http://www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/horse_racing.php
On the market
The 'yearling' sales of thoroughbred colts and fillies draw the 'horsey' crowd — the monied people. Most yearlings sell for tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the gamble starts right there; with the owners and trainers hoping to 'back a winner' and to have the next great champion, or at least recoup their outlay.
The scale of the industry is huge — around 15,000 thoroughbred foals are bred each year in Australia, and a similar number of standard bred foals are born nationally.
Pushing To Win
Racing as a two-year-old puts the horse at particular risk of injury because at this age the skeletal system of these animals is still immature and not ready for the hard training and physical stress of the racing world. Regardless, the lure of the very high stakes for the two-year-old races mean many owners push trainers to have their expensive animals compete.
Mental suffering
Whilst in training, horses may be individually stabled for most of every day, apart from when they're on the training track. Stabling is the most 'practical' way to provide the horses with their high-performance training and racing diet, and housing them right next to the training track reduces time consuming daily transport. However, without social and environmental stimulation, horses can develop stereotypic behaviours, such as crib-biting (biting on fences and other fixed objects and then pulling back, making a characteristic grunting noise, called wind-sucking) and self-mutilation may occur. These stereotypic behaviours are a strong indicator of welfare problems for horses. Around 31,000 thoroughbreds and a similar number of Standardbreds will be 'in training' or racing at any one time in Australia.
Physical suffering
The feeding of high concentrate diets (grains) fed during training rather than extended grazing, often leads to gastric ulcers. A study of racehorses at Randwick (NSW) found that
89% had stomach ulcers, and many of the horses had deep, bleeding ulcers within 8 weeks of the commencement of their training (Newby J, Welfare issues raised by racehorse ulcer study, The Veterinarian, March 2000).
During training and in competition, horses of all ages can suffer painful muscular-skeletal injuries, such as torn ligaments and tendons, dislocated joints and even fractured bones.
Internal race injuries
The exertion of the races leads a
large proportion of horses to bleed into their lungs and windpipe — called Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage. This has only been fully realized in recent years when endoscopes have been used to carry out internal examinations via the throat. A study carried out by the University of Melbourne found that
50% of race horses had blood in the windpipe, and 90% had blood deeper in the lungs.
'Jumps racing'
Jumps racing is one of the many fates for 'failed' and 'retired' thoroughbred racing horses (particularly in Victoria and South Australia). Statistics over many years have shown that jumps races are even more dangerous and harmful for horses, with
up to 20 times more fatalities than flat races. This is not surprising when you have a group of horses being pushed to jump a series of one metre high fences together at speed.
As well as this, the jumps races are usually much longer, and the jockeys are permitted to be heavier. Tired horses have a greater risk of falling — risking injury to themselves and often the jockeys. The injuries that occur when horses fall or career into the jumps or the barriers can be quite horrific.
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