The culmination of more than 18 months of work has resulted in the release of the NZTR Thoroughbred Welfare guidelines for consultation.

 

Working in conjunction with Professor David Mellor, an internationally recognised expert in the field of animal welfare, these guidelines have been developed in conjunction with industry organisations to create a document which has, at its core, the five domains.  The five domains - nutrition, environment, health, behaviour and the animal's mental state - is a model, developed by Professor Mellor, which has been adapted in animal welfare strategies world-wide.

 

The draft guidelines can be found here.

 

Supporting the welfare guidelines will be amendments to the rules which can be viewed here with a guide to the welfare amendments available here. 

 

These proposed rule changes also coincide with Trainer and Owner reforms that bring New Zealand into line with rule changes made in Australia in 2017.  A guide to the Trainer Owner Reforms can be viewed here.

 

Feedback on the Welfare guidelines and the proposed rule changes regarding both welfare and the Trainer and Owner reforms should be forwarded to Martin.Burns@nztr.co.nz by Friday, 19 July 2019.