The Racing Foundation has awarded the Horse Welfare Board a grant of £3million over three years to support its cross-industry work to improve equine welfare in British racing.
The grant will be used to deliver the horse welfare projects identified in the industry's “A life well-lived” strategy–a five-year plan to ensure the highest standards of welfare for all horses bred for British racing. Released in stages over the next three years, the funding will cover multiple projects to drive forward important developments in safety, data, and traceability along with supporting program and executive team costs.
Obstacle improvement and development and the advancement of the sport's Jump Racing Risk Model (JRRM) are two of the Horse Welfare Board's key safety projects for the first year of the grant. With support from external epidemiology experts, the JRRM will become a one-stop-shop for data on racehorse falls to identify trends and help drive forward the sport's risk management actions.
Helena Flynn, Horse Welfare Board Program Director said, “Since the formation of the team last year, detailed work has been carried out to scope, prioritize, and cost the core initiatives from the Life Well Lived Strategy. To date, we have delivered the implementation of the equine vision project, have redefined racing's responsibility to Thoroughbreds at their first step out of racing and have laid the groundwork for critical data projects. We now have 17 projects live and with the Racing Foundation's core funding secured we can progress at speed.”
For more information on the Horse Welfare Board and its initiatives, click here.
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