This is our general campaign leaflet for the issue of horse racing, which covers the numerous ways in which the racing industry exploits and harms horses.
Animal Aid campaigns to end all racing of horses. The industry is cruel and exploitative, and prioritises profits above horses’ lives. We’ve spent over twenty years exposing the reality of this heavily romanticised ‘sport’, successfully changing both public perception and media coverage.
Horse racing is ‘self-regulated’, meaning the industry polices itself, and its own rules allow for a tremendous amount of pain and suffering to be inflicted upon horses. This is why our annual report on the Victims of British and Irish Horse Racing is so important, bringing transparency where the industry provides none.
Hundreds of horses are killed on racecourses every year, and horses are the only animal who can be legally beaten in public – all within the British Horseracing Authority’s permitted standards. For a ‘sport’ that uses animals, the only way to give them the rights they deserve is to abolish it – which is exactly what we’re working towards.
What's the problem with racing horses?
Our latest annual report, Victims of British and Irish Horse Racing 2025-26, is now available as a free digital download. This detailed investigation gathers verified data from across the UK and Ireland to reveal the scale of suffering experienced by horses.
What is Animal Aid doing?
One of the best-known elements of our campaign against the racing of horses, is our Death Watch website. Launched in 2007, after nine horses died during Cheltenham the previous year, its purpose is to record and expose the deaths of horses due to on-course injuries in Britain. We are improving our approach to try to record every life lost, but secrecy within the industry means the true numbers may be much higher.
Animal Aid has uncovered the stark reality for horses and ponies who are no longer wanted in our society. Between October 2019 and February 2020, we filmed inside a UK abattoir that slaughters horses. The majority of the horses were killed for meat, destined to be sold for human consumption abroad.
In 2025, 811 horses with racing industry passports were sent to slaughter in England, 80% of whom were just 10 years old or younger.
This year of the horse, we’re focussing on the individuals at the heart of the issue – the horses. There are thousands of incredible personalities with inspiring, and all too often heartbreaking stories to tell. Each week we are introducing a new horse.
Take action for horses
No animal should suffer for sport. It’s time to end the racing of horses and other animals exploited in the name of entertainment.
