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Y&R Discussion Group






I can't click on the link, but if this is about that horse that broke its legs the other day, I'm right with you. I don't believe in horse racing, dog racing, or any other kind of sport that involves animals. If people need to go and watch a race, let them watch race car drivers instead. At least the race car drivers are doing it by their own personal choice, so if they get killed or maimed they have noone to blame but themselves.
These horses are being used for our amusement, regardless of the fact that it could get them killed, and it makes me sick. I know this is supposedly a "freak" thing, and it doesn't happen that often. But I can remember this happening enough times that it should be stopped. IMO, if horses occasionally get killed during horseracing, then that is reason alone for it to be outlawed. It may not happen every week, but it happens enough, and it matters. There shouldn't even be a discussion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/sports/othersports/04rhoden.html?hp I agree.
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I think it is telling that the animals have to be hauled to Canada or Mexico, because there are no facilities in the US anymore.
I also think that people in those other countries who eat the horsemeat get what they deserve. These animals were not raised for meat consumption. Do you have any idea of the drugs and medicines that have been pumped into these animals? Most of the things I give my horses say directly on the packaging ''not for use in animals intended for human consumption''. And they din't get a fraction of the things those race horses get on a daily basis.......
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I am not clicking the link, but I am guessing it is footage of a horse breaking a leg in the middle of a race. Yes, it is shocking and sickening. No doubt about that.
However, as a horse owner, I have a more benign view of the racing industry in general. For a start, race horses enjoy good care. They are well fed, receive veterinary attention, and if they are entire (ie, not a gelding) and have reasonable bloodlines, they will probably be sold for breeding purposes and enjoy a good life for many more years. If the Thorobred has been properly broken in as a youngster, they can go on to have a second "career" as a pleasure hack or eventer. Of course, there will be those horses that are treated badly when they are racehorses, but they are the exception not the rule. The racing industry has a code of practice and comes down on trainers and jockeys who do not treat their animals well.
I see plenty of horses that are treated far worse out in agistment paddocks. I see plenty of "pleasure" horses standing out in cold, windswept paddocks (or in the blazing sun) without shelter or a rug to keep them warm. I see plenty of "pleasure" horses that are kept in a pitiful state without sufficient nutrition or parasite control. I see plenty of "pleasure" horses being ridden by riders with no skill or technique who bounce around on their backs hurting the horses and doing permanent damage. I see plenty of horses being ridden by riders who are simply too heavy for the horse. I am yet to see any new report coming down on this sort of cruelty. I am yet to hear anybody say that we should ban the whole pleasure horse industry as a result. I would be satisfied if there was more regulation of it, and I am part of it.
The racing industry has made it possible for a person like me, who owns three retired, pleasure horses, to keep animals economically. I benefit from the number of farriers, equine veterinarians, horse dentists etc that there are around. If these professionals relied solely on the pleasure horse industry, it would cost me far more in $$$ each time I called them out to my nags. Also, I benefit from the research that goes into equine health, most of which would probably not happen if there wasn't a racing industry.
I agree that it is distressing to see racehorses injured on the track and being whipped to run fast. I would never, ever let anything like that happen to Twiggy, Ozzie and Bickie. But the horseracing industry is not all bad. JMHO.
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Twenty 1000+ lb animals clustered together, each being whipped with a crop, made to run at breakneck speed and one falls down? What a surprise? Who would expect THAT to happen?
Oh well, on the positive side, she'll never have to be whipped into a frenzy again.
I am being sarcastic because it makes me so angry. Its such an ugly, ugly tradition.
I can't click on the link either. I don't have the heart to read/see/hear about animals being hurt/abused/killed. So I'll take your word for it.
I never watch horse racing anyway - and was never interested in watching it to begin with. The same goes for dog racing.
I'm not clicking either. But I am in total agreement. There is always some disaster at the track. The thoroughbreds have toothpick legs and are pushed to the limit and I hate it. Afterwards what do you think happens to those horses? A good many are sold for meat. I'm also against rodeos. I don't know how people think it is entertaining to see a steer roped and slammed onto the ground, and the chuckwagon races are the worst.
It should not be believed that all things exist for the sake of man. On the contrary, all the other beings too have been intended for their own sakes and not for the sake of something else. – Moses Maimonides (AD 1135-1204)
I no long like horse racing and after a horse fell and broke both ankles and had to be euthanized immediately today its the end of my race watching
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