Horse Racing Ireland assessing proposal to establish rehoming centre for retired racehorses

Plans for a new retraining and rehoming centre for retired racehorses will be assessed by Horse Racing Ireland, which has been asked to establish and fund it.

The proposal has arisen from a strongly supported petition put forward by Ger Hussey on a Facebook page named Horse Welfare Within Racing Ireland.

Hussey has experience in rehoming thoroughbreds through Solway Racehorses in Scotland and is currently travelling head lad for trainer Paul Flynn.

He drew up the proposal after an RTE Investigates programme in June exposed routine animal welfare abuse at a licensed equine abattoir in Straffan, County Kildare.

Hussey believes that a system should be implemented where the onus is on the trainer to notify the authorities when a horse in their care is retired from racing, so the horse can be logged and assessed.

He said: "The petition has got great support from the industry and we have a few hundred signatures. The idea is if a trainer has a horse coming out of training, we want it to become a rule that the trainer must notify the centre that the horse is permanently coming out of training so the horse is logged. Then somebody will go out and assess the horse and whether it is suitable for the centre."

On the next steps, Hussey said: "We've had a very positive conversation with HRI and covered a lot of topics from retired horses to problems in the breeding sector. It was comprehensive and I think HRI is amenable to making improvements, so I feel change is on the way."

HRI equine welfare and bloodstock director John Osborne confirmed it was looking into Hussey's proposals.

He said: "We had a discussion with Ger Hussey and we acknowledged the great work he does in rehoming a significant number of horses annually. We undertook to assess his proposal and feedback to him."

'The market tends to be flooded with dealers and horses can end up in bad condition'

Hussey envisages retraining could be shared between the proposed centre and a roster of handlers who can be tasked with preparing horses for other disciplines, while he is confident the demand for ex-racehorses is there through his experiences with Solway.

He said: "There would be some retraining at the centre but you could have a panel of qualified re-trainers that could be sent horses for a few weeks before rehoming.

"This week I reached my 100th horse rehomed through Solway since March 2023. It's been a good success. All the horses have landed on their feet.

"The demand is there. The market tends to be flooded with dealers and horses can end up in bad condition. This system would take out that guy who takes the horse out of the yard for a fee, no questions asked.

"Unfortunately, rehoming isn't a priority with trainers. I ease a lot of trainers' consciences by rehoming their horses but it's far down their list of priorities – I think they'd agree with that themselves."

Hussey said there was more work to be done in the wider industry.

"I would love to see some of the bigger yards taking on some form of a rehoming programme of their own," he said. "They have wealthy owners and it would massively cut back on horses going to centres. Godolphin has its own programme and I can't see any reason why other similar operations can't have the same."

Hussey would like to see owners taking on more responsibility and suggests they should pay a mandatory contribution for aftercare.

He said: "I'd like to see a fee paid on registration of an owner or a syndicate that can be used to help rehome the horse. There is no onus on the owner at present. It all falls back on the trainer and a lot of trainers are only barely surviving. A lot of owners pay for rehoming in England but we just don't have that here.

"There is never any emphasis on the responsibility of being an owner. It's on the fun you can have and a day out at the races in the parade ring."

Read these next:

Abattoir featured in last week's RTE Investigates programme 'now fully suspended' reveals minister 

Horse Racing Ireland vows to support investigations after RTE programme highlights 'appalling' abuse at equine abattoir 

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