it prolonged the sport you love wouldn't it be worth it? The pushback we see from the industry, against the alternatives that we (the average horse people) have offered up, are likely the product of people that are afraid to be caught doing the wrong thing. I can understand not wanting to admit that you're the bully, that you've been the one to cause pain, and to be cruel, when you did not believe that you were. This sport does go back an awful long way, and old habits do die long, hard, and painful deaths.

        Now, I know that a lot of the biggest upsets in the racing industry, more recently, are to do with doping. While I absolutely do not approve of such things, in my opinion, it is not the biggest problem in this industry. Straining the bodies and legs of baby horses will always be the number 1 issue, in my view. Doping is definitely a problem, and a big one! If a horse has an injury, it just should not be raced. Doping the horse so it won't feel the pain, and runs on top of it's injury, is a criminal act. There should be much more severe consequences for people who make this a regular practice. Not only are you risking the life of the horse, but the Jockey that's riding it. How can anyone think that it's okay to hide an injury like that in a 'sport' that is already fraught with potential dangers? Shame on those that do this. I am glad that this aspect of the racing industry is being highlighted, and steps are being taken to correct some of it. This will not be an overnight fix either.

        It would be nice to see more of the racehorse owners take accountability and try to find ways to do better for their horses. For the record it is not JUST the racing industry out there doing their horses dirty. Many horse sports need to find ways to do better. I just so happened to fall into owning an OTTB and witnessing the carelessness of the people in charge of them firsthand. The peek I got, though, was enough for me.

Thank you for reading this lovely rant, and may God bless you.

E. G.

Cited Articles -

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7916178/

https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/3025/does-weight-age-give-3-year-olds-unfair-advantage-you-decide/