Are horses any more traceable since the shocking ‘Horses – Making a Killing’ TV documentary… and what else needs to be done?
In our latest H&H subscriber-exclusive investigation into issues affecting horse sport today, H&H senior news writer Lucy Elder looks into the current situation around equine traceability for both thoroughbreds and other breeds in Britain and Ireland, what is preventing progress, and what next steps are needed...
Our lives are tracked more closely than ever before. When technology is able to monitor our every moment, our clicks are harvested and fed back to us in individually personalised content or shopping suggestions, how is traceability for our horses still so fragmented?
In many ways, the thoroughbred industry is ahead of the rest of the wider equine world when it comes to traceability. Racehorses must be registered within 30 days of being born, and Weatherbys has been issuing e-passports, alongside the paper document, for thoroughbreds.
There is no doubting the care and dedication most thoroughbreds receive across their lives. People work in the industry because they love and care for horses.
That is why when the RTÉ Investigates documentary, Horses – Making a Killing, was released in June 2024 – showing the failures of fragmented traceability systems that allow vulnerable horses to fall through the gaps – it was met with condemnation from within and outside the industry. It is important to clarify that horses involved were from a range of breeds and backgrounds, not just thoroughbreds. Among the documentary’s findings were cases of horses’ identities’ being laundered.
Six months since its release, how are the promises made then by those in power to improve traceability holding up? And what work is ongoing in Ireland and in Britain today?
Where are we now?
A spokesperson for the government of Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) told H&H the department has been “improving equine traceability incrementally over recent years”.
“New initiatives have included an annual equine census, an equine microchip checker and funding to develop e-passports,” said the DAFM spokesperson.
“Following the RTÉ Investigates programme, the department commissioned Patrick Wall, professor of public health at University College Dublin, to undertake a root and branch review of the equine traceability system.
“The scope of the review includes all aspects relating to identification, registration and traceability of equines in Ireland, with a view to enhancing the integrity and security of the overall system, and also to propose appropriate mechanisms to assess applicants for approval of certain food premises as being fit and proper to be so approved. Professor Wall has been consulting with stakeholders across the whole equine sector.”
The spokesperson added that the department has already invested in technological solutions in some of its recent improvements to equine traceability.
“Our equine chip-checker portal provides public access to the [DAFM] central equine database and is key to the verification of an equine’s food chain status prior to export,” he said.
“The funding for passport-issuing organisations to invest in e-passports will help simplify the updating of information on equine movements, and we are looking forward to seeing how this technology evolves. As part of his review, Professor Wall is examining how digital solutions might further improve our equine traceability system.”
Until that work is completed, gaps remain – as highlighted by a recent case.
In October 2024, a seven-year-old former racehorse was discovered tied to a fence at Ballinasloe Fair. He was in an emaciated condition and covered in sores. The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) took him in.
Through his microchip, it was established that “Dash” last raced in July 2024 and had since passed through a number of hands.
The ISPCA said that as his ownership record was not updated, efforts to establish who was responsible for his lack of care prior to rescue had proved unsuccessful. The organisation is calling on the Irish government to review equine identification regulations and the process around transfer of ownership, noting that the responsibility is currently with the buyer – not the seller.
Pushing for change
Racehorse trainer Debby Ewing is pushing for change. She has been lobbying the authorities in the UK, Ireland and the European Commission to implement a robust, tamper-proof identity system for all equines and a lifetime traceability scheme.
“The digital capability to implement this is available. There is no excuse for not facilitating lifetime traceability,” she said.
She told H&H that her interest in lifetime traceability was sparked after discovering, through her research, there was a “strong trade” in former racehorses and broodmares from Ireland to the Netherlands.
“That could have been harmless enough, but I found that the horses were being issued with new Netherlands passports soon after they arrived, having ‘lost’ their Weatherbys passports,” she said.
“The new passports often recorded them as being younger than they were and stated their breeding was not known, so their whole history was lost. They retained their original microchips, but were issued with new universal equine life numbers – a contradiction in terms. Some were finding good homes, but others were arriving or being sold injured and/or in very poor condition.”
She reported her findings to authorities.
She added: “Then the RTÉ documentary came out and it was obvious that nothing had changed and, in fact, things were worse than even we had imagined.”
