Video - *GRAPHIC* - is this normal in the racing world?

Merry Crisis said:
Racehorses in this country are subject to blood tests at racecourses, as steroids are banned in this country I dont think there is any aledgidly about it. As you had not even heard of Breeze up Sales, I doubt very much if you are in a position to make such a statement.
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Oh, MC, I think you took my comment in completely wrong way :)
 
Merry Crisis said:
Please then tell me how I should have taken *allegedly my dear allegedly*. Do you mean there are several ways to take it?
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I think you should imagine M with her tongue shoved firmly in her cheek when reading that comment MC :)

Naturally- eughh! That is awful. I don't know how you get them to stop. I once had a guy from SHAC stop me on the street to try and get me to sign up. He was most upset when I told him I used to work at HLS! :D

SusannaF- agreed. Just because I don't like PETA doesn't mean I am comfortable with the way they run racing in America. But I sure as sugar honey ice tea am not going to watch a PETA video and bump up their viewing numbers. They'll think I agree with them or something :rolleyes:
 
Steroids are not allowed in racing anymore.

Think steroids don't happen here. Well you'd be wrong. Can't run on them and they have to be out of system by a certain time but for sure sales babies have had them. Not all but believe me they have. As well as growth hormones as foals. There is no money for natural looking flat yearlings. So please look a little closer to home before bashing.

It's not perfect anywhere now is it? But it certainly makes us feel better to blame another place. For the record, American racing would be so much better off if horses were trained as they are here. As in varied terrains, up and down hills, some turnout, ect. They just don't have the same type facilities back home. Gallop left handed daily and only an oval to train on. So maybe if you want to criticise racing over there, change the record and look at all aspects.

FWIW, I am as anti drug as you can get. My Facebook posts have been full of anti drug this and that lately. But there is more than just drugs going on. The old horseman are gone and the quicker they change drug policies back home, the more horseman we will see. But I really would like to see a more European style training center which would go along way in better conditioning and overall soundness.

Terri
 
MC Martlin is starting to sound just like Shils!! Shudder:eek::eek::eek::eek:. It's the My Dear that got me. But yes we do have Breeze ups over here and if it's PETA well they are on a mission to destroy all animal life as we know it. No pets no fun, for some reason they think I'm a member as they keep sending me forms to rejoin, I think I made a mistake of sending some money to help save the dancing bears why cann't they just do that sort of help,should imagien the horse that broke a joint was delt with quickly.
 
Knocked me sick, especially the slow motion of the front broken leg! Horrendous :( has to be one of the most horrific videos put there.
 
The americans train and run their horses on all sorts of drugs not allowed anywhere else in the world, they are apparently (from a friend of mine who worked in racing over there) still pumping them with drugs as they are loaded into the gates. Horses treated this way are going to be completly numb to pain, and are more likely to break down.
However, I would say this can't be that much of a regular occurance, otherwise the sales wouldn't be financially viable as no one would buy the horses. (After all who is going to pay huge sums for a horse that is already pretty much broken down)
The horses that come from the breeze ups over here tend to be pretty buzzed up, but nothing like that.
 
having watched it and similar before I think I was pleased that we don't have 'dirt' tracks over here, I think they have a lot to answer for as a suitable racing surface.
 
Not according to my friend who worked there for 10 years.
I would like to think they have changed the rules since then, but I haven't heard that they have.
 
amymay said:
Have seen the video quite a few times before - and it makes for very sober viewing, PETA propaganda or not......
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Propaganda or not these horses shouldnt be put at risk like this for our "entertainment" or any other reason. It is after all people who love racing not horses and to abuse them like this is just sick. No horse should be ridden at that age, never mind flat out like that, the surface it is on doesnt matter, it shouldnt happen at all.
 
She is full of crap. But it sounds impressive, I'll give her that. Who was the person giving the drugs on the way to the gate? And where did your friend work, track wise.
 
I really wish i hadnt watched that!!! Doesnt really matter how it happened - Shouldnt be allowed in ANY country!!! I actually feel really sick now!
 
Does it matter which country or if it's PETA or not?!

The video is just awful, I broke my heart at that poor filly... So effing horrible!

Racing has so much to change, they wonder why they are hated on, no wonder! Idiots!

Foaming now. :mad:
 
As a personal opinion I don't like to see 2 yr olds racing. Some are broken before they are even a year old, which can't be good. Why do we need to see them so young? Overall though I do enjoy racing. There was an interesting point in H&H last week about the possible reason for more fatalities at Aintree is the loss of the old fashioned, robust NH type horse in favour of light boned flat bred horses. Possibly a very valid point.

