Olympic three-day eventing athlete Boyd Martin will be a keynote speaker at the International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses on May 17 in Washington, D.C. The inaugural forum takes place May 17-18 and coincides with the Pan American Conference, an annual gathering of American and international Thoroughbred racing interests hosted by The Jockey Club and the Latin American Racing Channel.

IFAR is an independent forum established to help advocate lifetime care to a new level around the world, to increase awareness within the international racing community, and to educate the sport horse world and the public about the welfare of Thoroughbred racehorses.

“It was a real and wonderful honor to get invited to talk at such a huge event, and it’s even more special for me because I am a big racehorse fan and have had a lot of success with off-the-track Thoroughbreds changing their careers to be three-day event horses,” said Martin. “In America, we have a massive pool of top-class, athletic Thoroughbreds that need another job after they finish their racing careers, and I’m a big believer that the Thoroughbred is still the ultimate event horse. I feel passionately about trying to redirect some of these wonderful animals who weren’t quite as fast for racing but still could be top-class event horses or dressage horses or even pleasure horses.”

Based in Cochranville, Pa., and Aiken, S.C., Martin has competed numerous Thoroughbreds, including Neville Bardos, the United States Equestrian Federation’s 2011 International Horse of the Year, and Blackfoot Mystery, who was unplaced in three starts at the track before becoming a four-star event horse and Martin’s mount for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

In addition to Martin’s speech, IFAR conference attendees will hear from a variety of speakers covering many aspects of Thoroughbred aftercare and welfare, including retraining, promotion, and the benefits of offering post-racing options for horses, among others.