Mrs Ewing has suggestions to improve traceability, while work on a lifetime system continues. She said the thoroughbred industry is highly regulated and has the capacity to create its own traceability system, to include an enhanced “signing out” protocol for thoroughbreds leaving racing, including photo evidence of wellbeing, purpose sold for, name/address of the new owner, plus getting all sales venues (including sport horse sales) to ensure change of ownership is enacted at time of sale.
Mrs Ewing also suggested an annual audit of all thoroughbred premises, to allow wastage (horses leaving the industry permanently) to be monitored, evaluated and acted upon; plus a central system for logging thoroughbreds, at all life stages, out of the industry and into the next stage of life.
Traceability: a key objective
John Osborne, director of equine welfare and bloodstock at Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), told H&H traceability is one of HRI’s key objectives, on which it is “working on it constantly”.
“The identification systems are robust, innovative and improving each year, with the thoroughbred register having pedigree/markings/DNA/microchip and e-passport as elements in a comprehensive identification system,” he said.
“The e-passport is a digital version of the paper passport – it does not replace it as the paper version has some legal status, but what it brings is enhanced functionality. In theory, this is game changing – making it happen is where we are working and progress is slow but steady.”
He added that many agencies are required to work together, and the industry is seeing the gradual introduction of new processes in record keeping in the movement of horses.
“DAFM is best placed and ultimately responsible for this,” he added.
“[There are] two principle objectives: that there is always a responsible person identifiable in the life of every horse, and that this record is kept correct through the major touchpoints in the life of the horse – birth, registration, transport, sales, competition, export, death. If we get that right, we will have taken a very important step towards protecting the wellbeing of our horses.
“The procedures in place, on retirement from racing, in the past were designed from a governance of racing perspective, not a whole-of-life traceability perspective. To shift the emphasis requires a multi-agency approach.
“The system as has been in place, if adhered to, would go a long way but the compliance needs to be improved for it to be effective. For some time now it has been ‘the law’ (aka mandatory), with severe financial penalties in statute – but enforcement has not been a high priority. That too is changing.”
Digital setback
Traceability is one of the key focuses of British racing’s strategic plan, which has the aim of ensuring a good life for horses bred for racing from birth to death.
There is a push in Britain, as in Ireland, for all equine passports to become digital, to improve compliance and reduce the opportunity for fraud, and for a central equine database.
Weatherbys launched e-passports in 2021 and more than 208,000 horses from its general studbook are now included – which shows it can be done.
This year, new platform Racing Digital is set to launch in Britain, to modernise the central administration of the sport. The hope is that this will enable more sophisticated data collection and management while a thoroughbred is in training.
But Defra’s pausing of work on digital-first equine IDs has been met with frustration.
“As part of our continued efforts to improve equine welfare standards across British racing, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is committed to working with stakeholders to improve the traceability of all thoroughbreds,” a BHA spokesperson told H&H.
“This is a key part of racing’s welfare strategy and through the work of its Horse Welfare Board, we have set a goal to achieve a better body of knowledge about the horse population and ultimately to achieve 100% traceability at a horse’s first step on from racing.
“While this work is in progress, the Horse Welfare Board partnered with research experts Hartpury University to launch Britain’s first thoroughbred census. This six-month project took place in 2023 and resulted in the former racehorse population being formally sized at around 33,600. The census also established that 80% of these horses are currently identifiable and active across a range of new careers.”
The spokesperson added: “Given the importance of this work, we were disappointed therefore that, following the budget, Defra has paused work on the implementation of digital equine ID – on which the industry had been working with the department for a number of years – and wider improvements to the Central Equine Database (CED).
“While there is considerable good work ongoing, the decision to not implement digital equine ID risks inhibiting our ability to make the further strides required to achieve full traceability, and we would urge the Government to reconsider this decision.”
When H&H asked Defra why the work had paused and when it may restart, a spokesperson replied: “Equine identification and traceability are necessary to support biosecurity, public health, equine welfare and trade, and that is why we are working to improve the current system.”
H&H understands that cost estimates to deliver the digital enhancements to the CED have “significantly increased”. H&H also understands that as an interim measure, Defra is considering other options to improve the current regime, until digitisation work can progress.
Lobbying for equine digital IDs
World Horse Welfare has long been lobbying for fully digitalised equine identification systems across Europe, including Britain.
