The Grand National.

Yes I have similar feelings to you about the Grand National. It is a great spectacle I am sure, but there have been some horrific injuries over the years to both jockeys and horses, so I leave well alone now. Didn't even see it this year so not sure who won.

the links below have information about horse racing that should hopefully help. There's more to the cruelty than just what happens on the race course ,but this side of the racing mostly goes un known by the general public.
[url]Horse Racing[/url]

[url]Race Horse Death Watch[/url]

Just to try to provide a little balance, although I feel similar to you about horse racing.

The whip - there is a gradual process in pace to cut down/phase out its use. Excessive use should be spotted and punished for accordingly. As far as I know, the traditional whip is now replaced by something which is designed to make a loud CRACK noise, without seriously hurting the horse.

Putting to sleep/euthinaising/humane destruction on the racetrack will be because the horse is too badly damaned to mend - not just because his racing days are over. Horses who are non-fatally injured are usually retired to stud.

The biggest problems for me are in the industry behind it - overproduction of stock (breeding too many horses) results in a huge amount of waste, which are sold for meat. Horses are treated as machienes, and the stress this puts them under comes out as a long list of health problems such as ulcers, stereotypical behaviour, mental breakdowns...

I have a huge love of horses; and have worked with several ex-racers and a couple who are still racing. I have a respect for horses and (as many of us saw this year at the Grand National) if a horse does not want to race, it will not. Horses love this kind of thing.

One of the ex-racers; even though he had been retired for a good couple of years, still loved the gallops, getting thoroughly excited. He was retired due to an injury, but could still move and was used in the racing academy.

As for the whip, its fairly harmless - I've met BSJA juniors who are cruel-er to their ponies than the jockeys are to the racing horses. The whip merely, like natually mentioned, only makes a loud cracking noise. Not only that, but I have physically been in a riding lesson where my riding instructor told me to "whallap" the horse with the whip (not a racing one, but a much much thinner and longer riding crop) The horse didn't budge, he barely felt it! There is so much muscle there that hitting a horse with a crop or whip just feels like a light stroke to you or me.

Hi vicki,
So whipping a horse does not hurt them - I challenge you to try it on a wild horse. These horses are conditioned to accept the treatment we give them. Other animals we take care to protect from this kind of treatment - try whipping a dog in a public place and see how long it takes for the police to arrive.
The cracking of the whip is a remider of how much it hurts, a threat of something they reaaly hate - or else it would not work - it would be an empty threat.
I do concede that a whip will barely harm (physicaly) a horse - any harm wwill be localised, but that does not stop it hurting.

love
chris

Why would you need to whip a wild horse? I had a semi-wild horse in my care at one point, who (after an accident) didn't trust anyone as far as he could kick them. I wouldn't use a whip on a horse like that, that would only add to the problems.

I also had a horse who would take his bridle off while you were riding. Whip not needed here either, it was just a case of letting him know that he was safe and that the bridle was a good thing.

The only time I have EVER voluntarily hit a horse is one that I ride often, who just constantly wants a battle of wills and a power struggle. Usually a couple of light smacks when he plays up is enough, but on the odd occasion, I have had to give him a couple of harder taps. I know he doesn't like it and most of the time, it breaks my heart, but I have tried so many things with this horse and I'm one of the few ones who doesn't have a problem riding him. Many others just whip him until he is so tired from the fighting that he gives in!

Have you ever worked with horses? Unfortunately, you do need that stick. Even domesticated horses are still wild at heart. Horses learn very quickly; and if they can they will walk all over some one who isn't "lead horse". They do pretty much the same in the wild - albeit, they don't hit each other with sticks, but they do bite and kick each other as a way of putting down their dominance. That's all the whip is for, asserting our dominance.

I have a respect for horses and (as many of us saw this year at the Grand National) if a horse does not want to race, it will not.

Hi vicki,
If what you say is right then why apply different logic to whipping it, if it wants to race and come first then it will, no need to whip it.
We used to whip people, a lot, especially children. We now acknowledge it was wrong.
If you whip a dog you go to prison for animal abuse.
Yet we put up with this kind of abuse because..? it is entertainment.

The sooner it is banned the better - and it will be - eventually.

chris

Hello Chris!

I appreciate that you have an opinion and that's right for you, and yes I can understand from your point of view; it does look like abuse and really rather cruel. If the stick is banned, then there would be serious problems in the horse and rider world.

I honestly get where you are coming from; before I worked with horses, I swore that I would NEVER use a stick on them; it looked cruel and really rather sore. But after working with them for so long I learnt that actually, the rider/ trainer needs it. And anyway, wouldn't it be cruel-er to kick and bite a horse in order to become lead horse?

Horses need a lead horse, its in their nature; and if a horse is domesticated; they are out of their natural environment. A domesticated horse has itself and rider/owner/trainer. The person has to be lead horse. Without it you get some seriously 'damaged' horses or worse: dangerous.

It goes the same for horse racing, I used to think it cruel. But I did research; visited a couple of racing stables; talked to racing trainers and saw the horses. The horses themselves are well looked after, exercised and fed well, they are the most important thing to many of their trainers. If you had a treasured prossession would you beat it for no reason? No! You'd look after it.

Vicki

Hi Vicki,
You are spot on about horses needing lead horses etc.
As an aside I walked past michael Owen's stables in Cheshire last weekend - very impressive with all the things a stables could want.
The argument about racing may just sort itself out anyway - money is becoming a problem, with between 5-20% falls in income reported from all round the world.
The use of whips will be one of the contributing factors in all this though I suspect that most objectors never bet anyway (I have never placed a bet aside from the odd work's sweepstake).

chris

I found this site and could not believe it....

"Our research indicates that around 420 horses are raced to death every year. About 38 per cent die on racecourses, while the others are destroyed as a result of training injuries, or are killed because they are no longer commercially viable."

chris

Red Rum was very lucky wasn't he the one who broke 2 legs? I mean lucky as he wasn't shoot but saved.

Amethsytfairy:mad:( because usually they are shot as too expensive to repair broken limbs if they can save this horse why not for others too!)

Hi folks

An unraced yearling can cost anything up to £500,000. Training fees are an ongoing cost - generally around £16,000 per year before additional costs such as entry fees, farrier fees, veterinary fees etc. Most of them are geldings so the only way that initial investment can be recovered is through winning prizes, although some owners are happy just to watch their horses run.

There are an estimated 1 million race horses in the UK alone. The figure you quote of horses dying is less than one half of one percent of the total.

Racehorse owners love their horses. The horses are pampered, valued, treated incredibly well and when a horse has to be put down it's a tragedy for the stable, owner, trainer, rider and vet.

Jockeys, actually, are far more often injured than the horses - injuries sustained in one of those pile ups can permanently maim them and/or leave them on crutches for life or worse, while the horses generally untangle themselves and walk away. They do it because they love it, as do the horses.

Horses love to race - they do it in the wild and racehorses are bred for it.

Fx