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]

Yes, of course it makes a difference, gromit! You've given one side only.
No baz. They race. For fun.

[Gromit]

The 7/7 bombings resulted in 52 deaths, but we must also consider 35,000,000 public transport commuters were not murdered that day. Is that both sides?

[Gromit]

It is the total that is significant, not how many it is out of.

[bazwillrun]

"No baz. They race. For fun."

how do you know that ?

[bazwillrun]

It suits you to believe they "race" each other for fun

like i said anthropomorphizing at its best

[B00]

Race for fun? LOL!!!!

They race to keep up with the herd, it's instinct, and one which is exploited by the racing fraternity.

[pixie373]

When you arrive at their field and they see the car, they canter towards it, getting faster and faster and push each other out of the way of the gate, so they are first. What would you call that?

[B00]

Instinct- the first to run away from danger is usually the one that isn't eaten in the wild.

[pixie373]

Instinct to race?!

[DTCwordfan]

So if you ban horse racing, what will replace it? Pigs...?

Can't see pig racing taking off in Dubai.

Stokey, sibs and many others here would be bereft without their betting fixes.

[B00]

You're confusing their natural instinct to run from danger amongst other horses as racing. Do you honestly believe horses get a kick (no pun intended) on being first???

[pixie373]

And baz, you can tell. That's how we look after animals, babies, people unable to communicate in traditional ways. You can still see if they are happy or not. Body language, experience, etc all comes into it. Humans are actually very good at picking up non-verbal signals.

[pixie373]

Boo, they get a kick out of keeping up with the herd, adrenaline and excitement. They don't necessarily want to be first, but they are not running through fear. Instinct and training works together.

[Gromit]

// When you arrive at their field and they see the car, they canter towards it, getting faster and faster and push each other out of the way of the gate, so they are first. What would you call that? //

Hungry. Survival of the fittest. The first to the food has a better chance of survival than the last. There is a totally different process when a horse is being whipped to go over jumps.

[pixie373]

They aren't hungry. They aren't fed before they're exercised.

[Sycamore3House]

I think lots of people say they would like it made safer so that there are not as many deaths. But I do not think that those people actually truly understand horses, racing and all the industry and jobs that are involved.
There are still going to be deaths in training.
The reason so many are destroyed is because it is a huge risk and cost in suspending a horse in a sling whilst its leg heals. They develop far more problems and illnesses by doing that.

[EDDIE51]

Without racing there would be no race horses as they are bred purely to race.
Even more horses are killed in hunting , which still goes on even though fox hunting is banned. In fact there is even more hunting now that fox hunting has been banned , they just follow a trail set by a member of the hunt, everything else including the deaths are the same. Hunts normally have a slaughter man riding with them so he can put down horses that fall immediately , all this takes place out of sight of the public . Banning fox hunting was the best thing that ever happened to hunting , now they can get on with it without the hunt saboteurs getting in the way . More horses are being killed in hunting now than when fox hunting as legal but we never hear about it. All equestrian sports cause deaths of horses , should we ban them all?

[FredPuli43]

Yes, Boo, it's perhaps not strictly accurate to say that all racehorses want to be first past a red circle on a post set an arbitrary distance from the point where they started! Unless they are very experienced and always run exactly the same distance (a highly unlikely combination) they could never know. But you will see horses pull, all the time, to be first away from the start. That's why we have jockeys and bridles. The jockey has the job of settling the horse, so it stays with the herd. Some horses are natural front-runners, they hate any other to head them, to such an extent that the trainer gives up, and settles for training them to lead but at a controlled pace so they haven't wasted their energy before the finish. Others are more readily persuaded to stay in the herd, the jockey "not giving them daylight", or "covered up" until the critical moment when they are given their head.

But the tendency is inherent and always there.

[EDDIE51]

Strangely if you look for links to 'Deaths Fox hunting' all you get is the reports of cruelty to the foxes, the death toll among the horses is never mentioned.