“World Horse Welfare shares the bitter disappointment of the whole equine sector, following the news that Defra will not be moving ahead with a digitised equine ID system, particularly when we are so close to the finishing line,” World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers told H&H.
“It is fundamental to enforcing most of the legislation around equine health and welfare, and makes last year’s joy of achieving the ban on live exports to slaughter very hollow indeed.”
Mr Owers added: “Thoroughbreds in racing and breeding are more traceable than the majority of equines, particularly in Ireland and the UK, due to their digital system and high standards of identification, and we applaud the work the industry has done on this to date.
“But even in the sport world there is more to do, particularly on real-time traceability of individual sport horse movements, and especially the traceability of sport horses pre- and post-career when they can be most at risk of falling through the cracks into an uncertain future.”
He said World Horse Welfare continues to collate and share information, which it believes “clearly shows” that horses are frequently moved into and out of the UK for slaughter, on fraudulent paperwork and without proper health checks.
“It simply beggars belief that over a decade after the horse meat scandal, our Government has not implemented an effective equine identification system, which would do so much to protect equine health and welfare as well as human health,” he said.
Second careers
It is a complex picture of bureaucratic knots. But the majority of people are doing the right thing by their horses.
Last January, Britain’s Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) set out its 2024 to 2026 strategy. One of its main aims is to “establish a robust system of traceability of former racehorses”.
“As set out in the strategy, we aim to register 20,000 former racehorses on our database by the end of 2026,” an RoR spokesperson told H&H.
“As of 30 November 2024, we have 14,005 active horses recorded. Our ultimate goal is full traceability of all thoroughbreds bred for racing.
“To achieve this, we are collaborating closely with the BHA, Weatherbys, equestrian organisations and key partners such as Racing Digital. Together, we are developing enhanced tools and systems to track thoroughbreds after their racing careers, enabling a streamlined process for monitoring their ongoing welfare.”
In Ireland, Treo Eile connects racehorse owners with retrainers, which has helped hundreds of horses find second careers.
The not-for-profit organisation, which launched during the pandemic, is funded by the industry, with backers including Godolphin, the European Breeders Fund, HRI and the Foal Levy Committee. It has three pillars – connect, support and promote.
“The whole idea came from [the sense that] ‘we need to exclude the excuse’,” said co-founder Caoimhe Doherty.
“No one in Ireland should have any excuse as to what they should do with their horse when either it hasn’t made it to the track, it’s finished at the track or if they breed an animal that isn’t commercial. There should never be an excuse for a horse to end up in a really difficult situation.”
The website has a directory of retrainers, to help link racing owners looking for a retrainer and those wishing to take on a former racehorse.
“When we launched, we hoped we would have somewhere near 500 horses in five years. Those would be horses registered with us that are in retraining or competing,” said Ms Doherty. “We passed the 800 mark at the end of last year.”
Horses registered do not need to have raced or been in training. They just need a Weatherbys or equivalent passport – and don’t even have to yet be named, which can be done for a reduced cost for horses going into non-racing careers.
Ms Doherty added that they encourage people to register in the hope that at some stage, they will be able to extend traceability of racehorses by linking with other bodies.
“Exclusions would defeat the purpose of what we are doing,” she said. “Our reach is huge, it’s just grown. I think that’s in response to the changing mentality about ex-racehorses and the popularity of it.
“People want to have these horses. They care for them. I’m not entirely sure that what we see in the papers and social media is an accurate representation of our industry. I think the good far outweighs the bad.”
She said their experience so far has been very positive and they have had a lot of support from the industry.
“There’s a lot of positivity now around second careers. There’s so many people doing excellent work,” she said.
“It’s a symbiotic relationship [between horse and human], but what some of the riders and people we have in our Treo Eile family – what they’ve achieved with the horses, and their patience and care – is incredible. They do so much for the industry.”
- What do you think is the way forward for ensuring traceability of all horses, from birth to death? Let us know by writing to us at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and country, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine
You may also be interested in:
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Racing leaders meet to discuss issues raised in BBC’s Panorama investigation
‘Ensuring no horse ever faces an uncertain future’: new plans for former racehorses unveiled
Are the blood rules in FEI horse sport working – and how can we move forward?
Showing our love of horses – what we can all do to help secure equestrian sport’s future
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.