Many horse owners back retraining of racers

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Almost half of those who responded to a survey on retired horses said they would support a mandatory payment fund to retrain or care for horses, and 65 percent said they supported the fund if contributions were voluntary.

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To read the entire Retired Race Horse Study, prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the state Task Force on Retired Race Horses, click here.

The new survey on retired race horses in New York state found that 1,845 standardbred and thoroughbred race horses were retired last year, many of them because they were injured or otherwise “unsound” for racing.

The survey results, released Wednesday, will be used to determine what happens to these horses after their brief racing careers. How many are retrained for other humane uses, and how many are be shipped to Mexico or Canada and slaughtered for pet food.

The New York Retired Race Horse Study found that in 2007 almost 80 percent of the horses were retired in New York state, with the rest retired out of state and just 1 percent retired out of the country.

The Retired Race Horse Study, done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the state Task Force on Retired Race Horses, provides the new task force with the size of and possible solutions to the problem of what happens to race horses after they are retired.

“How big is the problem? We just didn’t know the numbers,” said Fiona Farrell, an equine attorney in Saratoga County and a task force member.

The Task Force on Retired Race Horses wanted the survey done because it is investigating the feasibility of creating a larger market and alternative employment opportunities for retired race horses.

Farrell said there is “a substantial cost” to retraining and taking care of retired race horses.

The survey asked the 1,108 owners of horses retired last year in New York State if they would be willing to contribute to a mandatory or voluntary fund to help retrain and care for the horses.

Forty-three percent of the respondents said they would support a mandatory payment fund, while 37 percent said they would not support a mandatory payment. Twenty percent of the respondents were uncertain, according to the survey.

Sixty-five percent of those responding to the survey said they would support a voluntary payment fund while 17 percent said they would not support such a voluntary fund. The remaining 18 percent did not respond. Seventy-one percent of thoroughbred owners and 57 percent of standardbred owners agreed in supporting a voluntary payment fund.

Forty-four percent of the respondents said they were willing to pay a monthly fee of between $150 to $200 for the retired horse while 28 percent said they would pay a lifetime fee of $2,500, 1 percent of those responding to the survey would pay a lifetime fee of $10,000, and 27 percent did not respond.

Diana Pikulski, executive director of the Saratoga Springs-based Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and a task force member, said the new survey is important for several reasons.

“It is important that we engage the owners and the people in the [horse racing] industry in our efforts so they understand they are partners in this,” Pikulski said.

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation has horse retirement and retraining facilities in 11 states, including a facility connected to the Wallkill Correctional Facility near Walden in New York State.

“We deal with hundreds of thoroughbreds each year,” Pikulski said. The foundation, with a $3 million annual budget, has 1,800 horses in its programs.

“We want to deal with horses at the track,” she said. “They have run their last race and need a place to go.”

Pikulski said the slaughter of horses for pet food is not allowed anywhere in the United States.

But she said there are still “middle men, buyers” who attend livestock auctions and then ship the horses they buy either north to Canada or south to Mexico.

Pikulksi said she will attend a task force meeting today at the New York State Racing and Wagering Board in Schenectady to hear a report on the complete survey findings by Stephen Ropel, director of the New York office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

She said the survey is a positive step in addressing the problem of what happens to retired race horses and what can be done to solve the problem.

The survey of horse owners was conducted in September with a response by mail of 25 percent. Telephone follow ups of horse owners who failed to respond by mail was conducted in October, and this increased the overall response rate to 52 percent, according to the Task Force on Retired Race Horses. The task force is co-chaired by state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker and Racing and Wagering Board Chairman John Sabini.