What Does H&J Do?
As an advocate of animal rights, H&J Foundation believes it’s important to change how racehorse owners and horsemen view horses. It is our mission to help reconceptualize the horse as a precious and honorable part of our shared community, with so much to give back to the Jeju community. We are working to negotiate with local owners, organizations, and ranches so that horses can find new lives and better homes after they retire from the racetrack.
Who is H&J?
Hey there, I’m Ethan Yoo, founder and president of the H&J Foundation here in Jeju, Korea. We help retired racehorses find new homes. I fell in love with horses at a young age and knew that I wanted to work with horses in some capacity when I grew older. As I began learning more about horses beyond hobby riding, I discovered the troubling realities behind the racehorse and horse breeding industries in Korea. I knew that I wanted to help in any way I could. That was when the H&J Foundation was born.
H&J stands for Horses and Jeju. In beautiful Jeju, the horse has long been a symbol of prosperity and success. But in contemporary Korea, the profits to be made from breeding, racing, and selling horses have created a system in which these beautiful and majestic creatures are seen by many in the market to be little more than commodities, to be used then discarded when they are no longer young and healthy.
H&J started with a sense of loss. I was haunted by the shocking fact that every day, countless horses are abused, sold for feed, and treated cruelly by greedy breeders and owners. I wanted to help on a large scale and rescue every single horse in need. Of course, even with all the money and resources in the world, such a large problem as the one facing horses and horse ownership cannot be solved overnight. And, as a student still in high school, I realized that the most I could do realistically was to help one single horse at a time.
The work I do with H&J is not grand or impressive. We work closely with racehorse owners, horse sanctuaries and ranches, and many other players in the market to identify retired horses in need of our help and then work to train and rehabilitate them. Lastly, we work to find them permanent homes where they can rest in long health and happiness. I hope one day to grow the H&J Foundation into a national nonprofit organization. In the future, we can hopefully become international in scope and scale. Helping racehorses escape inhumane conditions starts by educating people both in the racing market as well as ordinary people like you and me. The horse has been humanity’s helper, friend, and companion for millennia. They deserve better from humanity.
