Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
As the costs of all aspects of breeding increase and shifts in the sales market have seen the mid to low value tiers of bloodstock lower even further, an increasing number of broodmares are exchanging hands at the sales or leaving the industry altogether.
Where are they going, and how can we ensure that these important components of the racing industry are given the aftercare they deserve? For inspiration, we have gone overseas.
A seat at the table
Pennsylvania-born and raised Kyle Rothfus caught the horse bug as a child, and when he returned to horses in 2014 after a break, he became heavily involved in the United States life after racing community. Mares have always been his favourite to work with, and he began to recognise a gap in what was on offer for the most vulnerable among them.
“I really enjoy racing, and the breed is obviously purpose-bred for that, so we decided to get into breeding and racing so that I could actually be an insider and understand the sport more,” he told TTR AusNZ. “Then when I actually started breeding, I started to really see that there is a gap with broodmare retirement, and a lot of farms just don't know what to do.”
Kyle Rothfus
From Rothfus’s recognition, sprang Mareworthy Charities - Rothfus and his husband Sean Smith’s not-for-profit organisation for retired broodmares that facilitates rehoming for broodmares at the end of their breeding career. Their property in Lexington, Kentucky, is home to several retired broodmares, both permanent residents and transients on the way to their new homes, and they also assist with direct placement with mares coming to their farm in the intermediary.
They aren’t alone in their efforts - other charitable organisations stateside such as Second Stride and Mims Retirement Haven have broodmare arms - but Rothfus is more vocal than most in the thoroughbred industry about the broodmare’s plight.
Mares at risk
A primary concern for Rothfus is what happens when a broodmare outlives her purpose for one owner and is moved on without much consideration of where she will end up. While the Australian foal crop has stayed fairly level around 12-13,000 foals for the last decade, the US crop has halved in the last 20 years, falling from 34,000 to 17,000 in 2023.
“I don't think there's anything wrong with a kind end of life on a farm where a mare has actually been comfortable her whole life,” he said. “That, to me, is okay. I'd rather that than the horse who ends up with, ‘oh, we give them to a friend. We didn't follow up. There's no contract in place.’
“And that horse is the one who ends up in a bad spot.”
Older mares are particularly vulnerable to falling through the cracks, and the sales ring is no guarantee of a good home either. Numbers of mares heading through public auctions have not dramatically increased in this time, but Rothfus has seen trends in the prices they sell for.
Kyle Rothfus walking a mare
In his Paulick Report article on how retired broodmares end up in killpens, Rothfus looked at the hard numbers for older mares sold through the Keeneland mare sales and where they ended up. He observed that the median sale price for broodmares fell dramatically with age; for mares aged 15 and under, the median price was US$25,000 (A$39,000), dropping to US$13,000 (A$20,200) when the mare turns 16, and dropping as low as US$5000 (A$7800) when the mare is 19.
Keeneland, whose mare sales are regularly attended by Rothfus, stipulates that broodmares aged 18 years and upwards must be in foal to be eligible for the sale. He has noticed a trend in these mares being sold for a loss on the service fee, increasing their risk of disappearing from the industry.
“Those mares are really bought by people who are only buying the baby in the belly,” Rothfus said. “Once they have the baby, the mare ends up kind of in trouble.”
“Those mares (bought for less than the service fee they carry) are really bought by people who are only buying the baby in the belly. Once they have the baby, the mare ends up kind of in trouble.” - Kyle Rothfus
Inglis, for both their physical and digital auctions, is a little more lenient, permitting mares aged 20 and older into the sale if they are in foal, with a hard cut-off for entry at age 22. Magic Millions advised that, in line with Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers guidelines, mares above the age of 18 would not be accepted into their sales, aside from under special circumstances.
Sales trends in Australia differ slightly from the States; from small samples taken from the last eight Inglis Digital online sales, the average service fee among the 10 cheapest mares in foal or with foal at foot (not including passed in lots) was $24,524, whereas the average sales price for those mares was $11,902. However, the average age of these mares was 9.9-years-old, which suggests the need for further study into the age and prospects of mares going through sales.
