http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774 Discussion about: Is Horse Racing Cruel? http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774#comment544525
I liked horse racing when I was little because I liked looking at the horses. Now I know better.

I have a friend who works at a track and she absolutely loves horses so she does this for no pay. I don\'t understand how she can be there and not feel awful. These horses don\'t have any room to be free. They get walked or ridden once a day (usually walked), and are otherwise stuck in their stables. They get fed good diets and they get a lot of treats too which is probably the only good thing. They have one horse that, after she runs, she gets fluid and/or blood in her lungs and she has to rest or risk further injury or death. This happens every single time she runs yet they insist on keeping her running. Seriously? Who does that? If that same thing happened to a person when he or she ran, no one would allow the person to run anymore. But oh, when there\'s money involved, morals all get put on the backburner.]]> Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:01:06 PST http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774#comment535481 I have looked in some racing stables, even worked in them too.
NO most racing stables in North America DO NOT have "paddocks" to put the horses out into. think about it 500-1000 horses in a stable - how many paddocks do you see? NONE - they go on hotwalkers for a while if not being ridden - thats about it.
no horse "likes" getting whipped, who are you kidding?
a fit race horse is not fuzzy like a farm horse, their hair is VERY thin!

owners spend $10,000 or more on horses hoping they win, Many owners DO NOT even own a farm - so if the horse isnt racing well... its sold..dumped..
by the way a $10,000 horse is considered a cheap claimer - so is ALWAYS up for sale every time it races, if you knew about horse racing you would know that too.

many race horse owners could NOT pick their horse out of a group of 5-6 horses.. and other than standing in the winners circle, have very little contact with the horse. Thats the trainers, and groomers jobs...
]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:24:02 PST http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774#comment531629 because the owner woulden'y say 10,000 on a horse
just to mistret it
maybe u should go have a look at some racing stables and u will see that they get put out in the paddock in the day and put in a stable at night.
they get treated the best and yes maybe they do use them as money
HOW ELSE ARE THEY GUNNA FEED AND LOOK AFTER THEM!!!
the TB was bred to run dont all horses like getting out for a gallop and the whips well evreyone carrys ne of those not just jockeys and if you didn't know already horses skin is alot thicker than ours and they have fur to protect them!
so please dont say horseracing is cruel when you clearly dont know what your talking about]]> Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:09:19 PST http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774#comment277181 ]]> Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:30:04 PST http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774#comment224047
The problem is, everyone needs to cooperate on this. Breeders need to breed horses for soundness, not just speed (Storm Cat was one of the worst things to happen to the breeding industry, even though he's a tremendous sire). Racetracks need to offer juvenile races later. Trainers need to be willing to take a stand in the interest of their horses. Owners need to get involved and understand what's going on. Maybe then we'll have a change.]]> Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:54:48 PST http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774#comment220471 ]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:37:18 PST http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774#comment191095 ]]> Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:33:33 PST http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774#comment139907
I also saw horses with open running ulcers. I am an RN and I know untreated wounds when I see them.

These horses at local tracks are often sold to meat buyers when they have out lived their usefulness, or do not perform at a level to make money. I purchased one such animal that was destined for the meat auction. A trainer I knew contacted me to see if I would buy the horse because he couldn't stand to see such a nice horse destroyed for meat.

BTW I did purchase the horse and he turned out to be a nice event horse with personality plus.


]]> Mon, 05 May 2008 15:03:02 PST http://www.sportales.com/Equestrian/Is-Horse-Racing-Cruel.119774#comment139810
Actually, most race meetings in the UK are only a day long - the bigger 'festivals' like the Cheltenham Festival, Royal Ascot, the 1000/2000 Guineas meeting, the Grand National meeting etc, they're between 2-4 days in length. Some courses are ran at the same time every week at certain points of the year though - during the summer, Windsor racecourse runs a meeting every Monday night and Newmarket's July Course has a meeting every friday night in the summer.]]> Mon, 05 May 2008 12:04:49 PST