Let's be blunt .....

Agreed

What Got Me in the Other Post is That Someone Said that Horses Are Made to Race or Something Along those Lines....

OK Then If They are MADE to Race why is it that the Loose Horses Jumped Along With the Ones With Riders if They Didn't WHAT to Do it they Wouldn't Would They????
I'm Sorry Don't Seen to Be Able to what I'm thinking into Words today....
 
Exactly OP. Let's celebrate those 40 beautiful horses who gave their all yesterday and loved doing it.

Whether the course is easier, the jumps lower blah blah is irrelevant - we are not going to change that.

Just a few 'tweets' that sum it all up:

Terrible news for the Daily Mail as all Horses return Home safe. Their Photographers now desperately 'snapping' more drunken racegoers

The rainbow hunter is fine after finishing 2 Nd in the grand national. Shame he lost his jockey at the canal turn! (Kim Bailey)

So more horses died in the filming of the hobbit than in the last 2 years of the national. (Tom Palin)
 
As a matter of interest, does anyone know or can hazard a guess as to why the two loose horses suddenly stopped following the others and veered off? All I saw was one going to jump the barrier before going out of camera shot - thought "oh ****!" knowing what the barriers used to be like and then relaxed a bit when I remembered they were made of plastic now and more easily collapsible. Presume they were both okay.
 
Thats where you get back to the stables - they aren't daft these horses! They know where dinner is! It always surprises me how many dart out towards the stable bend when riderless and not follow the rest of the field.
 
Saying that one of my exracers would find the nearest bunch of photographers to stop and pose for before heading for a canter along the edge as close to the public as possible - they are only there to see him of course and he quite simply must show hinself off for them to admire, worship and shower him with compliments! He is a right model lol!
 
bonny said:
.....anyone ever seen a horse die of old age ?
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Yes, unfortunately....... I was cuddling her at the time.

My mare was certainly 33 and could have been more so despite her still in recovery from her second bout of E. Flu - I'd say it was old age that did for her - we've all got to go sometime and if needs must - it was very quick and avoided me having that terrible decision sometime later.
 
What about the Loose Horse That Stayed with the Field and Was 2nd.... He DIDN'T Have to Stay with Them but He Did.... He Wouldn't Have Done it if He Didn't Want to, Right?
 
EKW said:
Thats where you get back to the stables - they aren't daft these horses! They know where dinner is! It always surprises me how many dart out towards the stable bend when riderless and not follow the rest of the field.
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I've done some practical fire tests with people. All the "guinea pigs" thought they had come to a job interview and were given a form to fill in - they should have wondered why they were so many fire exit signs etc., it looked like a H&S nightmare!! Half way through their form filling we triggered the alarm - about half those tested stopped what they were doing and left but NONE of them followed the signs - they ALL went out the way they came in!!!

We gave them all a nice pressy but also told them to take more notice in future as they were walking dead!
 
Centauress said:
What about the Loose Horse That Stayed with the Field and Was 2nd.... He DIDN'T Have to Stay with Them but He Did.... He Wouldn't Have Done it if He Didn't Want to, Right?
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Horses are HERD animals - they will try to stay together - evolution has determined this as all the slow ones got eaten by predators - the fact that humans have removed the predators for the most part is only a drop in the ocean in historic terms and besides - the horses don't believe us!!!

I have posted on other threads about the want to / forced to thing - it is an emotive subject. Personally, I think it depends on one's view of torture and cruelty - to me, they are being beaten, having one's fingernails pulled out etc., etc., but if you're with the folk who complain about Guantanamo - just being in captivity is torture (despite three square meals a day and full medical facilities) on the grounds that you can't walk out and restart your life of terrorism.

Rational people would not say that horses are unduly mistreated even in the worst racing yard - they must be fit to compete at least - on the otherhand it must be admitted that humans do control them and ..... let's say cadjole them to do things for their keep.

To avoid hypocracy - I think the only people who can complain of racing are true Vegans as they do not exploit animals whatsoever - everyone else can shut the hell up!
 
Like I've Said I'm Having Problems Putting into Words what I to say....

But What I'm Trying to Say I think is that Some Horse Do it Because They enjoy it NOT because WE Force Then to Do it....
 
Centauress said:
But What I'm Trying to Say I think is that Some Horse Do it Because They enjoy it NOT because WE Force Then to Do it....
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I think that's right. The flipside is that some horses don't enjoy it so much, but because they are horses they go along with what we want them to do. Not all horses that are raced enjoy racing.

Here are some quotes from the brilliant "How to Win the Grand National" documentary I've just finished watching which are relevant to this:

"You can make 'em jump well enough to go hurdling or for the odd chase, but for the big races like this you need horses that just take it on and do it on their own, loose" (referring to loose jumping in arena)

"They are all different [...] they don't all like trying, they don't all like hard work" (Tony McCoy)

"As a vet, I'm not entirely convinced that horses want to win races"

"I wouldn't say every horse loves to be a racehorse and has got the will to win..." (Becky, trainer)
 
ridefast said:
Well said! I worked on ONE racing yard too, the horses all got daily turnout, went on the walker twice a day, were exercised twice a day, would hack out, school, jump, gallop. Their diets were all tailor made specific to the individual and broken down into several meals so they were trickle feeding constantly either on hard feed or hay. They were fit, healthy, relaxed and happy.
I've also been to a yard to view a pony for sale, the horses were kept in metal "stables" with no sunlight, concrete floor and ****** hay, they were all youngsters and never had any turnout. The owner told us how people kept calling the RSPCA but they didn't think she was doing anything wrong !!!
I also sent my little pony to a riding school for 4 years on loan. He went off a fit happy little pony who was hacking every day and regularly going out and about doing little show jumping etc, came back grumpy withdrawn and biting everyone. A year later he's just about back to his happy self.
Point is, everything needs to be kept in perspective. No I don't like seeing horses die BUT the horses that die in racing are doing exactly what they've been bred to do, trained to do, and the death is as quick as it can possibly be. I also know several people keeping their horses alive in pain and suffering because they can't give up on them.
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The racers up the road from us are stabled, but put on the walker, ridden out and tuned out in the field every day. They are also given regular schooling and rehomed privately at the end of their racing career . I know These guys are well looked after, the horses all look great when we see them out n about, i really hope theres many more yards like this out there
 
It's a shame we can't have the same public outcry over the number of horses killed on the road when doing their job of hacking as we do over those killed doing their job of racing. I suspect the number is considerably higher each year than those sadly lost in the GN :(
 
Angelbones said:
It's a shame we can't have the same public outcry over the number of horses killed on the road when doing their job of hacking as we do over those killed doing their job of racing. I suspect the number is considerably higher each year than those sadly lost in the GN :(
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Can't resist this one :D

If a horse died every 250 times anyone went for a hack on a road you'd soon have your outcry.
 
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