People who bet on horse racing may enjoy going to the tracks for the races to experience the exciting atmosphere of the events. There, they can witness first-hand the horses on which they are betting and see the horses snort, prance, and otherwise behave in an excited manner before making their way onto the track. But what happens to these fiery race horses after their race careers are over? There are several paths a retired race horse’s life can take, some good, some bad.

Different Paths for Different Horses

Often, the most successful race horses –if they are not gelded early—will be retired from racing at the end of their careers and kept as a stallion on a stud farm. The stallions will be used to sire future hopeful winners of races, or at least to create a successful all around horse. Yet, just because the horse has been retired to live life as a stallion doesn’t mean the life is a good one. The life of a stallion can often be lonely and isolated, as stallions many times cannot be turned out with other geldings because they are too aggressive and protective over their mares. The stallions may be kept alone inside for a majority of the time for this reason. This is not always the case, but it does happen.

For horses who are not successful or not kept as a stallion, the prospects can be highly variable. Many times the unsuccessful horses are sold to auction, where killer buyers then purchase the horses to sent to slaughter for foreign consumption. If this is not the case, a rescue organization such as CANTER –one popular thoroughbred rescue organization—will take the horses in and attempt to find them homes. Other horses are purchased by people straight off the track in order to train the horses to excel in a sport like jumping or dressage. The horses are known as OTTBs, or off the track thoroughbreds. Retraining a horse that has lived the formative years of its life at a race track can be a daunting task, but many people take on the challenge each year.

Obviously, what happens to retired horses can greatly differ. While some horses do have an unfortunate outcome, there are groups working to change this. Many OTTBs do go on to be successful show or family horses.