According to data from Racing Australia, the average sale price for a broodmare across all sales dropped to $62,461 in the 2023/24 season - the lowest since 2015/16 - with the median down to a new low of $7500. There is no national breakdown by age, but does suggest a concerning amount of vulnerable mares at the lower end of the market.
Creating safety nets
Part of Rothfus’s mission involves connecting with farms and making vendors aware of alternative options for these older, less commercially valuable mares. Studs such as Claiborne Farm and Bonne Chance Farm are starting to implement safety nets to protect the more vulnerable mares offered for sale, including organising bidders ahead of time to give a mare a soft landing if she won’t make a profit.
Earlier this year, Claiborne Farm announced to the Paulick Report that they would be examining sales data across their consignments to determine an age cut-off for consigning broodmares, and also would be extending their in-house retirement services to their clients. Driven by breeder Dell Hancock, Claiborne’s existing retirement scheme covers retired geldings and broodmares, and facilitates private rehoming for Claiborne racehorses at the end of their careers. A two-part solution in one fell swoop.
Will Bishop, financial manager and CFO at Claiborne, is keen to reduce the risk of broodmares ending up in the slaughterhouse pipeline - a pervasive problem in America.
“We don’t want these types of situations,” Bishop told the Paulick Report. “Obviously when you sell a horse, you expect that the person buying it is going to take as good of care of it as you have, but that may not happen, especially with these older horses. We just don’t want to risk that, and we don’t want our clients to have to risk that.
“Obviously when you sell a horse, you expect that the person buying it is going to take as good of care of it as you have, but that may not happen, especially with these older horses. We just don’t want to risk that, and we don’t want our clients to have to risk that.” - Will Bishop
“If implementing an age cut-off and offering a retirement option prevents even a handful of these situations from getting to that point, it will be a win.”
Pathways after racing
Jennifer Krawczyk (nee Hughes), Equine Welfare Consultant, has been an important figure in the equine welfare sphere over recent years, previously having led the development and delivery of Racing Victoria’s Equine Welfare Strategic Plan.
As part of her commitment to safeguarding racehorse welfare, she has become involved with the International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses. Her belief is that the conversation of aftercare can begin even earlier, and should start as the racing career of a potential broodmare comes to a close.
Di Arbuthnot and Jennifer Krawczyk | Image courtesy of the International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses
“These are the principles that I try to speak to people about,” she said. “It starts with when they retire from racing. Be really clear about the decision you make to retire your mare into breeding, and that's kind of broader about bringing another foal into the world. I think you can't have this conversation without talking about that.
“Should your mare even be bred? Because otherwise, it possibly would be better for that horse to become a ridden horse and then have 15 years in (the) equestrian (world).”
Krawczyk pointed out that an older horse often struggles to adjust to a second or third career, particularly when the demands on their body and mind are very different to what they have been previously doing. In her work expanding Racing Victoria’s Off The Track Program, she has witnessed this firsthand.
“When horses retire from racing, they go through a transition and you (have to) assess their risk status. Broodmares are at higher risk for a number of reasons. They're usually older, they've been in a paddock for a few years. They've lost all that ridden condition. So their options at the point of retiring from being a broodmare are a lot less than their options at the point of retiring from racing.”
“... They're (broodmares) usually older, they've been in a paddock for a few years. They've lost all that ridden condition. So their options at the point of retiring from being a broodmare are a lot less than their options at the point of retiring from racing.” - Jennifer Krawczyk
She also advocates for reassessing a mare’s suitability - and success - as a broodmare after her first few foals, and retiring her earlier when she is less likely to struggle with transition.
“In the RESET program, we knew that if a horse came in for retraining over the age of 15 or having had more than a year in the paddock, all of those things contributed to it being very hard to transition them.
“You (have to) look at the horse's value and their risk of being unwanted, and (the likelihood of) not finding a suitable home for them,” she said.
The other challenge facing the broodmare transitioning to a third career is a lack of incentive for the equestrian community to take them home.
