HORSEPOWER, Inc Supports Measure to Protect Retired Racehorses

HORSEPOWER, Inc

People Organizing for the Well-being of Equines and their Rights

MEMORANDUM OF SUPPORT

ESTABLISHING THE COMMISSION ON RETIRED RACEHORSES

S1974 Addabbo/A3535B Pretlow

HORSEPOWER, Inc., New York State’s first and only equine policy advocacy organization strongly supports S1974 Addabbo/A3535B Pretlow, an act to amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, in relation to establishing the commission on retired racehorses and as such, urges the New York State Legislature to pass in this current session.

Equines have, for centuries benefited, and served mankind. It is impossible to think about what our lives today without gratitude for their service and usefulness, and wonderment at their astonishing speed, agility, power and gracefulness. Yet for all their value, resources, and joy they bring to us, they often suffer from inhumane treatment by the very industries they benefit. Numerous reports, media coverage and federal and state legislative inquiries have long documented the egregious mistreatment faced by many equines in the thoroughbred racing industry.

In 2019, the New York State Senate held a hearing on the welfare of racehorses. The body of testimony provided, clearly demonstrated the dire circumstances faced by many of them during and after their careers. This legislation is one of many necessary steps in providing a protective layer of oversight to an industry that all too often casually discards its “underperforming” athletes. In 2017, almost 79,000 horses were transported to Mexico or Canada to be slaughtered, 10,000 from New York alone and the process is gruesome. They are squeezed into trucks for more than 24 hours without food or water. Upon their arrival, they are exhausted, dehydrated and hungry only to be shocked and bled out. According to the Humane Society of the United States, if a horse is shocked incorrectly, it is then skinned and dismembered while still conscious. This bill, while far from a complete fix, provides for a framework of accountability and therefore, the potential that such practices are truncated.

Currently, there is little oversight of racehorses once they become unprofitable to their owners and they retire. That they are sent off to international slaughterhouses to be turned into foodstuffs, despite having drugs and medications in their systems that are not meant for human consumption is not only a a grotesque end for animals who are responsible for providing a mainstay to the New York economy, it is a wasteful one. Even though a racehorse’s competitive career is comparatively short they can be retrained for many second careers as show horses, therapy animals, and even pets. S1974 Addabbo/A3535B Pretlow would track the transfer of ownership of such equines, require new owners of retired racehorses to report on the health, well-being and whereabouts of said equines and notify the commission within 72 hours, upon the death of a former racehorse, as certified by a veterinarian. Violations are subject to civil penalties of up to $500.

New York has led the nation in safety initiatives, and we credit the efforts of a body similar to the commission created in this legislation for reducing racing-related equine deaths by 32% in six years. Creating an oversight commission and requiring the tracking of retired racehorses is a positive beginning to ending the horrific abuse racehorses suffer once they are no longer a financial benefit to their owners.