What Happens to Thoroughbreds After Their Racing Career?
The racing industry faces a lot of criticism, some of it justified (don’t get be started on Baffert and doping) and some of it based on misunderstandings.
One question outsiders ask is “What happens to these horses?” Racehorses tend to start their careers young and retire relatively young. The perception animal rights extremists would like to put forward is that many of them end up on dinner plates in Mexico.
That’s an exaggeration, but what does happen to these horses once they are past the first flush of youth and start to slow down?
Obviously, the best are used to make more racehorses, but what about the rest?
The Market for Off-The-Track Thoroughbreds
In the parlance of the horse world, these horses are called Off-The-Track Thoroughbreds, generally shortened to OTTBs. (You might also see OTQH for Off-The-Track Quarter Horse and OTSB for Off-The-Track Standardbred).
An OTTB is any horse which was raced or trained to race, and now has been or is being trained for a different job.
And there is, yes, a distinct market for these horses. There are several reasons for this:
- The conformation needed to run fast over short distances and the…