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shelbie

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I sometimes watch Channel Four Raceing, although I am not keen too many horses hurt or killed, something Icould go on about for ever. All to line someones pocket.disgusting.how can it be called sport, if it were humans being killed it would be called Murder.but what I would like to know is, the commentators are always going on about The injured jockey fund and how to raise money for it.fair enough, but what about money to rehabilitate failed racehorses, you know the ones who end up on the Knacker mans waggon just because they cant run fast enough or jump high enough. the ones left in fields in winter with no rugs or feed, because they have been sold for peanuts to anyone regardless of experience or knowledge. what about raising money for these, jockeys have a choice , they know the dangers and get well paid for takeing them, horses are at the mercy of greedy fat bastards only interested in the money.Im sure someone is going to get back to me and say ,oh we do this or that for the horse .Well youre not doing enough, and while Im on the subject Ban THE GRAND NATIONALhow many more horses have to die in the name of sport.
 
While it's obvious you care, life for all animals is rarely fair, it's a sad fact that
animals are disposable, I helped with death row dogs, saw donkeys pulling overloaded carts (with stone) in Bulgaria, stray dogs running in packs in Portugal/Bulgaria and Spain.
All anyone can do is what they can, to the best of their ability, because the reality is that there will always be issues around animals
 
OP - are you vegetarian by any chanceor is it just horse racing that concerns you as opposed to all types of animal husbandry ? (not a dig or loaded question, just genuine curiosity) I love going to the races and infact own an ex racehorse. I found her races on at the races.com and watched the two that were filmed. She comes out the stalls light a nuclear rocket then just as she goes past the first furlong marker she can't be bothered and slows down. With the best will in the world if a 500 kg horse don't wanna move you ain't gonna make it ! Think back to the 'cruel' grand national a few years back where one horse wouldn't even go up to the start. It's a bloody expensive sport so people aren't going to risk spending money and time on a horse if it were cruel. There's much more cruelty (your words OP) up and down the land at livery yards every day. As I said it's your opinion which you are more than entitled to express but in this case I disagree - again that's just my opinion. I'm off to the humped goose now so sit back and enjoy the ride.....:)
 
There are some very interesting threads about this elsewhere if you can be bothered to use the search function. That is only if you want to increase your knowledge and learn about how things are being changed, rather than have a fight...

FWIW- the racehorses who don't want to play aren't made to. It's bloody expensive to have a horse in training (£250/week is about normal I think?) and if they're not winning then it's throwing good money after bad...
 
shelbie said:
I sometimes watch Channel Four Raceing, although I am not keen too many horses hurt or killed, something Icould go on about for ever. All to line someones pocket.disgusting.how can it be called sport, if it were humans being killed it would be called Murder.but what I would like to know is, the commentators are always going on about The injured jockey fund and how to raise money for it.fair enough, but what about money to rehabilitate failed racehorses, you know the ones who end up on the Knacker mans waggon just because they cant run fast enough or jump high enough. the ones left in fields in winter with no rugs or feed, because they have been sold for peanuts to anyone regardless of experience or knowledge. what about raising money for these, jockeys have a choice , they know the dangers and get well paid for takeing them, horses are at the mercy of greedy fat bastards only interested in the money.Im sure someone is going to get back to me and say ,oh we do this or that for the horse .Well youre not doing enough, and while Im on the subject Ban THE GRAND NATIONALhow many more horses have to die in the name of sport.
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Wow I think I just about managed to read that OP, did you manage to take a breath?
First question is OP that if you detest racing as seems apparent by your post then why do you watch it?
Mmm racing is a sport alongside every other equine sport such as showjumping, dressage, cross country, hunting, endurance and polo...... and plenty of others.
All yes ALL of them involve a horse being exploited for financial gain. Whether that is money/prizes for the owner, jockey or even the breeder. Somewhere along the line someone profits.
I disagree with the comment about if humans were taking part and being killed that it would be classed as murder. Manslaughter, maybe but not murder, especially as no one can foresee that these horses will die whilst racing. Out of the thousands ( perhaps millions) that race worldwide only a small percentage of those runners die whilst racing.
I think if you are so passionate about thoroughbreds you would be better off concentrating your efforts on the over production of foals in the racing industry along with the vast levels of disposal of horse that leave racing or training for whatever reason. Rather than making emotive statements of let's ban the Grand National.
There is already money raised in racing to fund the rehabilitation of racehorses through publicity gained by a few racehorse charities whose names are associated with races and racedays. Ever heard of the Greatwood hurdle for instance run at Cheltenham racecourse in the middle of November? Greatwood is but one of a few charities who do exceptional work with horses that leave racing. See here http://www.greatwoodcharity.org/ they are even advertising a fund raising event at Newbury racecourse next month.
Other charities include TRC and see this link again which includes the story of their first charity raceday which took place at Haydock Park in October
http://www.thoroughbredrehabilitationcentre.co.uk/content.php?id=trccharityracedayhaydockpark
These are but two charities which do an exceptional job in finding a use or a good home for ex racers.
I agree that more should be done for horses that leave racing. My own idea would include taking a cut from the bookmakers profits each year to pay towards them, even if they may already donate. Perhaps a yearly or monthly charge that each racehorse owner should pay to help not only their horse when it leaves racing but others too. It doesn't have to be a lot, but every little helps. Even if the owners themselves were planning on caring for their horses anyway there are others who do not have such caring people looking out for their welfare.
Jockeys are not paid a fantastic wage on the whole. They get paid per ride and a percentage of the winnings. Although some of the champion jockeys retained by wealthy owners fair better than your average jockey.
Personally I would not like their lifestyle. Riding in all weathers. Sometimes on board quirky horses or poor jumpers. Forced to watch their weight and never being allowed to eat normally. They don't enjoy a fantastic social life either which is restricted by booked rides and they holiday accordingly. They endure many injuries, some even being life threatening and sadly some even proving fatal or else ending their life as they once knew it.
Having known personally many owners and trainers I actually take offence by your comment about 'horses are at the mercy of greedy fat bastards only interested in the money.' Many of the owners I have known as friends or met through racing care a great deal about their horses and welfare. Have seen owners physically shaken and upset when their horse has fallen for instance. Hardly the image portrayed by a greedy fat ******* heh ;)

