Two horses slaughtered already!

[Birchy]

The world has gone mad. We will have to wear full body armour to leave the house next.

Too many people jump on the bandwagon not knowing the full facts as usual. Horses love racing just like we love golf, nobody forces them to run and jump fences. What do people think wild horses do? stand still and eat grass all day?

Horses have been used in war and the police over many years yet not many people seem that bothered about that do they? Why? because it suits them.

 

[Dodger]

Imperial Commander?

Teaforthree?

What's your fancies chaps?

Can't wait for the big race to start.

 

[Slime]

Why do people keep talking like I've suggested banning the sport.
I haven't, I haven't even suggested banning the race for goodness sakes.
If you read my original post I merely suggested that it would be made safer by decreasing the size of the fences & reducing the number of entrants. After all, forty horses and riders all galloping around the same course is a recipe or disaster .............. usually.

Slime.

 

[Slime]

The world has gone mad. We will have to wear full body armour to leave the house next.

A little melodramatic methinks.

Too many people jump on the bandwagon not knowing the full facts as usual. Horses love racing just like we love golf, nobody forces them to run and jump fences. What do people think wild horses do? stand still and eat grass all day?

Horses love running with other horses, they are pack animals, and running with the herd is instinctive.
Please don't tell me that they know it's a race. They run and jump because the other horses are doing so.

Slime.

 

[Birchy]

Horses love running with other horses, they are pack animals, and running with the herd is instinctive.
Please don't tell me that they know it's a race. They run and jump because the other horses are doing so.

Slime.

They run and jump because the other horses are doing so? Why are the other horses doing so then? I will tell you why, because they love it.

The horses can quite easily do what they want, the jockeys are there to try and guide them. If a horse doesnt want to run then they wont, simples.

 

[Big D 88]

They run and jump because the other horses are doing so? Why are the other horses doing so then? I will tell you why, because they love it.

The horses can quite easily do what they want, the jockeys are there to try and guide them. If a horse doesnt want to run then they wont, simples.

This is my grind...

You only need to look @ mad moose today..or even chaninbar, the biggest monkey of the lot...

to know that a 9st jockey doesnt have the last say on what a horse does or doesnt do

Why do you think that horse has an 'R' in its form?

Correct - It refused to jump the fence..

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Why do people keep talking like I've suggested banning the sport.
I haven't, I haven't even suggested banning the race for goodness sakes.
If you read my original post I merely suggested that it would be made safer by decreasing the size of the fences & reducing the number of entrants. After all, forty horses and riders all galloping around the same course is a recipe or disaster .............. usually.

Slime.

On your idea just to reduce the fence's at the national, what would you propose to do with hurdle races where horses fall and sometimes fatalities that are very small compared to the chase fences?

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Also, after watching a small amount of the C4 programme, I watched a horse run around a ring of its own accord, galloped towards fences freely and looked to enjoy itself. So, is the "jockey" the culprit in holding it back, making it jump too early or too late and making it run on at times when it may not want to any more?

Lowering the numbers is a must for me, 40 trying to jump and a single faller can bring so may others down which is when the horse cannot role or get out of the way which is a recipe for cervical fractures!

I spent 5 years at Newmarket golf course.
The steeplechase and hurdle training courses totally surround the golf course.
The amount of whipping the jockeys had to do to 'train' the horses to jump was sickening.
I have seen many a jockey unsaddled on these courses but NEVER have I seen a jockey-less horse carry on running AND jumping the fences.

I can assure you the horses do not LOVE to do this. Put a 4 foot fence around a field and the horse will stay in the field. If they 'loved' to jump they would be in the next county.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

I spent 5 years at Newmarket golf course.
The steeplechase and hurdle training courses totally surround the golf course.
The amount of whipping the jockeys had to do to 'train' the horses to jump was sickening.
I have seen many a jockey unsaddled on these courses but NEVER have I seen a jockey-less horse carry on running AND jumping the fences.

I can assure you the horses do not LOVE to do this. Put a 4 foot fence around a field and the horse will stay in the field. If they 'loved' to jump they would be in the next county.

The whipping doesn't hurt the horse's, its the sound it makes which keeps the horse concentrated and teachs them to jump properly.

These Race horse's are treated better than most human's.

