BHA - use of the whip rule - discuss

[KautoStar1]

Does the BHA new whip rule really make any sense ? Its all very well reducing the number of times a horse can be hit (and in my opinion 5 times rather than 6 in the final furlong is probably neither here not there if you are a horse in full flight)

What I feel the BHA have neglected to deal with is the final outcome of the race. At the moment it would appear the jockey will get fined and a ban & loose their %age of the prize money for that race and a possible suspension of his (or her) license . The horse keeps the race. Why, because the BHA feel that extra punishment would be unfair on the owner, trainer, stable staff and the betting public. They all get to keep their winnings. But if the horse has been hit more than the permitted number of times, it might be fair to suggest that the horse would not have won the race, especially in a close finish. So what about the horse that comes second and who's jockey sticks to the rules. How is that fair to the owner, trainer, stable staff and betting public.
If you are a jockey on your way to winning the derby, the grand national or the gold cup, are you really going to start counting how many times you've hit the horse and possibly stop using the whip for fear of over use and loose the race because you've not ridden out properly. And then you get banned for that as well ???!!!


I just don't believe this is really a welfare issue, this is about the BHA and public perception of racing and mostly for those who once a year tune into the Grand National because they've picked out a horse in the office sweep stakes.

I'm not suggesting that the use of the whip is not an important issue that needs to be regulated and monitored, but there are other ways of improving public perception rather than holding up jockeys as cruel little men who beat up horses and therefore should be publicly hung at every opportunity.

 

[lar]

KS - I agree with every word you say!

 

[brendon]

About time too, this new law must be made applicable to all equestrian events!!Ive seen more of my fare share of showjumping riders "losing there rag" and being over keen on the use of the whip!this too must come under horse welfare laws....CHANGE FOR THE BETTER....not soon enough though?

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Having read the rules today they make sense. They are trying to help the horses and the public which is all for the greater good. The problem is going to come down to tight finishes.

If a jockey has used up his whip allowance and still has 1/4mile of cat and mouse racing to drive out hands and heels while the other jockey still has 2 smacks left the former jockey stands the risk of getting a ban for failure to ride out a finish OR is going to upset ALOT of punters and owners by looking as though they aren't doing as much because of the new rules.

Where the rules are a little fuzzy is with regards to smacks to keep straight. Any strike that results in the hand being taken off of the reins counts as one of your allowance no matter where the horse is hit. What then happens if you just need to give the horse one down the shoulder to keep it in a straight line rather than crossing another horses path thus endangering both horses and rider. The same with jumping - keeping the horse straight into the fences.

Just flicking through the BHA's new little document. Before I would have said that it was mostly tight finishing races both on the Flat and over Jumps that would be the worst offenders - especially in the big money races BUT I am shocked! 5 out of the 6 tracks with the highest whip use are National Hunt tracks, One is a Flat track. 5 tracks (1 Flat, 4 Jumps) are on the Northern circuit - ispso facto - our Northern boys want to win at any cost. It's a bit of an eye opener.

Also flicking down to the bottom for the stats it shows that Female Jockey's clearly think that the use of the stick is purely to make the horse go faster. They didn't really think about steering, making the horse concentrate on the job in hand or keeping it straight. The Male Jockey's have much more awareness of these things.

At the end of the day we will see if it works or not. Who gets in trouble most and how many horses lose races because their jockeys are fearing for their livelyhood!

 

[Miss L Toe]

I agree that the whole thing seems confusing, has this been decided unilaterally or have jockeys been involved, I wonder just how it will work out, I think it will end in tears. Just because the jock is waving his arms does not mean he is hitting the horse.
To me, the whole thing should be related to marking the horse, which can happen easily if newly clipped or thin skinned.
How is this gong to work in a race of 30 runners? or 40 eg the GNational

 

[KautoStar1]

Yup, its a disaster. 1 week in and racing is in a mess because of a poorly thought out and implemented rule. All so that racing can improve its public perception. Laughable !!

 

[Daffodil]

These idiotic rules are well on the way to turning racing into a laughing stock.

How are the stewards going to monitor each horse and how many times it's been hit in a field of 40 or so? Are they going to have a steward allocated to each horse to count each use of the whip. Very often, as has been said many times in defence of jockeys, the whip is not used at all, but is simply an encouraging arm movement.

Jockeys look like being penalised whatever they do. "Overuse" of the whip, or not riding out a finish. Stuffed, whatever they do.

Champions Day is going to be interesting!

 

[teagreen]

Wow, well this fiasco will really help the public perception of horse racing, which seems to be all the BHA are interested in.

