Horse racing involves high-speed exercise in animals bred for maximum performance, with injury rates, euthanasia, and post-career welfare all significant welfare concerns.
Horse racing is an industry where elite athletic breeding, high-speed training, and commercial pressure combine to create a significant rate of serious injury. Many of these injuries are catastrophic and result in euthanasia on the track. Prevention approaches including better track surfaces, pre-race imaging for hidden fractures, medication controls, and workload limits are all evidence-supported. Post-career welfare is a separate but equally important challenge: thoroughbred temperament and training make many ex-racehorses difficult to retrain and rehome without specialist intervention.