In all countries where horse racing has developed, a structured racing program has been established which, through a series of trials characterized by progressively higher competitive coefficients, allows the selection of the best horses of each generation. These are then compared with horses from previous generations that are still active.
This selection pathway conventionally begins when the horse has reached two years of age.
By convention, all horses born in the Northern Hemisphere turn two years old on January 1st. Conversely, those born in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and South America) reach the same conventional age on August 1st, due to the seasonal pattern in those countries, which is almost diametrically opposed to ours.
As a result, the foal born in the Southern Hemisphere initially appears younger than its Northern Hemisphere counterpart. However, this gap is quickly bridged, because natural development, both animal and plant, is generally more accelerated in those regions. Direct comparisons between horses from the two hemispheres are nevertheless limited and usually take place at three years of age or later, when differences in maturation have largely disappeared.
Through the study of the times required to win a race, the rhythmic progression of the race itself, and the sectional times recorded for each segment of the course, a conclusion has been reached that is experimentally proven and therefore scientifically grounded. The flat racehorse can improve its performance up to the age of five, maintains the level achieved at six, and begins a slow involutional process, mainly due to wear, starting at seven years of age.
There are no equally precise data for the jumping horse, whose competitive activity generally begins around the middle of the three-year-old season and reaches its peak within the first decade of life. In disciplines involving obstacles more demanding than standard hurdles (haies), such as steeplechase and cross country, it is not uncommon to encounter horses still competing at fifteen years of age.
For about a decade now, scientific research has been focusing on ways to reduce the performance decline caused by wear, within the broader framework of the concept of horse welfare, which must always accompany any selection process.
The horse is naturally born to run because, unlike dogs and cats, it is a prey animal, not a predator.
It is therefore appropriate to make use of its natural characteristics, but without ever exceeding the limits beyond which exploitation begins, to the detriment of overall welfare.
