Census looks at former racehorses' welfare

Pippa Boyle said many racehorses were staying in the same home being "loved and adored"

A census has been carried out to discover where former racecourses end up after they have left the sport.

It has been found about 13.2% of thoroughbreds are in the South East and 2.5% are in Surrey.

Pippa Boyle, from Epsom horse trainers Jim Boyle Racing, said it was important for the horses' welfare to know where they ended up.

She said: "It showed that a very small percentage of horses have actually gone through more than three homes since they left training."

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She added: "That's a brilliant statistic to know because it debunks the myth that horses get bounced around.

"The census has proven that isn't true and they're going on, staying in the same home, being loved and adored as they go forward."

Describing some of the "second careers" racehorses do later, she said: "The thoroughbred is the most versatile sports horse.

"There is no other horse or breed of horse that I can think of that can play polo, play horse ball, do adult mounted games, event, do dressage, hack, be with small children, be therapy horses. They are just the most versatile athlete going."

She said the majority became pleasure horses, doing hacking and riding club activities, right through to the horses that went on to the world stage in different equestrian disciplines.

The Thoroughbred Census 2023 saw details of 8,256 former racehorses submitted, out of which 5,566 were previously unrecorded.

It was launched last year by British Racing's Horse Welfare Board (HWB) to look at the lives of thoroughbreds after they have finished racing.

Kent MP Tracey Crouch, an independent member of the HWB, said the report had generated recommendations for improvements "some of which we will be pushing government to support".

The highest population of former racehorses included in the census was in the South West (19.1%), followed by the South East (13.2%), East of England (12.9%), West Midlands (11.4%) and the North East (10.6%).