Post-career options for equines is a hot topic. Recently I wrote about horse slaughter and about euthanasia, how it is a mistake to conflate the two. Healthy horses that are both fit for transport and not excluded from the food chain are sometimes sent to the abattoir.

It is also vital that we deal humanely with horses with severe behavioural issues and end intractable pain in animals that have suffered severely with no further prospect of relief.

But there are opportunities for equines who are healthy but either unsuitable nor destined for the factory.

Rehoming is one such option – the rehabilitation, retraining and repurposing of horses, typically via an equine welfare charity. These equines travel onward to a new home typically supervised by said organisation.

For a time I had a former racehorse on loan from the Irish Horse Welfare Trust (IHWT, on whose board I currently sit); he gave me great pleasure in a much less pressured environment than he’d previously experienced.

The IHWT and other similar charities do great work with equine heroes: some, like Moscow Flyer become a flag-bearer, others assume new careers in the show-ring, in dressage or cross-country. Stars of National Hunt racing such as Yorkhill and Don Poli featured recently at Aintree’s Jockey Club Retraining of Racehorses National Championships.

Equine heroes

Now, more than ever, our equestrian pursuits need equine heroes: horses with long as well as distinguished careers, names to capture the imagination of the next generation of fans. I think currently of Stradavarius on the flat, Tiger Roll over obstacles.

Rehoming should be distinguished from the simple onward sale of a horse to A N Other for another purpose. Of course many horses are legitimately sold on to further their careers or perhaps make a side-wards move – point-to-pointers to run inside the rails, fillies to become brood mares. Both resale and rehoming often work out well, giving a horse a new lease of life in fresh hands in a novel environment. The level of subsequent supervision is variable, ranging from none once a sale is made, to regular inspections by a rehoming charity.

The danger, particularly with resale, is that it may be a step on the slippery, downward slope to neglect and a dreaded ‘no-longer-wanted’ status. This is particularly so of horses that are firmly purpose-bred – flat-race sprinters for example. Innate talent and temperament combined with early learning experience may mean that they are ill-suited to amateurish handling and more leisurely pursuits.

I can still vividly remember riding round a hunter trials on a former racehorse I’d bred and was trying to repurpose. Our steering left a lot to be desired and I reckon I was lucky to get home at all! A professional trainer/rider may (and did!) make a much better fist of it and such a horse might go on to enjoy years more galloping and jumping.

Many blood horses do seem to enjoy crossing the country at speed and such is a sight to gladden the heart. The problem comes when we try to make them do it, when they don’t willingly wish to.

Olympic pentathlon

When thinking of the specifics of suitability, I can’t help but recall this summer’s Olympic modern pentathlon. The equestrian component is not run under FEI rules whose stance on equine welfare is very familiar to many (I am an FEI official veterinarian).

The Olympians and their supporters weredevastated that that their chance was ruined by an unwilling equine partner. But such is an oxymoron in equestrian sport – the equine partner has to be willing; has to want to run the race or jump the fence; and not all horses are equally capable at all tasks.

At a time when competitors’ mental health has been much in the news, we didn’t see a coach punch a reluctant athlete in the rear; we didn’t hear commentators refer to a human contestant as a ‘tramp’ or a ‘delinquent teen’! Equine behaviourists of some renown reported that some of the horses were visibly distressed not wilfully deviant.

As Dr Sue McDonnell said: “Imagine if that rider had loosened the reins, patted the horse on the neck and left the arena.” Wouldn’t that have been a true Olympic moment, reflecting well on our equestrian events and replaying endlessly for years to come?

Many people may be comfortable with treating animals as fundamentally differently to humans – a sort of ‘God gave us dominion over the animals’ approach. But many in wider, Western society are increasingly less comfortable. We risk losing our licence to recruit animals to our pleasure pursuits if we can’t show them as willing partners and demonstrate that we take their post-career futures seriously.Gone are the days when one can visibly coerce an unwilling equine to participate, in public at least, or be seen to blatantly disrespect them.

Responsible ownership of equines increasingly means taking care not only of their health and welfare when owned/kept by us, but also paying attention to what happens to them thereafter. Easier said than done!

Our legislation on transfer of ownership is not as robust for equines as it is for cars, for example. The onus is currently on the new owner to record that they have acquired a horse; this is neither in the best interests of an equine’s future wellbeing nor helpful to owners who wish the transfer to be properly recorded. An area to tighten up on perhaps?

In a recent BBC Panorama investigation owners were quoted as ‘shocked’ that their horses had ended their days travelling overseas to an abattoir. They may have felt that their equines had embarked on another, rosy road, but few easy routes exist straight to horsey-heaven. In an ideal world, all equines would get a second chance to shine if they haven’t shone at first. And live out their end-days happy in a loving home; found peacefully deceased or, if-needs-be, euthanised there in the company of friends. But life is inherently unfair, for horses as well as for humans.

At the very least, I suggest that we need to work to prevent horses becoming ‘no-longer wanted’ with the distress this brings to bear. Horses that are valuable to someone for some purpose are more likely to be valued, and thus receive appropriate care. We might give horses second chances appropriate to the talents they have shown and otherwise deal with their end days in an appropriately humane manner.