I never thought about this before, but it seems that there is a whole community of migrant workers who take care of the horses at racetracks and then move on at the end of the season.
Melissa Shook, a photographer who has taught at UMass Boston and MIT and whose work is at the Museum of Modern Art, has photographed these so-called “backside workers.” Her pictures appear in a book called My Suffolk Downs. The book is a fundraiser to help these invisible migrants, who have no access to health providers or other social services. A 22-year-old nonprofit called the Eighth Pole is their lifeline.
Read what the Boston Globe‘s Linda Matchan has to say about photographer Melissa Shook and why she loves the racetrack world, here.
Photograph of Melissa Shook by Wendy Maeda, Boston Globe
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Thinking about the community of people that travels with racehorses makes me think of the community of people that travel with carnival rides to various towns. Now that I’m feeling emboldened to talk to people and hear their stories, I’d love to talk to someone who travels along with carnival rides, but my opportunity in my own town–when the fair comes through–passed by when I was visiting NYC this year.
I totally understand what Melissa Shook says about wanting to hear people’s stories, needless to say! And this: I was interested in how people survive who are outside the safety net of services, who don’t have regular doctor’s visits, who have no access to the care they needed. Wish she’d said more about the people and how they got to be backside workers!
I myself wanted to know more about the charity for backside workers. It doesn’t seem to have a website of its own, although it is mentioned on other sites. If I hear of a carnival passing through our part of the state, I will let you know.
The mission of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, the Florida Chapter of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, is to care for those workers on the backstretch. We wanted to make you aware of an issue that has put these workers’ jobs in dire jeopardy: Track owners in Florida have been given carte blanche to disregard Florida’s laws that live racing must accompany a track owner’s slot machine license . . . the following article details how a lack of regulatory oversight in Florida is obviating the need for thousands of racetrack jobs:
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Not even real barrel racing or real Quarter Horse racing, North Florida’s Gretna “pari-mutuel barrel racing” and now, other similar events throughout Florida have been allowed to continue by Florida’s Legislature and pari-mutuel regulators, leading to permitholders across the state lining up to bastardize both barrel racing and legitimate horse racing by capitalizing on the “Gretna Model’s” fundamental platform of side-stepping Florida’s legal requirements for live racing in order to have slot machines. This includes every single Quarter Horse permitholder except Hialeah Park, the only place at which legitimate Quarter Horse racing is being held in Florida. The Daily Racing Form’s Matt Hegarty reports below:
http://floridahorsemen.com/2012/10/11/phony-quarter-horse-races-are-floridas-newest-gold-rush-daily-racing-forms-matt-hegarty-reports-on-gptarp-others/