Better Welfare for the Horse Racing Industry
Horse racing often gets framed as traditional sport (so does greyhound racing though it’s far less popular with less than 20 tracks remaining). Yet the welfare record tells a harder story. Major events are linked with deaths, broken bones, pain and extreme exhaustion. Behind the pageantry, there are horses pushed into a system built around money, betting and constant turnover.
Horses are herd animals. They like to graze, move freely, rest with other horses and live in stable social groups. Racing asks for something very different, intense training, artificial schedules, crowded transport, loud race days and high-speed competition over ground and obstacles.
Galloping flat out in a race is not a natural pattern of movement for them, and neither is jumping severe fences in a crowded field.
Ban the whip in racing
A ban on whips is one of the clearest welfare changes available. The whip is still defended as a safety tool and a means of encouragement, yet research by Professor Paul McGreevy showed that races without whips did not show worse safety or speed outcomes.
In Britain, whip rules include strike limits (for example, seven in a flat race). For many people watching at home, any ‘allowed’ number still looks wrong.
Tongue-ties can restrict movement of the tongue to help breathing, yet critics worry about discomfort and poor use. Spurs raise questions for the same reason.
Ban steeplechases, and reduce jump heights
Steeplechases carry obvious risk. Horses fall at speed, clip fences, rotate on landing and suffer broken bones, head trauma and soft tissue damage. In the worst cases, they die on the course or are euthanised soon after. A welfare-led system can’t keep treating that as an unfortunate side issue.
The Grand National (4.25 miles with 30 fences) has had dozens of horse deaths since 2000. As the race goes on, fatigue changes everything. A tired stride can mean a poor take-off. A slight stumble can become a fall. When a horse falls at speed, the risk of fatal injury rises fast.
A practical change starts with ending steeplechases. Then, remaining jumps should have limits on fence height, drop, spacing and field size. Obstacles should be reduced to the lowest level possible, with an independent review after every serious fall. Some argue that white hurdles are easier for horses to judge than orange ones, especially in poor light or heavy rain.
Reduce distances & frequency of runs
Long distances, repeated campaigns and short turnarounds between runs all raise the physical burden on horses. Shorter races and longer rest periods would ease some of that strain. Tendons, joints, lungs and stress responses don’t reset because a meeting is prestigious or heavily backed.
The 2025 case of Celebre d’Allen brought this into focus. Reports described travel from Somerset to Aintree, a race where he did not finish, then the return journey. He later collapsed and died from a severe bacterial respiratory infection, with exhaustion seen as a likely factor.
Introduce heat rules (no racing in hot weather)
You wouldn’t let your dog run in hot weather, so why horses? Horses can overheat, dehydrate and suffer from respiratory strain and collapse, especially when asked to race at full intensity. Hot conditions make recovery harder, and turn exertion into a medical emergency.
If temperature and humidity rise past a set point, racing should stop. No waivers, no no pressure from organisers, broadcasters or betting interests. A horse can’t consent to running through heat stress.
Heat policy should also include transport and stabling. A horse may arrive already stressed from travel, then stand in warm, busy surroundings before racing. So the rule can’t stop at the start line. It has to cover the whole race-day process, from loading to post-race cooling.
Race-day vet checks (before & after each race)
Every horse should pass an independent veterinary exam before racing, with attention to gait, breathing, hydration, heat stress, recent treatment and signs of pain. After the race, the checks should happen again, because many injuries don’t show clearly until adrenaline drops.
A proper system needs standard checklists, full records, immediate scratch powers and no commercial penalty for a vet who withdraws a horse on welfare grounds. Lameness, bleeding, collapse, abnormal recovery and deaths need public reporting.
Independent regulation (over self-policing)
Self-policing doesn’t work when the same system profits from racing, promotes racing and judges its own welfare record. A sport can’t be a fair referee in matters that threaten its income.
Welfare decisions should sit with a body that has no financial stake in entries, attendance, betting turnover or media rights. It should have the power to suspend trainers, close unsafe courses, ban race formats and publish findings in full.
Zero doping & medication abuse
Performance-enhancing drugs, pain-masking substances and improper medication all put horses at greater risk. A horse can run when it should be resting, or keep going on an injury that would otherwise force withdrawal.
It makes pain less visible while raising the chance of catastrophic damage. It also rewards the people most willing to test the edges of the rules. Doping should lead to long bans and publication of offences.
Use profits for racehorse welfare
A proposal to direct £12 million to racehorse welfare should be seen as a floor, not a ceiling. For an industry that generates substantial money through racing, sponsorship and gambling, a ring-fenced welfare fund is basic housekeeping. Horses create the income. Their care shouldn’t depend on leftovers.
That money should not disappear into vague schemes or public relations campaigns. It should pay for independent vets, on-course care teams, injury prevention research, retraining, sanctuary support, emergency transport and lifelong tracking of horses leaving the sport. It should also fund inspections and enforcement.
Reduce breeding numbers (foal welfare)
Around 13,000 foals are born into the Irish and British racing industry each year. That figure says a lot on its own. Not every horse bred for racing will race well, stay sound or find a secure home when useful years are over.
Overbreeding creates a steady flow of young horses entering training, while others leave through injury, poor performance or simple lack of commercial value. Some are rehomed, but not all. Some disappear into low-visibility sales routes. Some end up slaughtered at the end of life.
Traceability should follow every horse from birth to death. That means one complete, accessible welfare record, covering breeding, ownership, training, racing, injuries, retirement and end-of-life outcome. It puts responsibility on breeders and regulators to account for what happens after the final run.
Fund racehorse sanctuaries and rehoming
Racehorse sanctuaries take horses that need time, treatment and stabling, after the commercial side has moved on. They need secure funding, not occasional donations attached to image management. Horses leaving racing may need months, sometimes years, of patient care before they settle into another life.
One way to help is support sanctuaries like Racehorse Rehoming Centre and Racehorse Rescue.
Some racehorses are slaughtered at the end of life, or after they stop being commercially useful. Banning the slaughter route for former racehorses would force the industry to own the full life cycle it creates. Welfare means little, if it stops when the horse is no longer profitable.
Regulate gambling (a wider social cost)
The business of racing is tightly linked to gambling. More races mean more betting opportunities. Bigger spectacles mean more money. And horses become the last concern.
Quakers (who never gamble) say that when you bet, others have to lose, so you win (you are taking the winnings of someone in debt, and alongside contributing to poorer horse welfare).
Read more on how to find help for gambling addiction.
