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1000 Horses Killed

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Gromit | 00:10 Sun 04th Aug 2013 | News
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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?
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it absolutely is cruel. saying they are trained for it or bred for it is just an excuse - and a poor one. horses may love to run, but they do not like being beaten so they run faster, they do not like being forced to run so hard they collapse, they do not like being forced to jump fences that are dangerously high and they certainly do not like being injured in falls. they...
01:14 Sun 04th Aug 2013
So what's the solution? Ban horse racing and the bloodstock industry?
Put thousands more on the dole? Like it or not it's a centuries old industry as well as a sport and brings in massive revenue to this country and Ireland.
Eddie, that may be because the death toll of horses in fox-hunting or its substitute is extremely small . I say 'may be', advisedly. Fox hunting was a ridiculous pastime, excused by any number of false reasons, the prime one being that it was controlling vermin, vermin which were not hunted in the breeding season for fear that there would not be enough vermin left for the next season!













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Ladybirder,

Apologies, I have only just spotted your post from this morning. Thank you for pointing out my error.
Oh dear
The horses are coming to you because they have got conditioned by being given food and they are competing to get to the food , they are not racing, racing is a human trait.

your probably one of these people who watches a program about penguins and agrees witht the commentator that the penguins have a harsh time.....
the penguins dont know any different, harsh is a human description.

You think the animals are saying to themselves...gee I really need to get an easier life.

The horse are running to get food, animals lives like most life forms have a few basic functions and food is one of them and animals will do whatever is needed to get food.
Do you really belive cats and dogs seek out humans for anything other than ultimately food.
If humans stopped giving them an easy source of food they would gradually lose their "fondness" of humans

horses do not race in the wild they may run to compete for resources or some other genetically determined trait, but one thing they dont do is race for fun
To believe so is absolute tosh
No, baz. None of your guesses about me are correct at all. Horses play. They are not machines. They enjoy themselves, i call that fun. Racing is not a human concept. As has already been described, it is instinctive in a lot of animals. Horses have worked with humans for long enough to be co-operative, but we work with their instincts.
yeah...whatever
If racing is cruel, then ban riding, polo, Badminton Horse Trials and Burleigh etc etc..the poor horses that sometimes have to carry humans that are way too heavy on their back for starters.
are you seriously suggesting that if left alone in a field horses will attempt to outrun each other for fun? to win at speed against each other?
for that is what racing is... if they are just running around beside each other, then they are not racing.

and to mention that they are RACE horses, as though that means anything, as though that means they have to race and they did not exist before we decided to use them is ludicrous!
WE gave them that name - they did not evolve specifically to race - its just our choice of name because we have found they are fast - you could say the same about any other animal that is fast - it wouldn't make it its sole purpose for being!


as i said - the racing itself is NOT the problem - no-one objects to horses running around.
no-one protests other equestrian events in which horses run do they!?

its the other elements of the 'race' that upset people - the jumps - that get higher and higher and more dangerous, and the whipping.

the sole purpose of the jumps is to slow some horses down, to make them fall, to change the odds of the race - for excitement!
everyone watching waits with bated breath at each jump hoping their horse makes it over the jump - because they know it may not - it is deliberate!

if they were too low then they would serve no purpose except to break up the monotony of the track as every horse would easily clear it.

it is this deliberate attempt to hurt the horse that angers people - i'm not suggesting anyone wants a horse injured - but its apparently a known and acceptable risk to them - for the 'excitement'.

lower the jumps and stop the whipping and racing can continue with no protests.

i would also add, many courses have normal jumps - or none at all - and the spectators don't know or care - it doesn't prevent people betting, so there is no reason for some courses to take the piss with their jumps.
Joko- if you must pontificate about subjects you have no knowledge of do yourself a favour and learn the basics at least.
So much of what you said is wrong its hard to know where to start.
They are called thoroughbred horses and they would NOT exist if it were not for racing.
Please show us the evidence that fences are getting higher.
Fences are designed to make horses fall. Really.
Horses do race each other in the field.
Can't remember the other nonsense you were spouting but suffice to say you're wrong, wrong. Wrong.
Correct, svejk.
Svejk. With all due respect to the others, there seem to be quite a few with little or no experience with horses who are talking out of their backsides. Is very difficult to explain when you don't know where to start.
Fred the death toll in hinting is very high, why do you think they have a slaughterman with the bolt gun riding with them? usually there is a knacker man in tow as well and his job is to remove the carcase as fast and as discreetly as possible, the slaughtered horse's get used for pet food .
It is hard to get information as the deaths take place out of sight of the public and are never reported, the hunters know that there would be an outcry if the facts about horse deaths became public so they do everything to make sure they stay hidden and unreported. A horse that falls and is injured in hunting will be killed removed and then butchered for pet food within an hour at most ,usually within a few minutes of the event and all well out of sight of the public.
Hunting, sorry typing too fast.
An average of 3 horses per week killed on racecourses over the last 7 years?

Not a lot really considering the number who run every week is it?
I don't necessarily have THAT much of a problem with horse racing itself, though I do dislike it, what I REALLY object to is this....

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/oct/01/horseracing.sport
Joko,
In your post you mention normal jumps and some racecourses having none at all.
The courses that have no jumps are for flat racing.
Hunts are so used to slaughtering horses that it is usual for the local hunt master /slaughterman to come round to anywhere that needs a horse disposed of and do the deed for them , they often do it free on condition that they can take the carcass to feed the hounds. A vet will charge £150 to £200 and then charge for cremation on top of that.
oh svejk - i suggest you do some research yourself.
we may not all know the ins and outs of horse-racing but we know when something is cruel and wrong.

the fences are too high for many horses - that's why they fall or refuse to jump - and many people want them to be made higher - google it.

many courses have lowered their fences for safety.
fences are there to create an obstacle, to slow the horses down - why else are they so high?
if not, whats the point of having them?

whether its deliberate or not, the fact is, horses fall in almost every race - therefore they are too high and its time to lower them, isn't it?
if the aim is not to stop them, then horses are falling and being killed for no reason, so whats the problem with lowering them?
they don't because they want them to stop some of the horses.

whether you like it or not, there are a lot of ruthless people in horse racing.

i have not just made all this up - it is all available online to read.


horses existed perfectly well without our help.
just because we have bred a type of horse does not make it ok to use and abuse them!
i also know that the volume of horses alive today would not be so if we didnt breed them to race - but that's not the point, its quality not quantity.

racing is human concept - they may run with each other and play etc but they are not competing in the same way humans do.
show me the evidence that horses will naturally try to outrun each other just for sport, and to win?
do they have any concept of winning...?

besides - whether they do or not is irrelevant anyway - this is not about playful, willful racing - its about forced, dangerous racing, that results in deaths
Worth over 1 billion Euro's to the Irish economy alone.

http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2012-11-28a.427

I doubt it'll be banned any time in the next century.
I'm sorry but Pixi is right; horses will run alongside one another in the field, not to obtain food, not to outrun a predator simply because they enjoy running. Clearly they are horses and don't understand the human concept of racing ( ie get all egotistical about winning) but they certainly do 'race' each other for fun. Horses play quite a lot actually in many different ways and fast spurts of fast galloping is one of the ways they play and relax. We have a lot of horses and I can't remember when we didn't have a lot of horses, lots of them ex racers, so I've had plenty of opportunity to observe them and running for no reason but the joy of it is quite common.

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