APPROXIMATELY 500 racing industry personnel have signed a letter calling on the racing authorities to establish a new retraining and rehoming centre for retired thoroughbreds.

The document was prepared and circulated by Ger Hussey, a former restricted trainer who is currently travelling head lad for Paul Flynn.

Hussey told The Irish Field he was motivated to put a proposal together following the RTÉ Investigates programme screened in June which exposed questionable practices around the disposal of retired or unwanted horses.

Hussey’s submission calls for an industry-funded assessment and retraining/redistribution centre for thoroughbreds exiting the industry, one which would be run by a board of trustees.

Logging horses leaving

A key requirement, Hussey says, is that there should be a central administraton system through which all horses leaving the industry must at the very least be logged.

If the horse owner has a plan for the horse’s retirement the horse need not go to the centre but the details will be logged and photographs of the horse kept on file.

Those without a plan will go to the centre to be assessed as to their suitability for retraining and rehoming. In some cases humane euthanasia may be the kindest option at that stage.

Hussey envisages some retraining taking place at the centre but it will also utilise a network of approved retrainers.

His plan is accompanied by a petition signed by people from within racing - mainly stable staff, retired racehorse owners and industry professionals.

Hussey plans to personally deliver his proposal and petition to Horse Racing Ireland, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, Department of Agriculture and other major industry stakeholders in the coming days.

“Nobody knows for sure how many racehorses need to be rehomed each year but it could be as many as 2,000,” Hussey said. “I believe that number is manageable. In Britain many of the bigger yards already have their own rehoming facility in place and that should be encouraged here.

“Personally I have had a lot of success rehoming thoroughbreds through Solway Racehorses in Scotland. The demand is there in Britain for them and we do need to look further afield, to places like the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

“The problem is that there are too many dubious agents in the middle. Sometimes you see images of retired racehorses in poor condition in a dealer’s yard and it may not entirely be the fault of the original owner or trainer.”

The principal behind Hussey’s plan is that “the polluter pays”, meaning that the owner and the industry must take ultimate responsibility for the disposal of retired racehorses. He suggests that ownership of rehomed racehorses could be retained by the proposed new retraining centre, which could reclaim a horse believed to have ended up in the wrong hands.

Hussey has also set up a Facebook page entitled Horse Welfare Within Racing Ireland, which contains more information on his proposal.