Grim Future For The Thoroughbred Horse Farm
If horse breeding practices don't change, Thoroughbred horse farms will be no better than illegal kennels for fighting dogs. It doesn't matter how rich the owners are or how much regular food the horse gets. The public's perception is shifting to find Thoroughbred more and more intolerable for the same reasons it finds dog fighting intolerable. Those with Thoroughbred horse farms are understandably very nervous.
Not All Go Into Racing
It is true that not all horses bred on Thoroughbred horse farms are destined for the violence, the drugs and the stress of the track. There are Thoroughbred horse farms that do not send their horses into racing. These horses are destined for other horse sports such as hunting, jumping, three-day eventing or dressage. Many Thoroughbreds also become police horses or horses that help teach children to ride.
But unfortunately, all Thoroughbreds have the same genetic inheritance, which means it's not very diverse and getting more and more inbred with each passing generation. Over 90% of all Thoroughbreds trace back to one stallion, the Darley Arabian (1700 -1730) and over 65% of living Thoroughbreds can trace their lineage back to one horse, Northern Dancer, who was foaled in 1961.
Possible Futures
Make no mistake - the racing industry doesn't care about horses, because they are cheap and easily replaceable. Horses are to serve mankind's appetite for entertainment and that's it. And racing makes a lot of money off of the imploded legs of the very Thoroughbreds they breed.
Most people who own race horses and Thoroughbred horse farms are incredibly rich. Thoroughbred horse farms and race horses are galloping tax shelters. But, once the horse cannot race, then all the financial gains end. If Thoroughbred horse farms are going to survive to the next century, then they need to stop centering on racing and center on other aspects of human-horse interaction.
For example, there are a couple of Thoroughbred horse farms in Kentucky that are not devoted to breeding, but are rescue centers for retired racehorses. Only by getting the horses interacting with the public can the horses silently make their plea to be horses and not mere fodder for cheap thrills.
Another possible future that many in the Thoroughbred industry oppose is opening the stud books back up and allowing other breeds to come in and give the Thoroughbred a needed shot of hybrid vigor. If racing also could happen without the need for riders at all (such as camel racing in the Middle East is being reformed), then perhaps horses will stop needlessly suffering in the name of gambling.