Rothfus recently launched Mareworthy Academy, a free 8-week course that aims to educate new would-be owners on equine husbandry and demonstrate how the broodmare can be the perfect first horse; she is generally well handled, level headed, and looking for love. He hopes to boost the amount of people considering welcoming a retired broodmare into their life.
In 2023, The Thoroughbred Makeover Project piloted a Broodmare Division of their competition, which attracted 26 mares with an average age of 12 competing across nine of the ten disciplines available.
This has transformed into a fully fledged part of the program at this year’s competition, with the backing of Claiborne Farm and Lane’s End Farm. This could be an avenue for events like Equimillion, who this year launched their New Star class for thoroughbreds retiring in the 12 months before the competition.
End of life planning
“We, as an industry, need to get more comfortable talking about end of life planning.”
When Rothfus talks about aftercare, he places particular emphasis on end of life care and the importance of giving a comfortable end to a mare’s life. He is no stranger to receiving backlash for embracing euthanasia as sometimes the kindest answer, but he is steadfast in his opinion.
“Part of the reason we are based in the Lexington, Kentucky area is because we have access to the best veterinarians,” he said. “I have never had a problem or a lack of veterinary care. When I made a decision to euthanise something, it’s because I've watched the horse suffer.
“We need to be willing to show the bad days. I can prep the public for the same experience I have. If all they ever see (on social media) is the happy, healthy horse that's out there running around, (then) I need to show them the 90 per cent of the time where the horse can't get up off the ground.
“We would, as an industry, serve ourselves better if we decided we are the finality. We made the decision to bring the horse into the world, and we are therefore also deciding the right thing to do is to euthanise it today so that we don't have a horse suffering for five years.”
“We would, as an industry, serve ourselves better if we decided we are the finality. We made the decision to bring the horse into the world, and we are therefore also deciding the right thing to do is to euthanise it today so that we don't have a horse suffering for five years.” - Kyle Rothfus
Rothfus understands the industry’s fears about publicising end of life decisions for horses. The recent death of Black Caviar made waves beyond the sphere of the industry, and breeders have a right to be wary of the fallout.
At a certain point though, Rothfus pointed out, euthanasia becomes the ethical and financially viable choice, and we shouldn’t be afraid of that. It is far more preferable than the alternative; hoping someone else will take the burden for you.
“It looks better for me if I sold the horse and then it's someone else's problem, than if I report the horse died on my watch,” Rothfus said.
“If you've taken in 30 (horses) and you've euthanised 10, that looks really bad. People ask, ‘why are they all dying when they get to your farm?’ Well, no. We're taking in all the crippled, broken horses. We took in 30 and we rehomed 20. And we kept 10, and the 10 that we kept might all be completely crippled.”
Kyle Rothfus with a mare
Krawczyk had similar feelings on the subject, echoing Rothfus’s idea of “lifetime commitment” to mares. She strongly supports looking for a new home first, but also acknowledges sometimes circumstances force your hand and that it is kinder than the alternative.
“Be really honest about your horse’s prospects,” she reiterated. “If they don't have prospects sometimes, (one of) the kinder things to do is to make the decision about an 18 or a 19-year-old horse that euthanasia might be better than going around the sales houses and hoping someone else will provide for them for the remainder of their life.”
“If they don't have prospects sometimes, (one of) the kinder things to do is to make the decision about an 18 or a 19-year-old horse that euthanasia might be better than going around the sales houses and hoping someone else will provide for them for the remainder of their life.” - Jennifer Krawczyk
Lessons to learn
There is no easy solution to life after breeding. Broodmares have narrowed prospects post-breeding compared to the racehorse just retiring off of the track, often they have greater care needs and there are less incentives to take one in. Sometimes we can repay them with years in the paddock or a third career in a new home, sometimes a comfortable death at home is the ultimate kindness.
What industry participants need to consider is a commitment to broodmares beyond their last foal, and governing bodies need to consider including broodmares in their aftercare planning. Openly discussing the avenues available to older mares and the challenges they face can go hand in hand with improving the outcomes for these vulnerable horses at the end of their service to us.
