The German Animal Welfare Association uses current data from the sport of galloping1 to illustrate that horse racing is highly relevant to animal welfare. Whip use tops the list of animal welfare offences in 2024: 73 times jockeys used the whip too frequently or incorrectly. 18 horses became lame as a result of gallop races, and in 16 cases, horses used the whip suffered nosebleeds. The German Animal Welfare Association is campaigning for an end to gallop racing.
‘Gallop racing is not compatible with the idea of animal welfare. Horses are sent to the racetrack far too young without any consideration for their physical development and psychological stress, and are then trimmed to peak performance with whip lashes. The price they pay for this is high. They fall, break their legs and go beyond their natural limits. They would only perform like this in the wild in a life-threatening situation,’ explains Andrea Mihali, horse expert at the German Animal Welfare Association.
Disproportionate use of the whip
According to the German Gallop Association, the use of whips is precisely defined in the racing regulations; riders who misuse them face fines or a ban from racing for several days. However, this procedure had no significant impact on the use of whips in the 2024 racing year. The figures recorded by the German Animal Welfare Association show that offences against the use of whips occurred most frequently. In 60 cases, jockeys used the whip incorrectly, and 13 times it was used more frequently than the three strokes permitted per race. Compared to 2023, this is almost twice as many offences, although the number of races fell from 951 to 893. The penalties are deliberately accepted - the majority of the penalised jockeys even appeared repeatedly in the statistics in 2024. The whip lashes are intended to push horses to a higher speed - despite studies showing that the blows impair the animals' coordination of movement and thus increase the risk of injury.
In horse racing, the animals suffer injuries time and again, as the competition harbours a considerable risk - a risk that those responsible accept for the sake of sporting success and the prize money. The physical and psychological strain on young horses is also considerable. According to the data documented by the German Animal Welfare Association, 54 per cent of the animals fully used in gallop racing were only between three and four years old. Ten per cent were sent to the races at the age of two. The accommodation of the horses is also problematic. For example, one-year-old young horses usually spend most of the day in boxes instead of out in the pasture with other horses of the same species. However, the ‘Guidelines for Animal Welfare in Equestrian Sports’ stipulate that horses must be kept in groups up to the age of 30 months.
Sources
1 German Gallop, www.deutschergalopp.de
