1000 Horses Killed

[Gromit]

A AB post about a kitten dropped in a wheelie bin or a dog maltreated is guaranteed to generated many tens of posts condeming the people who participate in such cruelty.

In the meantime racehorses are being killed every week. We have just seen the 1000th horse killed since 2007.

// A thousand horses have died on Britain's racecourses since 2007, according to records kept by an animal rights organisation. Animal Aid's "Death Watch" list reached the 1,000 mark late last month when a seven-year-old gelding, Hired Hand, was destroyed at Bangor-on-Dee, Clwyd, after being injured in a race. //

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/03/thousand-horses-died-on-british-racecourses

Maybe we just pretend to e a nation of animal lovers? Why else would we turn a blind eye to such carnage on the race track?

[pixie373]

Baz,no. You can easily tell if a horse is enjoying something or not. As sycamore rightly says, there are the odd ones who refuse to race (we had one). Have you ever managed to "force" a horse to do something it doesn't want to? They get excited from the minute they smell or hear the racecourse.
I don't agree with excessive whipping, which has anyway been shown to take time off speed, as the horse goes slightly sideways away from the whip.
They not only naturally race and jump, but have also been bred and trained for hundreds of years to work with people.

[pixie373]

And no, WR, horses legs don't mend very well. They don't rest them. The trainers i have worked with spend far more on looking after their horses than they ever win back. You need to have money in the first place to race horses.

[ladybirder]

Kosmos if your 10.21 comment was meant for me, I'm not for banning horse racing, I'm for making it safer.

[DTCwordfan]

WR - you must know a lot about horses then - should set your self up as a specialist consultant if you can repair animal legs when they don't rest up. 95% of the time, the breaks can't get set properly or grow back...and if they do with a major failure point. Not unless you have come up with some fusion process and, if so, good luck to your new venture.

[Maydup]

In general, horses haven't lived wild for centuries. Historically they were bred to work - less so now of course. They are still bred to race but luckily for them not to eat. Unlike cows, pigs, chickens and trout who have no pleasures in life at all!

Its only really cats and dogs (and racehorses) who live a charmed life and about whom people get so upset. Be more concerned for battery chickens and I'll consider listeneing.

[bazwillrun]

"You can easily tell if a horse is enjoying something or not"

how ?

If the horse wasnt whipped would it run faster ?
If you leave horses in a field do they start racing each other ?

[glasman]

The total number of animals killed in British slaughterhouses in 2011 was over 958 million.

This included 8.5 million pigs, nearly 15 million sheep, 17 million turkeys, 15 million ducks, over 931 million chickens and 2.8 million cattle. Add to that 4.5 billion fish and 2.6 billion shellfish you have a total of over 8 billion animals killed in the UK each year.

This equates to 22 million animals slaughtered every day; 919,000 an hour; 15,000 per minute and 255 every second.


A thousand horses in 7 years is miniscule , then.

[Svejk]


bazwillrun
/// If you leave horses in a field do they start racing each other///
Yes

[poortony]

What's running in the 3 o'clock at Ayr?

[pixie373]

Baz, yes they will. You can tell if an animal is happy. It's just experience with knowing them and their behaviour. Yes, as i said, whipping, if anything slows them down. At the end of a race, the horses themselves are caught up in the excitement of the jockey and the race. I've also pointed out, as has Sycamore, that a horse will just refuse to run if it doesn't want to. How many times have you managed to make a horse do something it really doesn't want to?

[pixie373]

It would have been very helpful also, if gromit had also given us the number of horses that have safely raced. As 1000 killed is horrible, but what are we comparing it to?

[FredPuli43]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/oct/01/horseracing.sport

An emotively written article; scroll down to the end for brief facts about number of horses slaughtered out of the million plus horses in the UK etc.(6,000 to 10,000) There are about 20,000 racehorses in the UK, a good many of which end up in knackers (slaughterhouses)

The figure given for thoroughbred foals that race in their lives is misleading. It is only a small sample. Half will be fillies and it is very common to see 'dam unraced' against a racehorse's listing in Timeform. And not all colts will necessarily be sold on for racing here or generally anyway.

[pixie373]

... Foals are never raced

[FredPuli43]

How many horses race safely? There are about 90,000 runners each year. That's for about 20,000 in training.

[petal54]

I feel that any creature killed no other reason than they're past their use by date is not good

[FredPuli43]

True, pixie, foals (and yearlings , if we are being technical) are never raced. The Guardian link was playing up that a good number of foals don't end up ever having had a race on a racecourse.

[pixie373]

No. Well,not all foals will be suitable, so that's not surprising. I think there is a bit of confusion on this thread. Some are talking about cruelty and abuse of ex-racehorses. I don't think anyone is condoning that. Unfortunately, in all walks of life, there will be the unscrupulous. In this case, maybe breeder, trainer or owner.
The OP is suggesting that racing, itself, is cruel to horses. I disagree with that.

[Gromit]

// It would have been very helpful also, if gromit had also given us the number of horses that have safely raced. //

I disagree that it is helpful.

If I had posted the fact that 114,000 people were killed by smoking last year, would the figure be any less shocking if the total number of smokers was also included?

[bazwillrun]

"/// If you leave horses in a field do they start racing each other///
Yes "

chasing maybe, but racing !?..... the word anthropomorphizing springs to mind