 

[stevie_r]

The whipping doesn't hurt the horse's, its the sound it makes which keeps the horse concentrated and teachs them to jump properly.

These Race horse's are treated better than most human's.

I know precisely nothing about horse racing but how on earth can you state that whipping a horse doesn't hurt it? How can anyone possibly know that?

 

[Captainron]

Slaughtered is the wrong word. Slaughter is what happens to cows, sheep and pigs. I think if horse was more readily accepted as meat then this sort of thing wouldn't be as controversial. Horse dies on a racecourse - becomes part of the food chain. If we raced cows would the outcry be as vigorous?

 

[Deleted member 1740]

I know precisely nothing about horse racing but how on earth can you state that whipping a horse doesn't hurt it? How can anyone possibly know that?

It's been tested and proven.

Like I said the sound the whip makes is what the horse hears to keep controlled.

 

[bluewolf]

It's been tested and proven.

Like I said the sound the whip makes is what the horse hears to keep controlled.

So why the need for the whip? Why not just carry something that makes the same sound? Genuine question, not a dig at all mate. I'm interested in your statement.

 

[stevie_r]

It's been tested and proven.

Like I said the sound the whip makes is what the horse hears to keep controlled.

As I say, I know next to nothing about horse racing and I'm not trying to catch you out, but if it doesn't hurt the horse then why are there rules on how often a jockey can use it?

 

[JustOne]

Did anyone stop to consider maybe the horses tried killing themselves after seeing these two standing by the railings?

 

[Smiffy]

Did anyone stop to consider maybe the horses tried killing themselves after seeing these two standing by the railings?

On past form James, I would have a fiver on you having a pop at the one on the left. And if she had refused, plan B would have come into play.....as long as your mates weren't around to see.

 

[Smiffy]

143 in 2012.

How many is enough then? Go on.......

Over 200 riders have been killed in the Isle of Man TT races over it's 98 year history yet it still takes place every year with thousands travelling over to watch it, and millions more watching it on TV.
Sobering thought.

 

[Fish]

On past form James, I would have a fiver on you having a pop at the one on the left. And if she had refused, plan B would have come into play.....as long as your mates weren't around to see.

I think after a good day in the tents, I would mount the one on the left, looks a real man-eater

 

[BrizoH71]

As I say, I know next to nothing about horse racing and I'm not trying to catch you out, but if it doesn't hurt the horse then why are there rules on how often a jockey can use it?

There are rules about how often a jockey can use the whip because the BHA (the sport's governing body) bowed to pressure from lily-livered do-gooders who don't fully understand the issue at hand. Those shouting loudest have probably never even sat on a horse. They only saw the number of strokes used in the closing stages of a race, where jockeys are trying to get the best effort out of the horse in an attempt to win.

Is using the whip 20 times in the last couple of furlongs too much? Probably, but so long as the horse responds then its probably justifiable, at least to the jockey trying to win. To the general viewing public, no its not. Hence the reduction to 8. Some horses respond to the whip, others don't.

It has been proven time and again that the whip doesn't hurt, and there are videos of the likes of AP McCoy getting belted hard in the hand with a modern whip and not even flinching. Horse hide is far thicker than human skin and so it stands to reason that if a human isn't going to flinch, then a horse isn't. In the old days, whips were two leather straps which undoubtedly would have stung, and marked the horse but these have been replaced since with a PVC envelope stuffed with impact absorbing foam. As Stuart_C says, they aren't used as a punisher; the horse's instinct is to run away from the sound which the whip makes and so they are used primarily to concentrate a horse's mind and to help steer it.

 

[Rooter]

Was chatting to the mrs about this last night, as I mentioned she works for a racehorse trainer. The racehorses are treated like royalty in the yard, equine massages, the best foods and treatments, I see the bills when she works from home!! A horse that doesn't enjoy racing, simply would never enter a race. They train twice a day and run and race on gallops. It's in their DNA to race, that's why you get such good money to stud a good horse.

I agree they could potentially make it less risky by reducing the field to say 30. I also know personally a number of course vets, everything is done by the most strict guide lines and is as humane as possible.

Smiffy mentioned the iom tt. Large number of those deaths will be spectators! I have been there and seen it. Also remember when a horse bolted at the tt due to the noise and it got hit by a bike.. Both horse and rider sadly died. Stuff happens.