If you read their Review, you'll see that they randomly selected about 300,000 people to take part in an internet poll about horseracing - 57% initially said they wanted the whip completely banned, but after some education about the design of the whip, this reduced to 33%. 58% of respondents agreed that ALL recreational riders should be banned from carrying a whip.

Now doesn't that tell you something? The public just don't care. They cared the day of the National, because it was all over the news - and then they forgot. Just leave the public out of it. People who like racing will support racing, and up until last year it had a massive and growing following. Members of the public are not going to start adoring racing because of this, if they don't like the limited use of a padded whip, they sure as hell aren't going to like blindfolding horses to get them in the stalls, or watching them fall over chase fences.

I feel extremely sorry for jockeys at the moment. Flat jockeys are allowed to hit the horses 7 times, 5 inside the final furlong - Richard Hughes hit his mount 6 times IN TOTAL, but all those hits came inside the final furlong. How RIDICULOUS is that, what difference does it make if that extra hit came 1 metre before the furlong pole, he was UNDER the limit allowed! It makes my blood boil. The jockeys are the ones who use the stick day in, day out and no one listened to them; they are the ones who know exactly what effect the whip has and how 'cruel' it is or is not.

Just leave racing alone. Those that love racing love racing - those that don't, don't and never will.

 

[perfect11s]

Yup, its a disaster. 1 week in and racing is in a mess because of a poorly thought out and implemented rule. All so that racing can improve its public perception. Laughable !!

Aggree Its a joke, no common sense,
so you could belt the horse 5 times realy hard but not give 8 gentle guiding taps to keep the horse safely going in the right direction Hmmm!!!!

 

[Andalusianlover]

Richard Hughes as said today that he wont ride again untill the new rules are reviewed as he fells he cannot do his owners justice. Apparently he's been banned twice in the last couple of days!

 

[Aces_High]

It's a complete and utter joke. That's the only way to describe it.

 

[texel]

If tight finishes are all the debate is about why not remove the whip altogether and replace with a stick with a bright fluffy shape on the end, then during a tight finish the jockey can wave this back and forth so the horse can just see it looming up behind him and this should encourage him to give that last ounce of effort !

 

[LuckyRed]

I think it's a case of trying to satisfy everyone and ending up satisfying no-one! I heard once that in scandanavia (I think), you're allowed to use the whip as much as you like but you're not allowed to take you hand off the reins - that would certainly be an easier situation for the stewards to monitor!

Or what about banning all whips completely and relying on teh skill of the jockey - there will still be a horse first past the post and one last so why do they need to be hit! does it really show that the jockey is trying to win? is there no other way of proving that the jockey is trying his/her hardest? And unless you monitor the training of the horses, just waving the whip alongside the horse without hitting might seem to be less cruel but the horse only reacts cos it's used to being hit on the training runs (probably with a heavier whip that the sponge ones) and is expecting to be hit this time - otherwise it wouldn't react to the whip in the same way that hunt staff horses don't react to the crack of the whip to control the hounds - they know it's not going to hurt them!


I guess it's a starter but the ruling needs to be thought through a lot more - as someone said, how on earth are they going to monitor the jockeys in the Grand National or similar big races?

 

[Miss L Toe]

i think you are right, they should at least try and do something like this.

That is pretty much what the foam whip is, but some horse would swerve if exposed to fluorescence!

 

[Miss L Toe]

I think it's a case of trying to satisfy everyone and ending up satisfying no-one! I heard once that in scandanavia (I think), you're allowed to use the whip as much as you like but you're not allowed to take you hand off the reins - that would certainly be an easier situation for the stewards to monitor!

Or what about banning all whips completely and relying on teh skill of the jockey - there will still be a horse first past the post and one last so why do they need to be hit! does it really show that the jockey is trying to win? is there no other way of proving that the jockey is trying his/her hardest? And unless you monitor the training of the horses, just waving the whip alongside the horse without hitting might seem to be less cruel but the horse only reacts cos it's used to being hit on the training runs (probably with a heavier whip that the sponge ones) and is expecting to be hit this time - otherwise it wouldn't react to the whip in the same way that hunt staff horses don't react to the crack of the whip to control the hounds - they know it's not going to hurt them!


I guess it's a starter but the ruling needs to be thought through a lot more - as someone said, how on earth are they going to monitor the jockeys in the Grand National or similar big races?

Wrong again, in top yards no horse are ridden out day to day with whips, only jockeys are allowed to carry whips, and whips will be taken off apprentices if they don't use them correctly.
Most NH horses only see a whip on schooling days and on the racecourse.
There are "hands and heels" races for apprentices, normally the horses they ride are experienced handicappers.