Is horseracing animal abuse?

[MickyMacgraw]

Now excuse my ignorance as I'm a city boy, but just n ow looking at the C4 horseracing where they are being ridden to within an inch of their lives whilst having their rear beaten/smacked with a stick in order to make it go faster and win the race,does this border on animal cruelty or do the horses actually enjoy all the attention, exercise and grooming?

[B00]

Is Stu WBA? If not, im confused, lol.

I may have sidestepped from racing itself, that in itself i dont find cruel, as it has been pointed out, horses do have that cometative streak and its not confined to racehorses, believe me!

[mightyWBA]

Answerprancer your reply is disgusting.
How can you equate this discussion to that?
Take a good look at yourself.

[Answerprancer]

It's only disgusting in your opinion.
I believe your statement that horseracing/breeding is a living for some is as valid an answer as my (admittedly revolting) comparison. Obviously not the same thing, I could have used a more 'parallel' comparison but I thought that might be too bland.

[Dris]

Sorry B00 and WBA -i just am used to calling him Stu and he's never objected.
Suppose if you take it farther cows are bred in the same way as are pigs as they are good studs and produce the best meats -its a fact of life and if no-one can accept it then they should be Veggies.Difference is IMO horses love what they are trained to do -they even race when the jockey has been thrown off-jocleys and yards only serve to control and hone them.Beautiful specimens -i love them:)

[horseshoes]

While I'm not disputing that some owners don't care about their horses once they finish their racing career, I can 100% tell you for FACT that there ARE owners who keep their old horses; some to go point-to-pointing some just to live peacefully. To answer your question, do I believe that horseracing is cruel - no not at all. I truly believe the horses love it. You can almost feel their excitement in the saddling up yard before a race especially at the very big races such as the Grand National. The racing industry has made, and continues to endeavour to make racing as safe as possible for horse and jockey. Excessive use of the whip is always punished.

[mightyWBA]

Dris I'm going to love and leave you..
Had my say...I'm off down the pub to celebrate the Baggies winning....
The breeding of hops for beer..Disgusting ;-)
Stu.. out x

[Dris]

Boing !!! :) x

[oranger]

Last word from a horse racing fan.They should not be racing at Wolverhampton tonight not fair on the horses, jockeys, or the paying publuc

[Bambiagain]

The bottom line is that horse-racing - to a far greater extent than other equestrian sports - is about money, and there is a lot of money in the business. Horses do generally enjoy all the attention etc., and they are competitive in that they will try to outrun the others in the race. If they are any good, that is. The ones that aren't interested in getting ahead of the others are the ones that fail. Some of these do come to an unpleasant end, but many are sold on to other horse-lovers who ride for pleasure or competitively in another sphere and have a good home and are well looked after. It is unfortunate that in jump racing (not usually in flat racing) there are accidents and horses are injured and sometimes killed. Not pleasant, but it happens. But cruelty does not help horses to win races, and as others have said a whip is not actually painful when used correctly and there are rules against improper use. So overall the sport is not cruel, and a good racehorse is a pampered animal.

[wildwood]

The jumping races should be banned, but on the flat horses seem to mainly enjoy running.
Most ex race horses end up in some girl's paddock as a mate or for riding. The classy ones may even end up in gymkanas etc. Unless they are in a big field, horses that are not 'worked' will soon develop health problems.

[wildwood]

Sorry banbi, I seem to be repeating what you said.

* I must learn to type faster*

[Bambiagain]

No problem, Wildwood. Sometimes people who don't understand animals come to wrong conclusions. The friend who runs the yard I ride from got a very abusive text from someone (unknown to her) who had got hold of her full name and phone number, castigating her for keeping two poor little horses out in this dreadful weather. Where I am it has been rather wet for two or three weeks and it is now well below freezing and snowy (I'm not in the UK). These two poor little horses have been regularly watered and given hay and are a yearling and two-year-old, hence not in work. Both fat! Much healthier out than in and both perfectly healthy.

[andy-hughes]

I don't believe that a racehorse will run to run to 'within an inch' of it's life - maybe you are not looking closely enough?

Any horse which is patently not going to get a place is either pulled up, or allowed to canter in from the back, no jockey would waste time trying to win a race which is obviously beyond his mount's ability - and no owner or trainer would thank him for doing so.

As for being 'beaten' - have you seen how big and strong a racehorse is? Trust me, if an animal that side did not want to race, it would either refuse to start, or simply stop, and there is nothing a jockey can do about it.

As a final point - what happens to horses who unseat their riders? Do they appear to think "Thank god that's over, I can stop running now ..." or do they simply carry on running as they are trained to do because they actually enjoy it?

[MickyMacgraw]

Some great answers here, some pro some con.

Madmaggot you said "Avatar Image
madmaggot
Mark as Best Answer
As you said Micky, you are a cityboy and as such know nothing of the countryside or the animals therein. It's your bad luck that you were raised in such terrible surroundings but it is all that you know and therefore you accept it as 'natural'.
My personal opinion is that it is bordering on cruelty to force a boy to grow up in the city, breathing fumes continually and having to walk on terrible hard pavements, unable to go outside without running the gauntlet of road traffic.
IMO all children should be rescued from these conditions forthwith."

Thanks for caring, the city life's a hard one :)

[lankeela]

Wildwood's answer made me smile - imagine doing Gymkhana on a 17 hh thoroughbred!

Staying out of the rest of this, other than to say the horses do enjoy racing and it is not bordering on cruelty. They can however be bloody cruel to their riders or grooms sometimes - lost count of the injuries I have sustained from loopy thoroughbreds.

[society]

If racing horses is abusing them, then using them for any form of transportation is also abusing them.

[woofgang]

my point remains that the bloodstock industry itself is cruel in how it treats its throwouts and failures

[Dris]

Woof -thats life !! Cant understand why people arent beating up pig breeders -lets face it not much fun.Turkey breeders-no fun for Turkey.Veal/Lamb breeders bordering on cruelty for animals concerned
Race Horses have a great life-better than most humans.Some humans lie festering unnoticed for months -anyway we all go ther same way and if they can do anything with whats left of me when I hopefully get put down then feel free -wouldnt want my life to have been a watse.