Author: admin

Racehorses retire from racing at various ages and what happens to them afterwards depends not just on their age, but also on other factors including their physical condition, sex, breeding potential, the financial goals of their owners and so on. On the Flat, many horses are retired to stud, as stallions or broodmares, at three or four years of age. Of course, if a colt has been gelded breeding is no longer an option, so many geldings go on racing much longer. In National Hunt racing, in which colts are customarily gelded in any case, horses typically reach their peak at seven years of age, or older, and may go on racing into their teenage years.

Breeding aside, post-retirement options may include racing, abroad, or in point-to-point races, retraining in another discipline, such as showjumping, dressage, three-day eventing or polo, or, if a horse is physically unfit, a retirement home. It is worth noting that, in Britain, owners who wish to prevent their horses from racing again cam register a so-called ‘Non-Racing Agreement’ with Weatherbys, which assists the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) under contract.

As far as second careers are concerned, Thoroughbred racehorses typically adapt well to retraining in other disciplines. Recent success stories included the 2018 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Native River, who qualified for the 2024 Horse of the Year show at his first attempt, and the 2015 Paddy Power Gold Cup winner Annacotty, who continues to excel in showjumping as a 16-year-old.

From the perspective of horse racing connections or, in other words, owners, trainers and jockeys, ‘P’ and ‘PU’ are undesirable abbreviations to see in the form synopsis of any horse. ‘P’ is more likely to appear in the at-a-glance form figures that appear to the left of the name of a horse on a typical racecard, while ‘PU’ is more likely to appear in detailed results, but both abbreviations stand for ‘Pulled Up’.

As the phrase suggests, if a horse is ‘pulled up’ during a race, it is brought deliberately, and safely, to a halt by its jockey, takes no further part in the race and is recorded as a non-finisher, on which all bets are lost. Horses may be pulled up for a variety of reasons, including exhaustion, distress, injury or any other set of circumstances that make it impossible, or unsafe, to continue. A tack failure, such as a slipping saddle, may render pulling up nigh on impossible and continuing to race, especially over hurdles or fences entirely out of the question. Pulling up is a more common in National Hunt racing than Flat racing, but not unknown in the latter.

Incidentally, instructing a racehorse to come to a halt does not pulling or tugging on the reins; voice and seat cues, followed by steady, even pressure on both reins, if necessary, avoids tug-o-war with a 1,000lb Thoroughbred. Once pulled up, a jockey can decide to walk or canter a horse back to the unsaddling enclosure, dismount and walk back or, if necessary, await the arrival of a horse ambulance.

In the same way as the abbreviations ‘P’ and ‘PU’ stand for ‘Pulled Up’ in horse racing form figures or detailed results in the form book, ‘U’ or ‘UR’ stands for ‘Unseated Rider’. It refers to a situation in which, for whatever reason, a horse parts company with its jockey, but does not, itself, lose its footing. If, on the other hand, horse does come to grief, of its own volition, or as the result of being impeded by a rival, this is denoted by ‘F’, for ‘Fell’, or ‘B’ or ‘BD’, for ‘Brought Down’.

Obviously, horses typically fall or are brought down at obstacles in National Hunt racing. Of course, they may also unseat rider as the result of a jumping error, but can also do so – albeit much less frequently – in Flat racing, as the result of stumbling, jinking or swerving or a tack failure, such as a slipping saddle.

Horses are herd animals, so a horse that has unseated its rider often continues to run ‘loose’ with the rest of the field, even as far as the finish line. Indeed, in the absence of the additional weight of a jockey, such a horse may well pass the winning post first, but, wherever it finishes, it is designated a non-finisher. Historically, in National Hunt racing, unseated jockeys were permitted to remount, if it was safe to do so, but the practice was banned by the British Horseracing Authority in November 2009.

The life expectancy of a horse varies according to its breed, habitat, living conditions and the availability of food and medical care. There are no hard and fast rules but, generally speaking, the larger the horse, in terms of both height and weight, the shorter its lifespan.

Truly wild horses, such as the rare and endangered Przewalski’s horse, and the feral descendants of domesticated species, such as the American mustang or Australian brumby, live for between 20 and 30 years on average. Domesticated horses, including Thoroughbred racehorses, typically live longer than their wild counterparts, and can reasonably be expected to live for between 30 and 35 years, or more, on average.

Indeed, according to Guinness World Records, the oldest horse, of any description, was Old Billy, who was bred in Lancashire, in Northwest England and died in 1822 at the age of 62. According to the same source, the oldest throughbred was Tango Duke, a gelding foaled in Victoria, Australia, who died in 1978 at the age of 42. Interestingly, no pedigree records exist for the latter exist, so he may, in fact, have been born to unregistered parents.

Of course, domesticated horses receive general care and attention, shelter and regular sustenance from their owners. They are protected from their natural predators, which, in the wild, include bears, mountain lions, wolves – and, of course, man – and have access to advanced veterinary care, making them less susceptible to bacterial and viral diseases, such as salmonella, tetanus and equine influenxa, to name but three.