Chance is a former racehorse — bred to be a volatile speedster and once capable of violent fits of panic — yet he patiently allows Isaac Parsons, 7, and his brother, Oscar, 2, to use him as a living climbing frame. “They clamber all over him and he behaves like a beach donkey,” said Karla Parsons, the boys’ mother. “He is so gentle. They have complete trust in him.”
Every year, about 5,000 horses end their racing career in Britain, and what happens to them next is a growing problem. The lucky few — those with glittering careers or kind-hearted owners — go on to a leisurely retirement, while the most magnificent specimens are sent to stud. But what about animals such as Chance, which fall into neither category?
Some are sold to well-meaning but unqualified riders, with potentially lethal consequences; others are simply shot. Chance, however, had the good fortune to end up at the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre, in Lancashire, which takes in about 30 racehorses a year. “Reprogramming” them to be reliable riding horses can take up to three years, during which time they are gently persuaded that it is possible to go out alone (racehorses are exercised in strings), and that you don’t have to gallop everywhere at breakneck speed.
Even after retraining, they need an expert rider. “You don’t have to be Zara Phillips, but you do have to be a confident, competent rider, not looking for a first horse,” says Nicky McDonald, the centre’s operations director.
Parsons, 36, who lives in Elmswell, Suffolk, contacted the centre when she was 22 and a student. She was an experienced rider, but money was tight, and the idea of being given a well-bred animal was tempting.
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“Everybody said to me, ‘Don’t do it, the horse will be mad, it will kill you,’” she says. Undeterred, she was matched with Chance, a chestnut measuring just over 15 hands, then just three years old.
Taking on the horse was not easy — Parsons subsisted on toast to pay for his feed as she trained to become a radiographer, and Chance’s training took skill and patience. Eventually, he became a talented jumper, competing successfully in three-day events. He is now semiretired, but still drag hunts, competes in local shows and entertains the whole family (aside from her husband, Sam, 42, an orthopaedic surgeon who does not share the family’s equine fascination).
Owning a horse is expensive — a bale of hay costs £6 and a set of shoes £60. Which is why it is surprising that there are so many ways to acquire a horse for nothing, or very little (see panel, below).
As well as racehorses, there is a glut of riding horses abandoned in shelters by owners who can no longer afford them, and there are always rescue animals who have been abused.
Even the police lend out retired horses — Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of News International, which owns this newspaper, famously cared for one. “They want someone who will love them like a pet,” says Sergeant Chris Downes, head of Essex Police’s mounted unit. “We are fussy about where they go.”
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All these organisations vet those wanting to “foster” their animals. Rather than giving them away, they loan them out, reserving the right to reclaim them if they feel they are not being properly cared for.
World Horse Welfare has about 1,600 rescue horses placed with rehomers — “from the smallest shetland to the largest shire”, says Tony Tyler, its deputy chief executive. “Every year, we take a small number back, sometimes if the rehomer is moving the horse without telling us, or if they are letting it get too fat.”
If you want to adopt a rescue horse, be aware that not all are innocent victims, warns Liam Kearns, a partner at Three Counties Equine Hospital. “It may be that they kept bucking the rider off, so they were put in a field and forgotten.”
There can be health problems, too. Racehorses are broken in before they are fully grown. “It is a bit like training a child to do a marathon,” McDonald says. Flat racers tend to suffer joint problems in later life, while jumpers and hurdlers can have injuries to their back and pelvis.
The risks were worth it for Jan Cooper, who fosters Wilma, a mare rescued from the rogue horse dealer James Gray. In 2008, the RSPCA discovered dozens of carcasses at Spindles Farm, in Buckinghamshire, where he had kept more than 125 horses and ponies in a catastrophic state of neglect. He was found guilty of cruelty and jailed.
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Wilma, then three years old, was malnourished, riddled with lice and suffering from strangles, a potentially fatal respiratory infection. Today, she glows with health and confidence.
Cooper, 38, an events manager at Great Yarmouth racecourse, who began riding aged four, paid £200 last summer to adopt Wilma from World Horse Welfare. “She has already done local dressage, and I plan to show her this summer as a lightweight cob,” Cooper says. “She is taking quite well to jumping.
“When I remember what I saw on television, my heart breaks for her. It is humbling to know that you can take on a horse like Wilma and change her life.”
Free rein
A decent riding horse will cost at least £5,000. Foster one for less at:
Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre
Retrains 30 racehorses a year. A permanent loan costs £600. Applicants must have a riding audition, a home visit and give references. Approved carers are checked on twice a year (thoroughbredrehabilitationcentre.co.uk).
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World Horse Welfare
Has 300 rescue horses of all kinds. A loan costs £20-£400, depending on quality (worldhorsewelfare.org).
Metropolitan Police
Rehomes 8-12 mounts a year. Apply in writing to: The Mounted Branch Training Establishment, Imber Court, Ember Lane, East Molesey, KT8 0BT.