Finally...... and this is a fact!
Horses get killed in any sport NOT JUST RACING!
In fact horses get killed every day, even for just being horses.
Personally I saw a beautiful horse pts last week as it had slipped in the field. Could not be saved as broke its leg :( An absolutely horrendous time for everyone.
So please don't come on here posting your emotional anti racing claptrap unless you can back it up with clear facts and tell me for a fact that there is no chance that one of my horses ( or anyone else's) will ever suffer an awful accident and be put down as result!!!
 
Fantasy_World said:
Wow I think I just about managed to read that OP, did you manage to take a breath?
First question is OP that if you detest racing as seems apparent by your post then why do you watch it?
Mmm racing is a sport alongside every other equine sport such as showjumping, dressage, cross country, hunting, endurance and polo...... and plenty of others.
All yes ALL of them involve a horse being exploited for financial gain. Whether that is money/prizes for the owner, jockey or even the breeder. Somewhere along the line someone profits.
I disagree with the comment about if humans were taking part and being killed that it would be classed as murder. Manslaughter, maybe but not murder, especially as no one can foresee that these horses will die whilst racing. Out of the thousands ( perhaps millions) that race worldwide only a small percentage of those runners die whilst racing.
I think if you are so passionate about thoroughbreds you would be better off concentrating your efforts on the over production of foals in the racing industry along with the vast levels of disposal of horse that leave racing or training for whatever reason. Rather than making emotive statements of let's ban the Grand National.
There is already money raised in racing to fund the rehabilitation of racehorses through publicity gained by a few racehorse charities whose names are associated with races and racedays. Ever heard of the Greatwood hurdle for instance run at Cheltenham racecourse in the middle of November? Greatwood is but one of a few charities who do exceptional work with horses that leave racing. See here http://www.greatwoodcharity.org/ they are even advertising a fund raising event at Newbury racecourse next month.
Other charities include TRC and see this link again which includes the story of their first charity raceday which took place at Haydock Park in October
http://www.thoroughbredrehabilitationcentre.co.uk/content.php?id=trccharityracedayhaydockpark
These are but two charities which do an exceptional job in finding a use or a good home for ex racers.
I agree that more should be done for horses that leave racing. My own idea would include taking a cut from the bookmakers profits each year to pay towards them, even if they may already donate. Perhaps a yearly or monthly charge that each racehorse owner should pay to help not only their horse when it leaves racing but others too. It doesn't have to be a lot, but every little helps. Even if the owners themselves were planning on caring for their horses anyway there are others who do not have such caring people looking out for their welfare.
Jockeys are not paid a fantastic wage on the whole. They get paid per ride and a percentage of the winnings. Although some of the champion jockeys retained by wealthy owners fair better than your average jockey.
Personally I would not like their lifestyle. Riding in all weathers. Sometimes on board quirky horses or poor jumpers. Forced to watch their weight and never being allowed to eat normally. They don't enjoy a fantastic social life either which is restricted by booked rides and they holiday accordingly. They endure many injuries, some even being life threatening and sadly some even proving fatal or else ending their life as they once knew it.
Having known personally many owners and trainers I actually take offence by your comment about 'horses are at the mercy of greedy fat bastards only interested in the money.' Many of the owners I have known as friends or met through racing care a great deal about their horses and welfare. Have seen owners physically shaken and upset when their horse has fallen for instance. Hardly the image portrayed by a greedy fat ******* heh ;)

