Youth Today and the Thoroughbred Industry: Talent, Trust, and the Cost of Looking Away. By 🧘🏻‍♀️ Divya Gurnay 🐎

The Thoroughbred industry often speaks of a looming crisis: a shortage of skilled labour, a thinning pipeline of young professionals, and an ageing workforce stretched beyond sustainability. What is discussed less openly is why so many talented, educated young people hesitate to enter—or choose to leave—the industry altogether. This is not a problem of passion. Youth today love horses deeply. It is a problem of trust, ethics, and structure.

If the Thoroughbred industry wishes to attract and retain the next generation, it must confront uncomfortable truths about labour practices, education-to-employment gaps, and the mismatch between the 'values it publicly champions' and the 'realities many young workers experience behind stable doors.:

A Story from the Yard: “I Loved the Horses, But I Couldn’t Survive”.
A few years ago, I met a young woman—let us call her Surili —during a morning at a training yard. She held an equine science degree, had completed internships across two countries, and spoke with rare fluency about biomechanics, nutrition, and welfare science, but was exhausted.
Surili began work before dawn and often finished late at night. Her role blurred constantly—groom, rider, walker, vet assistant, logistics manager. Overtime was assumed, not compensated. Days off were unpredictable. Pay barely covered living expenses. When I asked why she stayed, she replied simply: “Because the horses need consistency—and I don’t want to let them down.”

And behold, six months later, she left the industry entirely. Her story is not unusual. It is emblematic of a system that depends heavily on youthful idealism while offering little long-term security in return.

The Paradox: Ethical Horses, Invisible Humans.
The Thoroughbred industry has made significant strides in discussing horse welfare—aftercare, injury prevention, retraining, and ethical training methods. Yet, there remains a striking disconnect when it comes to the human workforce. Behind the scenes, there exists an unspoken culture where:
• Long hours are normalised as “part of the job”.
• Low wages are justified as “paying dues”.
• Job insecurity is masked as opportunity.
• Burnout is worn as a badge of dedication.
This culture disproportionately affects young people—especially women—who enter the industry educated, motivated, and eager to contribute meaningfully.  An industry cannot credibly advocate ethical treatment of horses while quietly accepting the exploitation of the people who care for them daily. Welfare, if it is to be genuine, must be holistic.

Education: Promise, Prestige, and Placement Gaps: Over the past decade, elite equine education has expanded rapidly. Universities, private academies, and specialist institutes now offer polished programs in Thoroughbred management, equine science, and racing administration. These institutions often promise:
• Industry readiness.
• Professional networks.
• Strong placement pathways.
However, the reality many graduates face is starkly different.

The Gap:
• Placements are frequently informal, short-term, and poorly paid.
• Job roles do not match educational training.
• Career progression pathways are unclear or nonexistent.
Young graduates enter the workforce with knowledge and expectations—only to be funnelled into roles that neither utilise their skills nor provide financial dignity. Thus education without accountability to employment outcomes risks becoming aspirational marketing rather than genuine industry development.

Case Study: A Progressive Racing Operation Doing It Differently:
In contrast, consider a mid-sized Thoroughbred operation in the UK that consciously redesigned its workforce model.

The Approach:
• Clear job descriptions separating riding, grooming, and management roles.
• Guaranteed days off and capped working hours.
• Transparent pay scales aligned with skill level and experience.
• Structured mentorship for young employees.
• Partnerships with equine colleges to provide paid placements.

The Outcome:
Staff turnover dropped significantly within two years. Horses benefited from greater consistency and calmer handling. Young employees reported higher job satisfaction and a clearer sense of career trajectory. Perhaps most tellingly, the operation began receiving applications from candidates who had previously left the industry—and were now willing to return. This was not altruism alone. It was strategic sustainability.

What Attracts Youth Today—and What Drives Them Away
What Attracts:
• Meaningful work with horses.
• Learning environments grounded in science and welfare.
• Mentorship rather than hierarchy.
• Clear career progression.
• Ethical alignment between values and practice.

What Drives Them Away:
• Chronic overwork and underpayment.
• Lack of respect for education and expertise.
• Unclear futures beyond physical labour.
• Silence around mental and physical burnout.
Young people today are not unwilling to work hard. They are unwilling to work invisibly, indefinitely, and without dignity.

Remedies: Building a Workforce the Industry Can Be Proud Of:
After acknowledging the challenges, solutions must follow—practical, measurable, and courageous.

1.Redefine Welfare to Include Humans. Industry bodies must formally recognise workforce welfare as integral to equine welfare, embedding fair labour practices into codes of ethics.

2.Fair Wages and Transparent Contracts. Standardised pay structures, written contracts, and compensated overtime are not luxuries—they are retention tools.

3.  Accountability in Equine Education.
 Educational institutions must:
• Track placement outcomes.
• Partner only with ethical employers.
• Be transparent about realistic career paths.
Prestige must be matched by responsibility.

4.  Career Ladders, Not Dead Ends. Create pathways that allow young professionals to move from physical roles into training, management, welfare, or administrative positions as their careers mature.

5.  Mentorship Over Martyrdom.  Replace the culture of “endurance proves commitment” with structured mentorship that values longevity over sacrifice.

Future Worth Staying For:
I will start concluding by saying what I believe absolutely honestly. If you love horses, around horses is where you are going to be. Those who can start their own operations, good for them, but those who can't start own operations immediately, well if you are truly passionate about horses, it's better you stay. Thoroughbred industry is evolving, the society is evolving, the world is evolving. I have no doubt in my mind that the Thoroughbred industry does not lack talent. It lacks systems that allow talent to stay.To youth I say, have patience, stick around, things will change for good, and to industry Czars, I must say, if young people are to be the future of racing, breeding, and aftercare, they must be treated not as expendable labour—but as professionals whose wellbeing matters as much as the horses they serve. The question is no longer whether the industry can afford to change. The question is whether it can afford not to change, because the youth who are leaving quietly today, are the leaders the industry will desperately need tomorrow.
©️ @ 🧘DG.🐎
Advocate at Indian High Courts. 
Academics:- LL.M, LL.B., PG Human Rights, MA. Mass Communication and Journalism, B.A. Honours Psychology.
Special Skills Certifications :-
1. Film-direction and audio-visual story-telling certification from FTII, Pune, 
2. MOI. Qualified Mountaineering instructor from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi, India.
Equine Education and Skill sets:-
- 'Stud Management and Sales Consignment Graduate with honours' from National Stud England.
Certifications from the online campus of International Federation for Equestrian Sports, Switzerland (FEI): -
1. Handling Horses.
2. Handling horses in challenging situations. 
3. Equine Behaviour.
4. How Horses Learn.
5. General Conformation.
Certifications from the online campus of Michigan State University (USA): -
1. Normal Horse Behaviour.
2. Horse Handling.
3. Horse Manners.
4. Horse Hygiene/ Grooming.
5. Basic Horse Keeping.
6. Training and Exercising horses.
7. Machinery and Chemical Safety
8. Traveling with Horses.
9. Biosecurity for Horse Farms.
10. Healthy Horses.
11. Employer/ Employee Relations.      
        (in Equine Industry)

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