Report Supporting the Creation of the Responsible Retirement of Racehorses Fund

REPORT ON LEGISLATION BY THE
ANIMAL LAW COMMITTEE

A.5734 (M. of A. Glick)

AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to the creation of the responsible retirement of racehorses fund; to amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, in relation to a horse registration fee; and to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to the responsible retirement of horses.

THIS LEGISLATION IS APPROVED

I. SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION

The proposed legislation would establish a retirement fund (the “Retirement Fund”) for racehorses through which approved retirement and rescue programs would be eligible to receive funding for the care of retired Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses (the “Act”).[1] This legislation would provide funds for the humane aftercare of retired racehorses. Financing for the fund would be generated from a percentage of purses from racetracks and video lottery gaming revenue, a percentage of the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund annual revenue, a percentage of fees generated by the Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding and Development Fund, and through a new horse registration fee.

II. ARGUMENT SUMMARY

Racehorses are excessively bred in New York State without adequate retirement provisions. New York State incentivizes the breeding of racehorses and earns enormous revenues from race-horsing but provides no support for the aftercare of retired racehorses. As a result, thousands of racehorses are slaughtered annually in Canada or Mexico. Horse slaughter is a brutal and inhumane practice and entirely distinct from humane euthanasia. When not slaughtered, many other horses face neglect by owners and nonprofits with inadequate resources to care for retired racehorses. In lieu of slaughter retired racehorses can be retrained for second careers that benefit humans and horses alike; in addition to equestrian sports, retired racehorses show great promise in therapeutic, medical, rehabilitative, and correctional settings. This bill provides funding for such training.

Further, horse slaughter for human consumption poses severe risks to human health since racehorses are routinely administered drugs that are toxic to humans. And finally, the proposed racehorse retirement fund will not have financial implications for taxpayers or the New York state budget as it will be supported through the racing industry.

III. JUSTIFICATION

A. New York State Actively Encourages The Breeding Of Racehorses But Provides No Support For The Aftercare Of Retired Racehorses

Horse breeding is strongly incentivized in New York State through massive purses and year-end awards and millions of dollars invested into horse breeding farms.[2] New York supports the breeding of Standardbred and Thoroughbred racehorses through two public corporations, both of which are financed through pari-mutuel wagering in New York and created through legislation establishing funding.[3] The public corporations receive money from income at licensed racetracks within the state and use these funds for monetary incentives for Thoroughbred breeding as well as purses and payouts to New York bred winning horses.[4] Together the funds pay out millions of dollars per year to racehorse breeders and owners. In 2019 the Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding and Development Fund paid out $1 million in awards to breeders,[5] and the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund paid out $15.5 million in awards to breeders and owners.[6]

There are ample horse-racing revenues to draw from for funding the responsible retirement of racehorses in New York. Horse-racing generates huge profits in the New York, one of the largest horse-racing hubs in the United States.[7] A 2018 economic study found that the economic impact generated by the New York horse industry reached $5.3 billion in 2016.[8] Further, the economic impact specifically generated by the New York horse-racing industry reached over $3 billion in 2016.[9] Despite enormous funding and profits there is no state-sponsored fund for the responsible retirement of racehorses.

As a result of these economic incentives, the population of racehorses and racehorse breeders in New York has markedly risen.[10] Breeding operations produce thousands of so-called surplus Thoroughbreds.[11] The New York State Legislature’s Task Force on Retired Racehorses has estimated that there are approximately 50,200 racehorses in New York with an estimated annual attrition rate of 39%.[12] These statistics do not even account for racehorses that are bred but not raced or retired before their first race.[13] Further, a significant percent of horses are minimally competitive on the track and retired early. Even those horses who are successful in horse-racing will only be able to race for less than half of their lifetime.[14] It is estimated that at least 3,000 racehorses are retired each year — most before the age of seven.[15] Yet a well-cared-for horse has an average lifespan of 30 years.[16] Therefore, a racehorse is likely to spend at least two-thirds of its life off the track, with no prospect of earning income as a racehorse for its owner.

Based upon the above factors the New York State Legislature’s Task Force on Retired Racehorses recommended procuring funding for retired racehorses and other measures to promote the responsible retirement of racehorses.[17] Although the Task Force issued recommendations in 2011, only one of the Task Force’s recommendations — that racehorse owners and trainers watch a video on the responsible retirement of racehorses — has since been enacted into law.[18]