Finally...... and this is a fact!
Horses get killed in any sport NOT JUST RACING!
In fact horses get killed every day, even for just being horses.
Personally I saw a beautiful horse pts last week as it had slipped in the field. Could not be saved as broke its leg :( An absolutely horrendous time for everyone.
So please don't come on here posting your emotional anti racing claptrap unless you can back it up with clear facts and tell me for a fact that there is no chance that one of my horses ( or anyone else's) will ever suffer an awful accident and be put down as result!!!
Click to expand...

Well said!!
 
If you were watching Channel 4 today then the horse that was fatally injured at Musselburgh called Uncle Bryn. He came from the John Quinn yard from North Yorkshire.

If you are going to rant about racing and it's fatalities then at least have the courtesy to give name to the unfortunate horse. Uncle Bryn. Not only that but please give half a thought to the poor lad or lass that had to go and hold their horse whilst it was humanely destroyed and then return with an empty bridle. There is truly nothing worse. Trust me.

As for rehoming them - well I work in racing have brought 4 of them home with me. Not everyone can do this but you would be surprised at the number of stable staff that take their horses home given a chance when they finish their racing careers. Others go into rehoming centres. Yes some go to the sales to take their chances and some go straight to the slaughterhouse but that has got to be better than being dumped and neglected?

At least racing is trying to control the breeding, upbringing, and putting more emphasis on the rehoming. That is alot more than can be said for other disciplines.
 
EKW said:
If you were watching Channel 4 today then the horse that was fatally injured at Musselburgh called Uncle Bryn. He came from the John Quinn yard from North Yorkshire.

If you are going to rant about racing and it's fatalities then at least have the courtesy to give name to the unfortunate horse. Uncle Bryn. Not only that but please give half a thought to the poor lad or lass that had to go and hold their horse whilst it was humanely destroyed and then return with an empty bridle. There is truly nothing worse. Trust me.
Click to expand...

It was a horrible fall, was very relieved to see the jockey get up so quickly though, look like he took quite a knock in the initial fall and then it looked like the horse fell on him again when it tried to get up. RIP Uncle Bryn, thoughts are with everyone involved.
 
Well said Fantasy World. I'm sick to death of hearing people slagging off the racing industry and claiming its cruel, as though every other horsey sport is whiter than white and without any elements of cruelty. I heartily agree that more should be done to stop the vast numbers of horses wasted after their careers have finished, but things are rapidly improving. 5 years ago no one wanted an ex racer, now people do want them which can only be a good thing. What I do take offence at is the insinuation that in the racing industry we're all just in it for the money. Unless you are a top trainer with rich owners its a thankless job
 
Oops phone posted that too soon...the stable staff in yards do it for little money and work bloody hard to look after their horses. We certainly aren't in it for the money. I wouldn't mind betting the OP has never set foot in a racing yard to see exactly what goes on behind the scenes and how 'cruel' it all is!
 
Dancingkris how right you are. I got mine 6 yrs ago literally to the day and paid peanuts for her. Within the next year / 2 yrs the place I got mine from were selling them for 3k + my friend bought one for £3750 and it wasn't anything special. Thanks to groups like ROR there is much more understanding about Ex-racehorses and many more are being rehomed wether through selling or giving away. I never wanted a TB mare, ex-racer, the last thing on my wish list but thanks to organisations like Heros, Darley, ROR etc etc I now have a horse that's got me further than any if my previous horses.
 
