It was my dream to work with horses when I was a child. I trained hard with the B.H.S to gain qualifications in equine management, riding and teaching skills. I did not mind which field of equestrianism I worked in as long as I was able to gain expertise in caring for horses.

After working a while in a veterinary surgery, I managed to work part time at various studs in and around Newmarket, for the racing industry.

As a child Red Rum and Desert Orchid were my equine heroes so I felt proud to be a part of the 'racing game', including the breeding programmes, care of mares and foals and bringing on the yearlings for sale.

I was proud then ... yet not now, because I have learned over the years that many of those brood mares were bred all of their lives. Brood mares are used as walking incubators - then when their reproductive years are over, they are tragically sent to slaughter or worse, shipped abroad on excruciatingly long and tiring journeys which results in the same terrible fate, death by slaughter.

Some mares suffered wombs that tore with the strain, and youngsters that did not meet the required sale price would also be destroyed, ending their lives at the tender age of less than two years. How can this be acceptable in a modern, evolved and civilised society?

I am sure these practices do not happen at every stud but I am sorry to say it does happen and I have personally witnessed such wrongdoing and because of that I can no longer work for a racing industry that permits such cruelty and wasted life.

I would not even ‘have a flutter’ on the Grand National because I cannot justify investing money in an industry where dependent and innocent animals are treated as machines, simply for monetary gain and exploitation by human beings.

British Actress, Melita Morgan

CVFA Patron

September 2011