A petition to ban the use of whips in horse racing

[hellsdarkrose]

I found a petition on the Number 10 website against the ban of the use on whips. Now in the petition they do specifically cite horse racing but by the sounds of it they want it to be banned completely.

I wondered what everyone's thought on this were.

Link to the petition is here.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ban-the-whip/

 

[Natch]

What happened to the "humane whip" that was being promoted a year or two back...? It was supposed to make a big crack noise without injuring the horse as badly as they claimed some whips could.

 

[Nic74]

I don't see why whips need banning in racing, at least the use of whips is controlled in racing and jockeys get fines or banned for excessive use. As for general use outside of racing whips can be essential as a back up for your leg at times, they aren't meant to be used as a tool to batter the living daylights out of your horse, and anybody doing that needs teaching a lesson, but for the rest of us normal people using whips in the way they were intended then I can't see why some do-gooder has to poke thier nose in and try and get them banned.

 

[faerie666]

Horse racing would become a lot more dangerous for horses and jockeys if whips are banned.

They are not only used to make the horses go faster, they are also essential for helping to keep horses straight and stop them from drifting into the path of another horse. The jockeys can't use their legs for that after all, because their stirrups are too short. That's why even in "hands and heels" races the jockeys still carry whips.

Also, as someone else has already said, the use of the whip in racing is very regulated, misuse results in heavy punishment for the jockey and the whips used nowadays don't do the horses any damage, they are more of a sound effect.

 

[hellsdarkrose]

[ QUOTE ]
They are not only used to make the horses go faster, they are also essential for helping to keep horses straight and stop them from drifting into the path of another horse. The jockeys can't use their legs for that after all, because their stirrups are too short.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's exactly what I thought. It's a shame that people really don't understand and feel the need to set up petitions like this.

Apparently whips are detrimental to them wining races according to the petition as well.

I wasn't sure how they managed to figure that out as I believe all jockeys have whips

 

[Donkeymad]

I just love to ignore this petition whenever I see it. People should not try to interfere in something they do not understand.

 

[Biscuit]

I am not a racing expert but there are countries where the whip is already banned in races. So it should be possible to see whether it actually led to more incidents. If banning the whips has not led to more safty issues I can see why it would be preferrable to ban it both from a welfare and public perception point of view.

 

[pixiebee]

question, how does it stop the horse drifiting into another when the whip stays in the same hand throughout the race? Surely then the horse could drift out to the other side??? Also aren't they trained on the track so that they should be able to run without needing steering?? Not sure about the whipping, it does look as if the horse is being whipped pretty much every stride but if you look closely they arent, not sure why the jockeys need to wave their arms like that-momentum?????????? see, I know bugger all about racing!