I would like to add that the ROR classes at the county shows tend to have very big audiences as non-horsey people relate to a race horse. When I'm walking round the first few laps I'll make a hopefully nice or funny comment to someone, usually with a child on their shoulders about how my horses bogeys are bigger than theirs (my horse loves blowing her nose over people) the kids love it, the parents are shell shocked but it makes us look normal rather than snobby posh people on 'orses. It also covers me when I go past in the gallop calling her a knob coz I can't stop......
 
dancingkris said:
Well said Fantasy World. I'm sick to death of hearing people slagging off the racing industry and claiming its cruel, as though every other horsey sport is whiter than white and without any elements of cruelty. I heartily agree that more should be done to stop the vast numbers of horses wasted after their careers have finished, but things are rapidly improving. 5 years ago no one wanted an ex racer, now people do want them which can only be a good thing. What I do take offence at is the insinuation that in the racing industry we're all just in it for the money. Unless you are a top trainer with rich owners its a thankless job
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Absolutely agree! :)
 
It is a shame that some of you spent time writing such well thought through replies to such a pointless, biast post which was barely legible to get no reply. I think this is obvious trolling.
 
It was quite obvious she was a troll when she didn't respond to any of the early replies :) however there are people who do think like that sadly.
 
Op - if you care so much about what happens to racehorses when they have finished their career, why not take on a challenge and "rehabilitate" a few. You can then put on a constructive post asking for help when you've made a hash of it.
 
agree with everyone on here wholeheartedly :D racing for a lot of owners is a hobby and horses that dont want to race, generally dont for very long. horses race because they want to, and jump because they want to. as for the grand national, or any jump race, if a horse falls or the jockey gets unseated, 9 times out of 10 the horse will carry on galloping and jumping with the rest of the field - now tell me OP, would they do that if they didnt want to? there is nobody on their back making them!
 
still here. thanks to everyone who replied to my post. everyone is entitled to their opinions good or bad.yes its true animals are exploited in all walks of life, but watching horses get injured or killed on a saturday afternoon is not my idea of fun, and no watching channel 4 raceing is a rareity not a regular passtime.sounds like I TOUCHED A NERVE, you know what they say If the cap fits wear it.
 
Thing is - not one person deliberately sends their horse out to get killed. This is something that "antis" seem to forget...


Actually, the only reason I came to respond to this thread was to say that (cant remember who posted it back along - sorry!) Weatherbys do (or certainally used to when I was owning!) take compulsory "donations" from owners that get given to racing welfare and horse rehab charities.
 
So OP, your basically saying that racing is the only equine sport that has fatalities are you?? Obviously they don't die eventing, hunting etc do they?? Perhaps if say, showjumping was a mainstream sport and there were as many showjumpers in training as racehorses, the sport was televised everyday of the week and was as popular as racing your argument is basically saying every horse which competed was guaranteed to come back home safe after a competition. You are not seriously telling me either that every horse competing in other equestrian disciplines are found a five star home for life once they have finished their careers? I think not. The fact is racing is much more in the public eye so we are so much more aware of when a fatality occurs. Like I said in my last post I wonder if OP has ever visited a racing yard? Maybe she should - she obviously thinks everyone involved is in it for the money and we have no feelings for the horses we look after and love. I for one would be delighted to prove her wrong!
 
OP you have obviously never been around the showring at Dublin when the Racehorse to Riding horse is on....there is more racing people there than other people!!

You have obviously never been there when a trainer is laughing with glee as one of his older retired handicappers is proper testing a new work rider in the yard or teaching a young rider to jump schooling fences! And nearly every yard has one or two of these older servants that have given them great fun and they just can't bear to let them leave....so they get treated like kings, nanny the babies and generally let do whatever the hell they want.

You have obviously never been there when a trainer has to keep themselves composed after losing a horse at the track....then go home and cry their hearts out in private.

You have obviously never been there when lads and lasses let their charges out of the parade ring and off to the start....99% of them will call something along the lines of look after him/her and jockeys reply of course!

You have obviously never been there when a horse finishes mid-division and gets showered with hugs and kisses because everyone in the yard knows they tried their best.


You have obviously never been there when a horse is lost at home in a tragic field accident....and in a racing yard you wish that if it had to happen it happened at the races rather than at home as at the races the horse would be put out of its misery within minutes.

You have obviously never been there when owners come to visit the yard to watch their horses work....and take the chance to spoil them with treats - something they can't generally do at the races as they don't have stablepasses.

You have obviously never been there when an owner wants to retire a horse and "sponsors" it in its new endeavour with its new owner.

You have obviously never been there when the worst does happen and the trainers/lads/lasses do the very difficult thing of being their for the horse in their last minutes providing comfort and care.

Everyone in racing and indeed any equestrian sport knows that accidents can and do happen. Where you have live stock you have dead stock. It is a sad sad fact of life.

If you dared to come on here and slag off an ethnic minority with the same gross generalisation you would be slaughtered so don't you dare spout a load of waffle about something you know nothing about.
 
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