Why is horse racing legal?

[Anonymous]

It’s revolting

For those of you DCUMers into status - throwing or attending Derby parties is quickly going to become very tacky

Highly recommend horse racing death exposes done a few years back by HBO Real Sports and the AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s revolting

For those of you DCUMers into status - throwing or attending Derby parties is quickly going to become very tacky

Highly recommend horse racing death exposes done a few years back by HBO Real Sports and the AP.

Only the extremely neurotic DCUMers post about status all the time.

Derby parties aren't going anywhere - the bigger the hats, the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I eat animals and use their fur, wool and skin to clothe myself, so I can't point fingers.

Also, I remember what Secretariat's owner always pointed out - that this was a horse who WANTED to run. He was good at it, he knew it, and that's what he liked to do.

The problem is interacting closely with other species when we cannot always know what they want, and how they feel. Homo Sapiens has domesticated animals for millenia, and most of these breeds would not survive in the wild now.

How can we treat them with respect, and stimulate them mentally with the activities they are good at and want to do? It's not enough to give them food and shelter.

As an animal biologist, I've always wondered about this.

You can let a horse run without flying them all over the planet when they don't understand what's happening. These horses are subjected to stressful conditions routinely.

Do you have issues with other types of show horses (dressage)? Or just race horses?

NP. I have problems with show jumping. They are removing it from the Olympic pentathlon. Most horses like humans would rather walk around a 5 foot high obstacle if possible rather than jump over it, particularly with an adult human on their back.

NP. Some horses like to jump and will happily jump obstacles in their paddock for fun. Some people like to jump and will jump obstacles and choose hurdles rather than flat.

Jumpers are horses who like to jump. Otherwise they just wouldn't do it.

Some horses like to jump. Studies show that most don't. Not too many humans jump past childhood, except for athletes like basketball players, gymnasts and high jumpers. Those people that do jump are a good supply of new work for orthopedic surgeons.
https://www.horseillustrated.com/horse-news-2013-07-11-do-horses-enjoy-jumping

[Anonymous]

It’s a horrifically abusive ‘sport’ but then so are most that involve exploitation of animals. It makes me sick as an adult to recall how much I loved it as a young kid - but I had no firsthand experience and bought the propaganda put out by the racing industry and the media. Now that I know better I am enraged by how these horses are treated but I hold little hope that the industry will go away as it should.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/03/kentucky-derby-racehorses-deaths-animal-welfare

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/08/another-weekend-of-death-at-the-kentucky-derby-but-dont-expect-change

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a horrifically abusive ‘sport’ but then so are most that involve exploitation of animals. It makes me sick as an adult to recall how much I loved it as a young kid - but I had no firsthand experience and bought the propaganda put out by the racing industry and the media. Now that I know better I am enraged by how these horses are treated but I hold little hope that the industry will go away as it should.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/03/kentucky-derby-racehorses-deaths-animal-welfare

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/08/another-weekend-of-death-at-the-kentucky-derby-but-dont-expect-change

Euthanasia after breaking a leg isn't inhumane, it's the opposite. Horses break their legs, whether running or playing in the field or anywhere. It's something that happens, a terrible accident. While dogs and cats can live happy lives as tripods, horses simply cannot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a horrifically abusive ‘sport’ but then so are most that involve exploitation of animals. It makes me sick as an adult to recall how much I loved it as a young kid - but I had no firsthand experience and bought the propaganda put out by the racing industry and the media. Now that I know better I am enraged by how these horses are treated but I hold little hope that the industry will go away as it should.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/03/kentucky-derby-racehorses-deaths-animal-welfare

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/08/another-weekend-of-death-at-the-kentucky-derby-but-dont-expect-change

Euthanasia after breaking a leg isn't inhumane, it's the opposite. Horses break their legs, whether running or playing in the field or anywhere. It's something that happens, a terrible accident. While dogs and cats can live happy lives as tripods, horses simply cannot.

What is inhumane is that so many of the racehorses that break legs like that have be broken down by abusive training methods, their deaths are entirely predictable and preventable.

[Anonymous]

Part of the problem is that horse racing and show jumping are sports for rich people in large part, and just like fox hunting, they don't want to hear criticism about cruelty from less rich folk. I wonder if colleges with equestrian programs will be revisiting this.

I watched the dress rehearsal for the coronation and that went pretty well in the middle of the night on empty streets. I watched the real thing and many horses were very unsettled. One ran into the crowd. Why did they need horses when most of the military use motorized vehicles or planes or drones? It would have been fun to see the golden carriage pulled by an electric Land Rover or a biodiesel tractor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a horrifically abusive ‘sport’ but then so are most that involve exploitation of animals. It makes me sick as an adult to recall how much I loved it as a young kid - but I had no firsthand experience and bought the propaganda put out by the racing industry and the media. Now that I know better I am enraged by how these horses are treated but I hold little hope that the industry will go away as it should.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/03/kentucky-derby-racehorses-deaths-animal-welfare

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/08/another-weekend-of-death-at-the-kentucky-derby-but-dont-expect-change

Euthanasia after breaking a leg isn't inhumane, it's the opposite. Horses break their legs, whether running or playing in the field or anywhere. It's something that happens, a terrible accident. While dogs and cats can live happy lives as tripods, horses simply cannot.

How often do the Assateague ponies break a leg in the wild?

[Anonymous]

The horses are raced too young. Their bone plates have not stopped growing. I grew up riding and can’t stand flat or steeplechase racing. It’s brutal.

[Anonymous]

Vanity Fair article that details the lengths the owners of Barbaro went to save him after he broke his leg. It illustrates how difficult it is for a horse to heal from a fracture, even when money is no object.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/08/barbaro200708

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The meat and poultry industry is also cruel and barbaric. Vote with your forks, people.

So true! OP is a hypocrite if she eats meat while preaching vs. horse racing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a horrifically abusive ‘sport’ but then so are most that involve exploitation of animals. It makes me sick as an adult to recall how much I loved it as a young kid - but I had no firsthand experience and bought the propaganda put out by the racing industry and the media. Now that I know better I am enraged by how these horses are treated but I hold little hope that the industry will go away as it should.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/03/kentucky-derby-racehorses-deaths-animal-welfare

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/08/another-weekend-of-death-at-the-kentucky-derby-but-dont-expect-change

Euthanasia after breaking a leg isn't inhumane, it's the opposite. Horses break their legs, whether running or playing in the field or anywhere. It's something that happens, a terrible accident. While dogs and cats can live happy lives as tripods, horses simply cannot.

But their legs wouldn’t break without inhumane training and racing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The meat and poultry industry is also cruel and barbaric. Vote with your forks, people.

So true! OP is a hypocrite if she eats meat while preaching vs. horse racing.

You can buy ethically sourced meat that isn’t tortured before it’s killed.