I'm not racing bashing, there are plenty of breeds which don't race that have problems, such as LFS & SCID in arabs, HYPP in QH. It seems that when we let 'type' override the importance of performance in breeds (such as in hand classes where the animals don't need to prove they can do a job) we get as many issues. Let's hope we don't let obsession with breed type go the way dog breeding has where many pedigree breeds have problems which they are only just starting to address.
 
From having worked in racing a lot over the years, I would say you see an awful lot less US bred horses coming over here from their yearling sales now than you did a few years ago, possibly because their drug policies allow horses that wouldn't stand up to racing drug free being quite succesful there. The Jockey Club in America are trying there best to change the system, but are struggling.
It was connections of the horse that syringed something down the horse at the start, I think he said it was to prevent tying up, and it was after it reached the start not on the way.
By the way, up until I stopped racing my are in 2006 we were alowed to syringe horses iin the saddling boxes in the UK, I was thoroughly in favour of this, and used Airways and electrolytes, so I'm not saying all drugs on the day of racing should be banned.
On another note, I think bute use is now banned on raceday in the US, so progress has been made.
 
I just got your PM. So you could have a syringe for things you feel are good for the horse. Some would say performance enhancing. I don't feel it's fair for a mare not to be allowed regumate to race while an unruly colt can be gelded. One, the regumate is performance enhancing. The other is not. Well gelding is performance enhancing as well. See where this gets you? You saying well it's ok for me to use my syringe because it only has things I feel are necessary just isn't cutting it. There are drugs out there you can put in that little syringe that won't test or will come up "cloudy". This means the drug can not be identified and therefore you do not get in trouble per say as you would with a real positive. It's all down to chemistry.

I will say it again that no one has touched on, the training is completely different and is not necessarily beneficial to horses. They are looked after to the 9's. Where as here, being on a private farm, you are not judged in your practices and by Jesus do they vary. I can't believe the amount of liscened trainers on this side of a pond that can't even bandage horses properly. But look it, there is more than just the drug aspect. And please stop thinking horses aren't trained on drugs over here or that people push what they can get away with in withdrawal times. They do or otherwise there would never ever be someone caught for an infraction.

It's amazing you know. I defend the Euros to the Americans and Americans to the Euros. Basically because each side thinks they're superior instead of taking the good and bad with each and working to make the bad obsolete and by all means better. Honestly the absolute first thing I'd be doing in Ireland is surprise yard visits at least 3 times a year to everyone. What passes for horse care in some yards is shocking. Oh and like I've said before, drive into the track in America with a car full of syringes and meds. See what happens.

Terri
 
This is why you are no longer allowed to syringe anything at all on the racecourse without vet allowance. I would agree re regumate, although I can't remember what the withdrawl times are on that.
I know what you are saying re what happens at home, and boy does it vary!
However, the US is the only country which allows Lasix I think, and several other things.
Yes racehorses are generally better cared for than most.
Any trainer in the UK who has had their liscense for less than about 10 years now has to pass extensive NVQ training, which covers everything from feeding, to breaking and business management, so big improvements have been made.
I'm in OZ at the moment, and they aren't allowed to give them anything at all on raceday, I've been learning all about bicarb milshakes which don't show up on bloods if given at just the right time! Its eye opening.
They do spot checks in the UK, but not often enough, and there was one racehorse trainer who was prosecuted over a horse in his care.
 
Re. US drug use and breakdowns - worth reading the whole thing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/u...-of-injured-horses-at-racetracks.html?_r=2&hp

Regulators did not have the authority to monitor the treatment of horses on Mr. Gill’s ranch, but three months before the boycott, the commission and track security officers searched a van delivering Mr. Gill’s Lion’s Pride, who was scheduled to race that day. They found four syringes, and Lion’s Pride tested positive for a corticosteroid used to treat joint inflammation.

Lion’s Pride was not allowed to race that night. But on Dec. 18, 2009, after running barely a quarter of a mile, he suffered a fatal breakdown.

By then, an employee of Mr. Gill’s ranch had already told state police investigators that horses were being injected with drugs on race day, which is illegal. Investigators later heard accounts of snake venom injections and other performance enhancing treatments on race day, according to records obtained by The Times.
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And

These horses got little protection from state regulators or the racetrack. Even as the death toll was rising, necropsies were not performed to determine if pre-existing injuries had contributed to the fatal breakdowns. Nor were toxicology exams conducted.
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Definitely a few bad apples, but the drugs regulations aren't being enforced correctly.
 
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