Its been 8 yrs since the most influential man in my life, other than my dad, passed away.
He had a passion that he passed on to me, a passion that will stay with me till i pass.
His passion was horses and in particular, rescuing racehorses or yearlings being prepared for racing.
In his many years of rescuing these retired racehorses (and yearlings) he probably rescued well over 100 horses.
Many racehorses, once worth millions, would be worth at most £200 once there owners, riders and trainers had had their best from them. They would be sold for their meat. The deteriation of these animals from when they leave their owners to the day they go to market is ashamedly horrific.

The most poignant memory i have (among others) was going to the market with my uncle one day.
As we walked up to the arena, there were stalls to the left and right of us. In one of the stalls was a beautiful horse kneeling down, albeit a little grubby and sullen. I went over to the stall and noticed the reason he was not standing. He had a broken leg. Immediately i started crying as he had a gaping wound over the break which i could tell had been there for sometime as it had green pus oozing from it.
The market attendant, when it was time for him to be bought to the arena, whipped, prodded and poked the horse as hard as they could to get him to move. The horse was trying his best but with three legs it was obviously hard for him.
He was the fourth horse my uncle bought that day.
Once he was handed over to us, my uncle and i gave him some high quality food and some treats and made a lot of fuss over him. He perked up quite a bit and even tried to follow my uncle as he walked over to his car. My uncle had to call the vet in to euthanize the horse, but while he was being injected, both me and my uncle held him and stroked as he passed away.

He also rescued many yearling that were bred specifically for racing, but when it came to the time to show them under tack, some where not used. These yearlings would either be sold on to loving owners, but most would be sent to slaughter.
You only have to google with the tags horseracing, abuse, yearlings, or look on youtube to see the physical abuse and mental anguish that these magnificent creatures suffer
I am not trying to get you to sign a petition or stop betting or anything else. I just want to make people aware and of not only the abuse, but the influence a great man had on me and those that worked with him.
RIP Uncle B
(I understand that many out there do not like Peta, but this video was the most appropriate - i am not trying to push Peta on you and would have trimmed the Peta bit off but i dont have the time)