Lorelle Ackland

Re-home Horses and the Racehorse Outplacement Program

02-Sep-2010: Re-Home Horses (RHH) is committed to the rehabilitation, re-training and re-homing of retired racehorses. By implementing a system where horses are assessed, retrained and sold on to suitable homes we can not only reduce the amount of horse wastage in this country but also improve the reputation of the racing industry.

Currently there is nothing in place in QLD to support the rehabilitation of ex racehorses. In Victoria there is a fantastic program
developed by Bill Saunders, the founder of Cyberhorse. This program is called ROP (Racehorse Outplacement Program).

The objective of the ROP is to encourage racehorse owners to support the rehab and retraining of their horses once their racing career is over.

RHH has teamed up with Cyberhorse to help promote the ROP in QLD. Bill Saunders has been working hard over the past two years to set up the ROP. He not only has sponsorship from some of the largest horse product suppliers, retailers and Associations but Racing Victoria has also jumped on board to support the Program.

Another exciting element of the ROP is the Support package that will be provided to all new ROP horse buyers. This package is made up of $1500 worth of products and vouchers donated by a number of ROP sponsors. The ROP has been designed to benefit all parties involved, this being the owner of the horse, the horse, the re-trainer and the program itself. The objective being to increase the value of the horse once it’s time on the track has come to an end.

The first step is to have the horse professionally assessed. The horse will be given a 100 point assessment to determine all of its strengths and weaknesses and to ultimately determine its eligibility to be enrolled in to the ROP. The initial assessment will help to build a detailed dossier on each horse which will be available to potential buyers during resale and may also be used as a research tool in years to come. If the assessment finds the horse to be a suitable candidate for the ROP then the owner will be asked to pay a $2000 bond to help fund the retraining of the horse. This bond amount will be returned to the owner upon sale of the horse along with 70% of all profits made over $2000.

We do understand that circumstances change and sometimes it is simply not possible for the owner to provide the bond money and in these cases we will accept the horse as an ‘unsupported’ ROP horse. An unsupported horse will be purchased by RHH, Cyberhorse or in some cases the re-trainer, for a nominal amount.

The horse will then be retrained and sold on with profits of sale being divided between the ROP and re-trainer. Although we accept unsupported horses we do encourage owners to provide the bond money to help fund the program.

All horses being retrained through RHH will now be enrolled in the ROP. By working together we will create a nationwide system where horses will ultimately be paying for their own retirement.

ReHomeHorses
m. 0400 086 661  h. 07 5533 8518
www.rehomehorses.com




Author: Lorelle Ackland (Rehome Horses)