Report Release: Ciaron Maher Op-Ed
Up until early this year I had a horse called Lagerfeld in my stable.
He wasn’t a superstar, like Caulfield Cup winner Jameka, or Merchant Navy who went on to win at Royal Ascot, but he was a horse with ability, who raced 30 times and won at Moonee Valley, as well a bunch of tracks in country Victoria.
He’d been part of our team for a number of years and was a favourite with our staff, even if he sometimes fought a little with his track riders in the mornings.
But now he is doing something completely different and bringing joy to others. Since retiring early this year Lagerfeld has been part of a team at Racing Hearts, a property that specialises in equine assisted therapy on the Mornington Peninsula.
He is a favourite there. He loves the attention he gets from the people taking therapy, whether it’s a class of autistic children patting and grooming him, or being ridden when someone is having a session with a psychologist.
As a trainer I know that I and my staff get great enjoyment knowing Lagerfeld is loving his new life and bringing others happiness.
While not every horse will be suited for the role Lagerfeld’s taken on, as an industry we need to make sure every horse can have an opportunity to a suitable second career after racing.
In early 2020 key groups in the thoroughbred racing and breeding industries came together to appoint an expert panel to inquire into thoroughbred welfare.
The results of that work: A Framework for Thoroughbred Welfare, was published today.
I made a submission to that review, as did 180 other people or organisations. As an industry we should be grateful for the work that’s been done.
A key finding of the report is that we have a national industry and we need a national response to ensure the welfare of our horses.
Our industry is a big one in Australia. Almost 80,000 people have a job because of racing or breeding and it raises about $1 billion in taxes for governments.
To give you an example of how this works in practice, I train the majority of my horses in Victoria, but also have a significant stable at Warwick Farm in Sydney’s west. But even before they join my team, these horses might be conceived in one state, born in another and then sold in a third.
In Victoria and NSW, particularly, a lot of resources have been put to into welfare and transitioning horses into second roles. More than $8 million is spent each year by Racing Victoria on this area, while NSW has invested over $30 million on properties for retraining and rehoming.
But we need to ensure there are opportunities for horses across the country. To help drive that goal the report has called on a new national body dedicated to promoting and ensuring welfare. I think everybody in the industry should get behind that idea.
We are not always great at working well together, but this issue is so important we have to do just that.
Another concept in the report is to develop a framework that demands the proper care for horses. This means there are standards for the care of horses at all stages of their life, from birth right through until death. We have them for cattle and sheep, but not for horses. That needs to change and we need the support of governments to make this happen.
The report also calls on governments to establish a national registry for all horses, so that we know where they are and in whose care.
This is something I feel passionately about. At the moment we just don’t have enough data about what happens to our horses when they leave racing or breeding. Without proper traceability we won’t be able to tell the public – or our critics - what happens to our horses. What’s more, we will struggle to help them if they get into trouble.
There is nothing in this report that is radical or that people in our industry should be frightened of. The panel have given us a plan, now it is important we are working together to make it happen.
This article appeared in The Age newspaper, Monday 29th November 2021.