B. Animal Welfare

                                i. Neglect

Retired racehorses in New York State are currently subject to significant neglect at the hands of nonprofit rescue operations and private owners that have inadequate resources to care for them.[19] The Task Force estimated that the cost of maintaining a retired racehorse is $7.75 per day (approximately $2,800 per year) and $12.75 per day for a six-month retraining and rehabilitation period after a racehorse is retired from racing (approximately $4,700 per year).[20] Despite these relatively modest expenses, rescue and retirement facilities are often so strapped for cash that that the costs become prohibitive and horses entrusted to their care suffer. An investigation by the New York Times of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation revealed that a large proportion of former racehorses had been neglected due to slow and delinquent payments to boarding farms.[21] Many of the horses were found to be malnourished, emaciated and in need of urgent care while others died of starvation or had to be euthanized.[22] The Times investigation led to a lawsuit by Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York, against the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and its board of directors for mismanagement of the foundation.[23] The lawsuit was eventually settled.[24] Other thoroughbred retirement non-profit organizations nationwide have been subject to similar neglect charges and resulted in revocation of non-profit status.[25]

The number of retired racehorses that are neglected are likely underestimated since there is no system in place to register and track retired horses and very little is known about what happens to them once they leave the racetrack.[26] For example, the New York Gaming Commission initiated a survey to attempt to account for horses that last raced in New York from 2010-2012.[27] The Commission was able to identify approximately 3,800 horses that fit that description; however, as of January 2017, it was able to locate only approximately 1,082 of those horses (28%) and the status more than 2,800 horses’ (73%) remained unknown.[28]

                              ii. Slaughter

A staggering number of American horses are slaughtered annually in Mexico and Canada. Many racehorses end up at slaughter auctions within a week of their last race.[29] In 2019 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that over 52,221 horses were exported from the United States to Mexico for slaughter,[30] while significant numbers were likely exported to Canada.[31] Approximately 100,000 American horses are slaughtered annually in Mexico and Canada.[32] 92% of the American horses sent to slaughter are in good health and condition and able to live a productive life.[33] A signification proportion of horses exported for slaughter are racehorses. It is estimated that approximately 33,000 racehorses are slaughtered annually in Mexico and Canada.[34] A study by the Wild for Life Foundation found that on average 70% of the annual Thoroughbred foal crop died at slaughterhouses.[35] Even prizewinning horses are not exempt from this fate.[36] PETA estimates that 10,000 Thoroughbreds are slaughtered annually, meaning that half of the 20,000 new foals born each year will be slaughtered.[37] These horses are regularly sourced from New York State or are transported via the New York State thruway to slaughter.[38]

Instances of young, healthy, and good-tempered racehorses being sold to slaughterhouses without a clear paper trail are well-documented. For example, a rescuer bid for a healthy and even-tempered Thoroughbred stallion named Morning Herald at a livestock auction in Unadillo, New York.[39] There is no trail of how Morning Herald, who last raced less than a year before, ended up at the Unadillo auction, and his former owner could not remember to whom he had given the horse.[40]

The horse slaughter transport process is arduous and cruel. Horses are shipped for more than 24 hours to Canada or Mexico without food, water or rest in crowded trucks that are designed for cattle.[41] A significant percent of horses are transported on journeys that exceed journey regulatory duration limits in the United States and Canada.[42] During these long trips, horses often become agitated, exhausted, dehydrated.[43] Many horses are seriously injured or killed in transit.[44] The USDA has documented the injuries that the horses sustain during travel to slaughter plants, which include “gouged-out eyes and gruesome head injuries, open fractures, broken legs and severed hooves, trampling and bleeding to death.”[45] Further, due to inadequate USDA completion of owner/shipper certificates these transport injuries are underreported.[46]

Horse slaughter is a brutal and inhumane practice and entirely distinct from humane euthanasia. Once across the border in Mexico or Canada, federal and state laws for regulating transport[47] and slaughter, such as the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act,[48] cease to apply. Those horses still alive to be slaughtered may be killed without anesthesia.[49] Horses often endure repeated blows and remain conscious during dismemberment.[50] Multiple investigations have found that the typical method of stunning horses regularly fails to render horses unconscious before they are butchered.[51] Some Mexican slaughterhouses stun horses with hammers or small knives called puntillas which often leave horses conscious and sensate as they bleed to death.[52]

C. Racehorses Can Be Re-trained For Second Careers That Benefit Humans

Racehorses can readily be re-trained for second careers that benefit horses and humans alike in therapeutic, medical, rehabilitative, and correctional settings. The training that a typical racehorse receives makes the horse an excellent candidate for a second career. As the Task Force noted, racehorses are accustomed to being around groups of people and noise, traveling in vans and trailers, and working in unfamiliar surroundings.[53] They are also adapted to handling, stabling, grooming, and bathing.[54] Accordingly, the Task Force asserts that investment in racehorse transition and retraining will likely result in successful adaptation to a new career.[55] The Retirement Fund would provide money for retraining racehorses for such second careers.

