Bloodstock Conference 2024: Why aftercare can't be an after thought

About this Talk

Why Aftercare can’t be an Afterthought – a panel discussion. The panel consists of: Louise Robson manages Thoroughbred Dressage, near Milton Keynes, which offers retraining for racehorses, and horses with poor-performance concerns.  She retrains for owners and syndicates – the most notable being His Majesty King Charles III, and prior to that, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The late Queen’s re-trained racehorse Quadrille – now owned by the King – is one of the most successful ex-racehorses on the global dressage circuit and was voted Retraining Of Racehorses Horse of the Year in 2019. Louise works closely with RoR, teaching regularly at its clinics and camps nationwide, and with the Godolphin Lifetime Aftercare programme. Roly Owers is a qualified veterinary surgeon and has been Chief Executive of the charity World Horse Welfare since 2008, where he plays an active role in supporting the horse-human relationship.  As Director of the British Horse Council, he regularly liaises on policy with DEFRA, the devolved administrations and Ministers. He advises the International Equestrian Federation, the International Horse Sports Confederation and the British Horseracing Authority on horse welfare.  Among other national and international roles, he is Chair of the UK Equine Disease Coalition, and the International Coalition for Animal Welfare. Philippa Gilmore joined Retraining of Racehorses in 2016, having previously worked in the equine feed industry.  As the proud owner of former racehorses for a number of years, the transition to RoR was the ideal opportunity to embrace both her love of the thoroughbred and her zeal for protecting the horse’s welfare.  Philippa is RoR’s Head of Welfare Operations, responsible for providing a safety-net for horses in need of charitable support and working with partner centres to ensure those horses are rehabilitated, retrained and rehomed to have a good life.  She also works alongside the Horse Welfare Board to deliver its aftercare funding recommendations. Ian Cameron is Managing Clinical director at the Rossdales veterinary practice in Newmarket and a member of its stud veterinary team.  His work encompasses all aspects of stud medicine, but he has particular interest in the assessment of the late-term mare, the management of thoroughbred youngstock and the assessment of breeding stock, foals and yearlings at thoroughbred sales in the UK, Europe and North America. The panel discusses some of the challenges and possible solutions to the vitally important subject of ensuring that our racehorses are cared for outside of a life in racing.  Subjects discussed include the types of roles fulfilled by racehorses and breeding stock beyond their direct involvement in racing, the variety of aftercare scenarios including re-training racehorses into a second career and the challenges that those rehoming racehorses are not always aware of, the role of RoR, it’s vulnerable horse scheme and advice provided.  The subject of euthanasia and the costs involved in retraining and rehoming are also discussed.