The end of a horse's racing days is a delicate subject for many people. There are all number of well performed and/or bred mares who can happily retire to become broodmares but what of the ones that aren't? What of the geldings, or the colts whose performance/bloodlines are not suitable for breeding? There are also those horses that never make it to the track at all, or indeed the older mares who can no longer be bred.

I've owned ex racehorses as hacks in past years but last year I suddenly found myself on the opposite side of the fence. Some years earlier I had emptied the bank account to buy a beautifully bred weanling filly that not only demonstrated a remarkable talent for wind sucking when she was first put into the box during her yearling prep but who, quite simply, never grew. 2.5 years later the bills were piling up and, based overseas, I faced the horrible choice of cutting my losses and culling her - or just finding someone with a big paddock that could take her. I chose to offer her at auction with the condition that I would take her home if the doggers tried to buy her -and I'm pleased to say she was purchased as a riding hack (albeit a small one!) and the new owner has said that if she ever does grow then he will breed from her. The process did however give me pause for thought ... these horses are easy enough to buy but what happens when things don't turn out the way you want them to?

Helen McDonald writes for the Athlone blog on occasion (and keeps a blog of her own on the Massie Lodge website). She informed me today that their bloodstock arm - Gallopers - now offers a new section called Retirees which is a service that relocates retired racehorses to a loving home.

Helen says "There had to be away to connect these horses looking for a new life with an owner looking for a horse to ride/love/care for. Hence the Retirees Service was born!"

Massie Lodge is not new at helping with retirees. The farm offers special rates for long term agisters and Helen is well known for having saved the 19 year old mare Splendid Feeling for $200 from a monthly sale and letting her live out her final years on the property. Other horses Helen has helped place now "work" at bringing in the cattle, pony clubbing, or just acting as a companion. The latest retiree to find a home was Ring Cycle, a 9yo brown gelding who had raced 62 times for 13 wins and 17 placings and almost $100,000 in prize money.

"We are putting together a flyer to post, email and fax to trainers to let them know of the service," says Helen. "What we did with Ring Cycle was bring him here to Massie Lodge, give him time to let down and get the grain out of his system, get his shoes off and have his feet trimmed and then advertise him on the website. We were inundated with takers. I was stunned.

"The next step is to educate trainers and owners to think differently about their charges and to realise that the end of a horses racing career doesn't mean the end of his or her life," says Helen. "It means the start of something special afterwards and hopefully I can make a difference and find that "something special" for each him and her".