In the medical therapy realm, therapeutic riding programs for individuals with disabilities exhibit tremendous potential. In fact, a recent study demonstrated that horseback riding improves symptoms among adults and children with motor function, balance, and gait disorders.[56] New York based therapeutic riding programs such as the Saratoga Therapeutic Equestrian Program (STEP) provide restorative horseback riding exercise to individuals with neuromuscular disabilities by stimulating unused, contracted or spastic muscles.[57] Children and adults with cerebral palsy, autism, spina bifida, traumatic brain injury, blindness, and other impairments receive treatment at STEP.[58] In addition, hippotherapy is an effective treatment modality using horses to provide physical, occupational and speech therapy (distinct from therapeutic horseback riding) for patients with neurological disabilities as well as autism, head injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, among others.[59]

Retired racehorses have also been successfully used as therapy animals for veterans with PTSD. PTSD is an epidemic among veterans that requires alternative and complimentary treatment modalities.[60] Horses are particularly well suited to assist veterans with PTSD based upon their social nature and natural sensitivity to human emotion and behavior.[61] Veterans and horses share commonalities; like veterans with PTSD, horses are hyper-vigilant and attuned to their environments and have a “mission-mentality.”[62] Several recent studies have established the effectiveness of equine-assisted therapy for veterans with PTSD.[63] Nonprofits using equine-assisted therapy for veterans are on the rise. EAGALA Military Services utilizes horses to help veterans process trauma and relies on “clinical evidence and generations of human experience.”[64] Examples of New York based projects providing equestrian therapy to veterans with PTSD include the Man-O-War Project, Saratoga WarHorse Foundation, and Warrior Ranch Foundation.[65]

Retired racehorses also offer benefits for prison inmates. By training retired racehorses for second careers, prisoners receive vocational skill training, rehabilitation, and therapeutic benefits.[66] The current lack of rehabilitation and vocational job skills training in prisons creates significant obstacles for formerly incarcerated individuals to secure employment and thrive in society.[67] Further, equine-based prison programs appear to reduce recidivism.[68] Retired racehorses are used as vocational therapy at New York’s Wallkill Correctional Facility, where inmates are taught to retrain racehorses for second careers or adoption by private individuals.[69] The program regularly has a transformative effect on participating prisoners.[70] Creation of the Retirement Fund will provide funding to expand programming and enable the participation of many more retired racehorses in these valuable programs.

D. Public Health Benefit

Horse slaughter for human consumption poses severe risks to human health. Unlike pigs and cattle, horses in the United States are not bred for human consumption.[71] Horses are routinely administered drugs that are banned in animals raised for food and unregulated in food production.[72] The most commonly used equine anti-inflammatory drug, phenylbutazone or “bute,” is banned in animals intended for human consumption based on its severe and lethal adverse effects in humans, including bone marrow toxicity and aplastic anemia.[73] The number of horses receiving phenylbutazone shortly before slaughter is projected to be high based upon records of racehorses given bute on race day and then sent for slaughter.[74] Phenylbutazone is one of many drugs routinely administered to horses which the USDA cautions should not be used in horses intended for human consumption.[75] Nitrofurazone, a commonly used equine ointment, is also highly toxic to humans.[76] And drugs such as steroids, deworming agents, tranquilizing substances, sedatives, and performance-enhancing drugs regularly administered to racehorses pose health hazards for humans.[77] Racehorses are also given illegal drugs such as “chemicals that bulk up pigs and cattle before slaughter, cobra venom, Viagra, blood doping agents, stimulants and cancer drugs.”[78]

In an audit of the Mexican horsemeat industry, the European Commission found that the United States, where 87% of horses exported from Mexico to the European Union originated, lacked adequate records on drugs used in its horses, and without such records there was no way to assure consumers that such exports were safe to consume.[79]

E. No Cost To NY Taxpayers

The proposed law would be self-funded by the racing industry and would not require tax revenue from New York citizens or allocation from the New York State budget. As the Task Force has indicated, the racing industry has responsibility to take ownership of the post-racing fate of horses that allow the industry to thrive and contribute financially to this process.[80] To that end, the proposed law is crafted to ensure that funds for supporting the aftercare of retired racehorses originate from the racehorse industry itself, which has considerable profits to draw upon (as discussed above).

In particular, under the proposed law, the Retirement Fund would receive income from five different sources:

(i) One-half of one percent of the commissions from video lottery gaming revenue from New York racetracks and the Resorts World Casino New York City and any future video lottery;

(ii) One-half of one percent of all purses at New York racetracks;

(iii) Five percent of the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund annual revenue;

(iv) Ten percent of fees generated by the Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund; and

(v) The proceeds from a horse registration fee, which will be instituted by the Retirement Fund.[81]

Although the funding sources proposed in the Act are slightly different from those proposed by the Task Force, the total revenue received by the Retirement Fund under the Act should meet or exceed the $5 million target proposed by the Task Force. For example, the New York State Gaming Commission’s 2018 Annual Report shows that it received $947 million in video gaming commissions, which would equal approximately $4.7 million for the Retirement Fund.[82] The 2018 Annual Report also reported $286 million in gross purses paid at New York racetracks, which would equal another $1.4 million for the Retirement Fund.[83]

IV. Conclusion

For the reasons above, the New York City Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee supports the proposed legislation.

Animal Law Committee
Chris Wlach, Chair

Reissued July 2021