Horse Racing - The Cruelty Behind the Glamour

[beam me up scottie]

12. Race Horse Industry - Nurse Mare Foals

Race Horse Industry - Nurse Mare Foals

There are many atrocities stemming from the race horse industry. One of which is the treatment of the foals from “nurse mares”.

It begins with the pregnant mare that is destined to spend a great deal of her time pregnant to produce as many future race horses as possible. Naturally, mares will give birth to a foal every couple years or so. Not in the horse racing industry. For some, once the mare gives birth the foal is taken away from their mother to be raised as a race horse. The mare will then be impregnated again and the cycle goes on and on. The foals that are taken from their mother are often put with a nurse mare in order to get their milk. The problem with that is in order for the nurse mare to lactate and provide milk for the expensive future race horse, she had to have just given birth to her own foal. So what happens to that foal? Well, there is the problem. The foal becomes an orphan. Since it is illegal to send foals under 6 months to the slaughterhouse, the nurse mare foal is often killed or discarded and left to starve to death. All this in the sport of horse racing! Thank goodness for rescues all over the country, including LPFR, that are able to make a difference in the life of a foal that deserves a shot at life in a caring environment. Personally, I have taken in nurse mare foals 30 days old or less. These poor babies deserve a chance to live a full and productive life, free from pain and abuse!