VIDEO. Hippodrome de la Cépière in Toulouse: what happens to the horses after the race?
Present this Wednesday in Toulouse on the occasion of the meeting of too many, the association l’Écurie à toi l’honneur accompanies the horses towards their retirement. Reportage.
This Wednesday, June 22, the harnessed trot race at the Toulouse racecourse was an opportunity to discover the future of the horses at the end of the course. This is what Magalie Vincent, president of the Écurie à toi l’honneur, association works for.
“The goal is to relieve the professionals of the sector for the end of life of the trotters. There is work to be done when exiting the race with the horses. First of all, on the dishes at rest. They then see specialized doctors. Once they have recovered, we work with them again using an ethological method, based on behavioral science. The method is still little known, but it gives good results”.
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“The average retirement age is around 8 or 9 years old, she explains, but some horses are up to 11 years old. They have levels to pass, with gains to be obtained as the races progress and age. If they do not pass these levels of requirement, there are no more suitable courses for them”.
Especially since, according to her, “the trotter is shunned. They are not always easy horses. Their silhouette, cut for racing, does not suit the criteria of equine aesthetics”.
The ‘reformed’ or ‘reconverted’ horses are offered for adoption, for a sum of 2,200 to 3,000 euros per animal. “Some are ready to rework, but others can no longer be mounted,” she notes.
Whatever the fate of the horses that arrive at the stables, all of them are rehabilitated. “We teach them that to remove fear, it’s not just about running away. There is calm. The goal is for the horses to understand that they can adapt to their environment, not suffer it. That when they stop, the whole environment they are fleeing stops with them. »