15,000 horses are bred every year, between Ireland and the U.K.,
for the racing industry. Only a third of these horses make it on
to become racers - hundreds of whom actually die, or are killed,
during the course of a race. Thousands more are slaughtered,
just because they are no longer of any use to their ‘owners’.
Most horses start 'flat' racing, which is sprinting along a
course without fences, at the age of 2. Horses don’t reach full
physical maturity until they are about 5 years of age. Which
means that racing 2 year olds places enormous pressure on their
underdeveloped limbs. The extent of stress suffered by modern
performance horses can be gauged by the incidence of a condition
called 'exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage' (EIPH) which
results in bleeding from the lungs during strenuous exercise.
Some horses bleed severely and regularly, with blood leaking
from their nostrils. Fifty-five per cent of flat race horses
suffer the condition, increasing to 82% in horses aged 4 years
and older. Horses that