Last racing season HDR donated over $15k to various charities through our ‘Friday Charity Bet’ initiative and various other one-off donations. Charities that benefited from this support include Beyond Blue, Equine Pathways, St Vincent Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, Royal Children’s Hospital, Royal Flying Doctor Service, Lort Smith Animal Hospital, Magical Getaway Foundation, Skyline Education Foundation and Melbourne East Disability Service.
Giving back to the community is something we feel strongly about, and through the wonderful support of our owners we are in a position to do so. This racing season however we decided we’d rather make a larger contribution to an individual charity as opposed to several smaller contributions, and in so doing be able to follow the progress of and have a more tangible link to the good work being done. We also wanted to find a charity partner whose own values and goals aligned with ours, and whose good work could also benefit our horses and value add to our owners’ experience.
It is with great pleasure that we would like to announce ‘Racing Hearts’ as our Charity Partner for the 2021/22 racing season.
Racing Hearts offers equine assisted therapy programs to groups and individuals and is the first organisation of its kind in Australia, offering retired racehorses a new lease on life through retraining and integration to equine assisted therapy programs for humans – their motto is ‘Humans, helping horses, helping humans’.
Their equine assisted therapy programs have been developed to assist people to work through stressful times in their lives, brought about by emotional, physical, behavioural, or cognitive issues and have proven particularly beneficial to young people with autism or a background of abuse, individuals dealing with anger management problems and primary school age students working through themes such as life challenges, awareness, boundaries, feelings, thoughts and relationships. The general premise being that when humans are around horses, they need to control their emotions and relax, and in doing so are more comfortable opening up about their thoughts and emotions.
The obvious symmetry between HDR and Racing Hearts is the horse. It was only through our re-homing of The Dominator in recent weeks we became aware of the amazing work being done by Lisa Coffey and her team. Being a beautiful, kind natured horse The Dominator will be able to assist in Racing Hearts’ equine therapy programs however as part of their funding model they also re-educate and rehome other thoroughbreds for multiple pursuits – pleasure horses, eventing, companion horses, trail riding etc.
Aside from contributing direct financial support HDR will also utilise Racing Hearts’ expertise and connections in the horse rehoming space so as we can find suitable homes for those horses that are ready to enter the next phase of their life.
In short, HDR will contribute to Racing Hearts as follows:
- Proceeds of winnings from HDR’s weekly charity bets
- 10% of our trainers’ prizemoney percentage
- Access to suitable retirees for rehoming, and encouragement of owners to contribute financially towards the initial phase of rehoming.
Racing Hearts will provide HDR and its owners with the following:
- A structured pathway for horses entering the next phase of their life, whether that be assisting in their equine therapy programs or being rehomed and monitored/traced over ensuing years.
- Communication and access to owners as this process is undertaken
“The Racing Industry, aside from being one of the nation’s biggest employers is also a huge contributor to Australian society through government spending derived from wagering taxation. At the end of the day this is all built on the back of the thoroughbred and as a result horse welfare deserves to be at the forefront of everything we do in the industry,” said Henry Dwyer.
“For us, knowing our horses are being re-educated in a professional manner and finding suitable homes is imperative. Then, for some of those horses to go on and perform such a special role at Racing Hearts is incredibly satisfying,” said Henry.
“I am incredibly grateful to HDR for the opportunity to be their charity partner,” says Lisa Coffey.
“The funds donated to us will go towards offering free and subsidised mental health services to people through Equine Assisted Therapy programs with retired racehorses. Every horse sent to us is registered with the Racing Victoria Off the Track Community register meaning we can keep track of where they are. The horses that come to us from HDR will be registered with RV as ‘Full Circle’ horses meaning should they ever find themselves in a position without a home, we will be the first to be contacted.
“In 2022, some of the money will go towards our ‘Horsing Around’ pilot program. This program is run with local secondary schools offering young people from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to improve their mental health whilst learning how to work with racehorses and gaining a qualification. There is a huge need for a program like this for young people who struggle to engage in school and their community, and this program meets the gap by offering those students employability skills and the ability to make healthier life choices.”