British racing brings horses closer to people *Promotion*

Spiteri Retraining welcomed guests to experience a day in the life of retraining racehorses on the Welsh coast

(Image credit: Great British Racing)

For many of us, a life without horses and the joys (and challenges – frozen water troughs anyone?) that brings is unimaginable. And yet, research commissioned by Great British Racing in 2022 found that over one in four (26%) of 12- to 40-year-olds in Britain, who live in urban areas, have never seen a horse in real life. Incredibly, over a third of British urban-dwellers have never touched a horse and almost half of those aged 18-24 said they’d never seen a horse in the flesh.

It is no secret that spending time in the countryside and around animals is excellent for both health and well-being, yet almost half the people surveyed had not visited the countryside in the past year. Horse owners and riders will appreciate the feeling of daily worries and stress melting away when they arrive at the yard at the end of a busy day. Of Londoners surveyed, 86% said they feel happy when they do get a chance to be close to animals.

National Racehorse Week, a week-long collaborative campaign across British racing, aims to offer just that. Throwing the doors open to stable yards, giving behind-the-scenes access to the public, entirely for free, to experience for themselves the lives that racehorses live. Since its inception in 2021, National Racehorse Week has created over 20,000 opportunities for the public to get up close with Britain’s racehorses, many for the very first time.

Whether young or old, horse lovers or newcomers, National Racehorse Week events welcome all with open arms. Over 130 venues up and down the country opened in 2022 to showcase life in training, but also in the early years at stud and after racing, from former racehorses enjoying a well-earned retirement, to retraining for a multitude of second careers, including through the industry’s official retraining charity Retraining of Racehorses (RoR).

But National Racehorse Week’s purpose goes even deeper. Last year, over 26 special events took place across the week with 800 individuals taking part. From school and care home visits by racehorses, to an open morning for NHS/emergency services workers with multiple champion National Hunt trainer Paul Nicholls OBE, racing travelled far and wide to inspire and give experiences to those outside the traditional ‘bubble’ so often associated with equestrian sports.

As part of this effort, 100 young people from inner-city riding centres were given VIP access to some of racing’s most illustrious facilities across the week. The charities were ‘matched’ with a local racehorse trainer or centre, offering the young riders exclusive behind-the-scenes access to racing on their doorsteps. Whether from Leicester, Birmingham, Liverpool or London, the young people from these riding schools all share a common passion – a love of horses and ponies.

George Urwin, a volunteer at Summerfield Stables near Birmingham, took the opportunity to take 50 youngsters behind-the-scenes at local Cheltenham-winning trainer Dan Skelton’s yard as part of the week-long celebrations. For Summerfield, the focus is on providing accessible and inclusive horse riding and time spent with horses for those living in the local and often deprived urban communities of Birmingham.

“It’s really important that we continue to create ties and relationships outside of the racing industry and offer experiences like this to youngsters who would otherwise never get a chance to come onto a busy racing yard,” says Tony. “They can see what life is like for our racehorses here, find out for themselves what it’s like to work in our sport and maybe inspire them to follow racing in future.”

In Toxteth, Liverpool, another 30 young riding enthusiasts from the inner-city riding school Park Palace Ponies were given the VIP treatment at Donald McCain’s Cheshire yard (former home to Britain’s most iconic racehorse, Red Rum). And Leicester’s Urban Equestrian Academy visited the nerve-centre of horse racing in Newmarket, going behind-the-scenes at the prestigious Dalham Hall Stud and Godolphin Rehoming.

Horse racing, like the wider equine industry, has struggled in recent years with a labour shortage. Displaying the benefits and opportunities of working in the sport to as wide an audience as possible, through campaigns such as National Racehorse Week, is vital to racing’s future. New access routes such as the fully funded scholarships via the Riding A Dream Academy and bursaries available to study at the British Racing School and National Horseracing College, hope to break down barriers to enter this sport and should ultimately help equestrian employers as a whole.

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