Dead horse at Aintree today

I honestly don't believe the jockey for one moment thought his mount had a catastrophic injury.
He may have though he'd tweaked something but the horse was still running on, at speed and in a straight line. I've never seen any jockey hesitate to pull up and dismount if a horse loses it's action.

The horse lost his hind end on landing - I've seen this in racing and in the XC phase of eventing and horses have carried on to no ill effect. Remember the footage of Devon Loch's dramatic sprawl before the finish line anyone?

Obviously it's sounds dreadful to say 'Jockey drives horse with broken back to finish line' and I'm not for one minute downplaying the awful tragedy this was but the winner was holding the 2nd placed horse and didn't seem to lose much in the way of speed. I can't understand how a horse with a broken back could physically do this.

Anyway, aside from the mechanics of the injury I have to say that if the horse had sustained a catastrophic tendon injury that was discovered post race and resulted in PTS it wouldn't be being debated half as much as it sounds so much less emotive.
 
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minesadouble said:
Anyway, aside from the mechanics of the injury I have to say that if the horse had sustained a catastrophic tendon injury that was discovered post race and resulted in PTS it wouldn't be being debated half as much as it sounds so much less emotive
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Therein lies the problem. You are quite right of course, it would not be being debated quite so much, but it should be.
 
eahotson said:
And this achieves what?
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You hope with any incident that there will be accountability, even if was an accident, reflection to see if anything could be prevented, and my preferred outcome is they lose the £67k and disqualified. This is a professional sport and no one should be rewarded for a horses death how ever it happened, for entertainment. The jockey would still get the ride fee.
It will not bring the horse back, but perhaps when riding it will be an incentive not to push through and ignore 'niggles.'

This is grim but perhaps if the racegoers were confronted the sight with a horse struggling on the ground it would perhaps spoil. their day out. Everyone else is just concerned with turnover so I have no illusions it's going to bother them.
 
I'd be 100% on board with a ban. I hate the whole scene. I hate the way they live, the constant upheaval they go through, the non-stop stress they feel. But I hate the way 90% of competition horses live. Hell I hate the way 50% of all horses live. I feel wound up A LOT just by what happens on livery yards to horses. Whether it's out of ignorance or greed doesn't make a difference to the horse.

I don't think racing is the worst out of all the horse sports. I've worked on both eventing and racing yards and they were all as bad as each other.

Whether or not PT knew what he was doing we'll never know. But I do know that any jockey who allows a horse to sustain avoidable permanent damage would not have a good time afterwards and he would know that. It doesn't make sense financially to ruin a money maker for the sake of one race.
 
paddy555 said:
perhaps it needs something along the lines of endurance, not proposing to give them 30 mins to fiddle it past but say 10 mins in the open under inspection (and no drugs allowed) then presented for a sound trot up, no saddle marks, no bit marks and a reasonable pulse rate ie a horse fit to continue. Disqualified if it fails the final vetting.
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I have been thinking this myself. Therefore only those finishing sound can be winners. Lame horses eliminated just like in endurance. I have been thinking though, that the bookies, TV companies and punters wouldnt go for this, as they like the excitement of knowing whose won as they cross the line.
But then again, those obviously not sound would have been pulled up by their jockies and wouldnt be crossing the line anyway.
 
IrishMilo said:
I'd be 100% on board with a ban. I hate the whole scene. I hate the way they live, the constant upheaval they go through, the non-stop stress they feel. But I hate the way 90% of competition horses live. Hell I hate the way 50% of all horses live. I feel wound up A LOT just by what happens on livery yards to horses. Whether it's out of ignorance or greed doesn't make a difference to the horse.

I don't think racing is the worst out of all the horse sports. I've worked on both eventing and racing yards and they were all as bad as each other.
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I'm starting to think more and more along these lines. Gleaming coats do nothing for me.
 
minesadouble said:
I honestly don't believe the jockey for one moment thought his mount had a catastrophic injury.
He may have though he'd tweaked something but the horse was still running on, at speed and in a straight line. I've never seen any jockey hesitate to pull up and dismount if a horse loses it's action.

The horse lost his hind end on landing - I've seen this in racing and in the XC phase of eventing and horses have carried on to no ill effect. Remember the footage of Devon Loch's dramatic sprawl before the finish line anyone?

Obviously it's sounds dreadful to say 'Jockey drives horse with broken back to finish line' and I'm not for one minute downplaying the awful tragedy this was but the winner was holding the 2nd placed horse and didn't seem to lose much in the way of speed. I can't understand how a horse with a broken back could physically do this.

Anyway, aside from the mechanics of the injury I have to say that if the horse had sustained a catastrophic tendon injury that was discovered post race and resulted in PTS it wouldn't be being debated half as much as it sounds so much less emotive.
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I mentioned up thread about a horse who was hit by a car. Sorry to be graphic but that horse ran a fair distance with one of its legs partially severed. I would imagine adrenaline played a part in that and the same could be true for GD.

I do remember Devon Loch, in fact seeing the photos of GD reminded me of this also.
 
Grand National jockey Toby McCain- Mitchell was banned for 10 days. This was because he forced his tired horse to continue before it fell at the final fence. The horse Top of the bill required veterinary treatment after the fall.
 
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