Racehorse deaths

Abz88 said:
Agreed. It is not all race owners which are this issue and I am fully aware of other cruelty. I know this will open a can of worms, but I hate watching the high class dressage and shows jumping and x-country. In almost all the pictures you see you see the whites of the horses eyes, the sticks being used, the madness of the yanking of the poor horses mouths and yes, the falls and deaths. I know there are very bad owners out there, I do not condone this, nor ignore it. But people who are meant to be caring and love the horses seem to love the 'sport' and 'money' more. How they get there doesnt matter.
Don't get me wrong, I am not one of these silly types of horse owner, a horse is a horse, and you need to understand how it thinks and behaves to ride and get the best out of it. Mine is not one to be rugged all year round,...cuddled, spotless etc. But I would never use her for financial gain especially if there was a risk to her. I see it as unfair and not needed. I can make my money from other sources which causes no possible suffering.
My opinion and my belief is that racing on the surface, is lovely, behind, it is not. I have had ex-racers come to me have been beaten, starved and very badly treated. So seeing that, I do not like or support racing. May be because of these experiences my view is jolted, but it is my view. I haven't been personal to anyone on here, just shown my concern and my opinion, which, thankfully, in this country, I am entitled to, as is anyone who loves their racing no matter what.
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Save your pity for tethered horses living there lives permanently slightly dehydrated never suffuicent exercise often tethered with no shelter from wind rain or sun this worrys me much more.
 
Okay so Abz88 may be misinformed and inaccurate etc, but I just hate how threads like this turn into a witch hunt. The last 5 pages have just been everyone ganging up on this one poster. :-(
 
I've only read page 1, and now this page.

However thankfully the majority of posters on hho are intelligent, informed individuals who hold np truck with the type of nonsense spouted occasionally by some.

So if that is what abz123 has been dong, people will respond accordingly.
 
Abz88 said:
Racing, although classed as 'tradition', is crule and needs to have stricted guidlines, or at least EVERYTHING open to the public and media. The background of racing can be barbaric. I know the horses enjoy racing, it's instinc, fastest horse in nature, doesnt get eaten...natural for horses to race. What I do NOT agree with is the amazing bad treatment of horses behind the scenes...happens all too often. Don't win,..dont get fed,..dont get looked after, either starve or sent to slaughter. Then,...any injury, healable or not,...horse shot. Because time is apprenetly so important. hardly like the onwers are short of money to help and do what it takes to bring the horse back to health,....but time is classed as lost money. These animals are no longer creatures that feel,..they are a way to gain money from greedy 'humans' and do so as quickly as possible. it is sick.
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So what evidence for this do you have? what yard have you been connected with that withdraws food from horses if they don't win a race?
 
Me and my oh fall out on grand national day. He thinks more horses die through being fat and laminitis than they do over jumps.... He could be right but I still can't bring myself to watch. My uncle was a jockey and it's more that I worry these people and horses have such a high risk of disablement and death, which is a conscious risk they take I know, that gets me.

Ok, I jump Xc too but I choose the size, and I don't have to jump it with 40 others.
 
i agree with some of what ABz 88 says, but only because these are some of the thoughts that pass through my mind also, the analogy with slavery rings a bell in the sense that horses, like slaves have no choice in their exploitation and are completely at the mercy of humans, good or bad.

what i can never understand is that the owners of a horse are'devastated' when a horse dies in a race yet they made the choice to put the horse at risk.

i too see horses, all the time, even at 'top' level which frankly make me feel uncomfortable, i think awareness is an individual perception.
 
But hang on tristar. I do XC and therefore put my horses at risk. If any died I would be devastated.
Lots of horse owners ride on the road. That puts horses at risk. I am sure they would be devastated if their horses got killed on the road.
 
amymay said:
I've only read page 1, and now this page.

However thankfully the majority of posters on hho are intelligent, informed individuals who hold np truck with the type of nonsense spouted occasionally by some.

So if that is what abz123 has been dong, people will respond accordingly.
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That's why I've just read it and not said a thing as my blood is boiling; don't want to say anything I might regret later but I will add this
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guido, i think if you are riding your own horse, you know how it feels and can have more control over the situation and performance, and maybe you are not doing it with a very young horse, as some of the racehorses are, really still babies but being asked to give more than they are capable of and then cracking under the strain.
 
There's good & bad in everything, not just racing. Anyone who even turns their horse out with a companion puts it at risk etc etc.
 
Racing deaths are horrible and uncomfortable to watch...yes, horses die in other equine sports but that doesnt make one death any less sad than another. I think the fact that money is the primary motivator behind a race horse running makes it a question of ethics, as opposed to an accident in a field... but at least they are dealt with promptly and there are far worse deaths on a daily basis due to owner cruelty.

Please let all the horses in the National come back safe and sound today.
 
Phoebe, what you have said hits the nail on the head, for me anyway.

hope they all get through this afternoon safely too.
 
Phoebe said:
I think the fact that money is the primary motivator behind a race horse running makes it a question of ethics, as opposed to an accident in a field...
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I'm sorry but in the majority of cases, money is NOT the incentive to race a horse at all, just a nice bonus if the horse does well. It costs a lot more money that only the very best will ever recuperate than you'd ever win; owning racehorses is akin to a bottomless pit in most cases.
I know many owners who are just there for the enjoyment, pride and excitement of their own horse running against others of his own kind; to prove to others that theirs is the best and to have a good day out with their friends; if the horse even gets a place that is a lovely bonus.
Please don't say that owners are only in it for the money as in the majority of cases, this is an absolute lie. They are in it to live their dreams, same as many of us with horses of whatever type.
 
I can honestly say the 7yrs I spent in racing the owners were all about the money end off. They use to come and see their horses on a Sunday afternoon and not one were dressed suitable, most in high heels,short skirts and most afraid to touch the horses it was a joke. They just loved the " iv got a racehorse" and loved the piss up at the races. When told their horses couldn't run as they weren't ready, not the right race etc etc many didn't want to know they just wanted their horse to race. There was not 1 owner I liked they were all up their own arses and couldn't care less what happened to their horses when they were proved to slow. Sure not owners are the same but all the owners in 7 years I worked in racing they were. The only people that cared about the horses was US the grooms who spend every god dam hour looking after them for jack **** pay. I got out in the end and wouldn't go back. Myex racer is one off the lucky ones who will live his life out with me.
But on the plus side not 1 horse was pts if finished racers they all get homes .
 
so let me get this straight, racing is cruel because it's akin to slavery making these poor horses do something they don't want to do? if this is right then any horse owned by a person is a slave!! anybody who rides a horse in any way is cruel because they are imposing their will on the horse! and if you really want to talk out your butt you could say that making a horse hack out alone is absolute cruelty as a horse is a herd animal:rolleyes:, making it go on the road could be construed as torture as you are making the poor horse go past cars, trucks, buses and all manner of dangerous scary things:rolleyes: so what is more cruel, letting a horse run up a grass track with a 'herd' of other horses or making one go out on the road alone? both situations could end in death for horse and rider, and quite frankly after some of the experiences i've had on the road i'd rather become a jockey!

And yes i know the comparisons are silly but it proves that you can make out anything is cruel and dangerous if you want;)
 
Money is the sole motivator behind the industry. Not just owners. If money wasn't involved there would be no racing industry! That's why it's a question of ethics for me... Making an animal risk it's life for money.
 
And the owners I know have been through more horses than they can count. Syndicates of blokes who don't want to spend money keeping something that can't run so get rid...to wherever/whoever ASAP so they can buy another and get it in training and go get hammered at the races.
We can only go on what we see, hear and know ourselves and our own experiences and it's opened my eyes.
 
Phoebe said:
Money is the sole motivator behind the industry. Not just owners. If money wasn't involved there would be no racing industry! That's why it's a question of ethics for me... Making an animal risk it's life for money.
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Diagree with this, and think its untrue. What about point to point?
 
tristar said:
guido, i think if you are riding your own horse, you know how it feels and can have more control over the situation and performance, and maybe you are not doing it with a very young horse, as some of the racehorses are, really still babies but being asked to give more than they are capable of and then cracking under the strain.
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I don't know how true that is.
Some of these class jockeys have more knowledge and feel in their left testicle, than I have in my whole body. I am no more poised to judge a situation than they are, simply because I own my horse and I'm in no more control when I'm hit by a speeding driver, than they are in control when they are hit on landing by another horse.

We put our horses through unnatural, stressful and potentially dangerous situations every day. Although we feel our own precautions negate the risk - really there is nothing that takes away all risk. So we forge ahead, feeling our precautions (training, boots, hi viz, fitness, turnout management) outweigh the chances of fatal damage to our horses. Well so do the jockeys, trainers and owners.

To own a horse, to ride - is to risk.
 
Phoebe have u worked in racing?as my own experience is the same as yours where the owners are concerned.

But iv got nothing against racing as a sport I quite like to watch it and will watch the gn later. I just don't like the stuck up arses off owners. Many a night sat up with a horse which is ill, feeling like poo due to lack off sleep but doing it for the horse only to have the owner ask why it still can't run. Never a " how is she" just annoyed that she cant run.
 
Well without money there would be no betting, no wages, no trainers, no prize money... Surely the entire reason behind racing horses is for punters to gamble ? I can't imagine what else would be the motivation. Even in Dubai where there is no betting the horses are run to win big prize money...
 
No, I haven't but my OHs family own a few and Ive met lots of owners through them and syndicate members and even ended up looking after one that was injured that the one syndicate wouldn't pay livery for while he got better and these folk are LOADED!! Either I had him or he was to be shot and he was lovely:
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