news.yahoo.com— Big Brown, the favorite to win the Kentucky Derby, outpaced the field by five lengths. Eight Belles placed, but fractured both front ankles and was euthanized after collapsing following the race.
May 3, 2008View in Crawl 4
Animals are drugged, over worked and killed for our entertainment, horse racing, circus' and other things that abuse animals so we can have an hour of fun should be banned. I is sad that people can't see that, It is selfish and cruel.
I love looking at the intelligence (if one can intuit intelligence by command of English) vs opinion on this thread. Horse racing is not like watching dancing bears, who have had their teeth pulled and only perform when in pain. Horses _love_ to run, even when not in races. I've seen horses in fields stage impromptu "races" between each other for the fun of it (but then, I did grow up in Lexington, KY - horse capital of the world). Here are some things that everyone should know about horses and horse races:1) Horses love to run. They are well treated. If they are mistreated, their reaction is not to run in the direction you want them to. It is to bite and kick, or _get you off of them_ and run far away. A horse _allows_ a jockey to ride them.2) Horses enjoy racing. You can even see it if you ever watch a live race. After the race, the winner is on cloud 9, while the other horses are disappointed in not winning. They really treat it like a sport.3) Recently, all slaughterhouses for horses in the US were shut down, due to campaigning by animal rights activists. The net result of this is that unwanted horses are abandoned to starve, a slow, painful, suffering death, as opposed to being quickly euthanized (I know, it looks horrible to see slaughterhouse pictures, but all the scary stuff happens after the horse is killed - essentially, by a shot to the head. Bullets travel faster than nerve signals, so they literally never feel it.) Therefore, ignorant people trying to save the horses actually substantially increased the suffering of horses by well-intentioned, but misplaced, concerns.I know it feels good to second guess the people in charge, but they do generally know what they are doing, and if they made their career caring about the horses, chances are, they care about them more than you do. Horse racing is not cruel, or they would stop it. End of story. Don't get bleeding heart before you research, or you will repeat the cruelty that other well-meaning people have already inflicted.
I don't think horse racing is inherently cruel, but my problem with the sport is they start the horses way too young. Generally, a horse won't run if it doesn't enjoy it. Horses are very large animals, and if they don't want to do something, they won't do it. In order to be a great or even good race horse, they have to enjoy it. I did jumping for a large part of my life, and a lot of ex-race horses end up being sold for competition horses. Sometimes these are horses that are too old to race anymore, sometimes they are horses that were not good. Not in all of them, but in a very large number you get horses with leg problems that can easily be traced back to racing, mainly because the horses are not fully grown before they start racing. I know we treated our horses like royalty and they certainly had better medical attention then most people, but, I don't believe horses should be racing before they are fully grown.
Check out www.petakillsanimals.com. I'm sick and tired of PETA and their hypocricy. Although I am not condoning horse racing or other events involving any type of animal, PETA kills more animals than most people are aware of. They represent themselves to be animal advocates and they really aren't. They're just "popular" and celebrity endorsements only further their cause. I'd bet any amount of money that none of the celebrity endorsers have every looked into what PETA is really all about.
Closed AccountMay 4, 2008
because they're horses, and we're humans; go to a debate where somebody cares.
bodieboneMay 4, 2008
Animals are drugged, over worked and killed for our entertainment, horse racing, circus' and other things that abuse animals so we can have an hour of fun should be banned. I is sad that people can't see that, It is selfish and cruel.
praecipulaMay 4, 2008
I love looking at the intelligence (if one can intuit intelligence by command of English) vs opinion on this thread. Horse racing is not like watching dancing bears, who have had their teeth pulled and only perform when in pain. Horses _love_ to run, even when not in races. I've seen horses in fields stage impromptu "races" between each other for the fun of it (but then, I did grow up in Lexington, KY - horse capital of the world). Here are some things that everyone should know about horses and horse races:1) Horses love to run. They are well treated. If they are mistreated, their reaction is not to run in the direction you want them to. It is to bite and kick, or _get you off of them_ and run far away. A horse _allows_ a jockey to ride them.2) Horses enjoy racing. You can even see it if you ever watch a live race. After the race, the winner is on cloud 9, while the other horses are disappointed in not winning. They really treat it like a sport.3) Recently, all slaughterhouses for horses in the US were shut down, due to campaigning by animal rights activists. The net result of this is that unwanted horses are abandoned to starve, a slow, painful, suffering death, as opposed to being quickly euthanized (I know, it looks horrible to see slaughterhouse pictures, but all the scary stuff happens after the horse is killed - essentially, by a shot to the head. Bullets travel faster than nerve signals, so they literally never feel it.) Therefore, ignorant people trying to save the horses actually substantially increased the suffering of horses by well-intentioned, but misplaced, concerns.I know it feels good to second guess the people in charge, but they do generally know what they are doing, and if they made their career caring about the horses, chances are, they care about them more than you do. Horse racing is not cruel, or they would stop it. End of story. Don't get bleeding heart before you research, or you will repeat the cruelty that other well-meaning people have already inflicted.
andy3109May 4, 2008
luck or no luck, we wouldn't just do that to a human. For god sake, humans are in comas for 20 years and wake up!
stephiemsMay 5, 2008
I don't think horse racing is inherently cruel, but my problem with the sport is they start the horses way too young. Generally, a horse won't run if it doesn't enjoy it. Horses are very large animals, and if they don't want to do something, they won't do it. In order to be a great or even good race horse, they have to enjoy it. I did jumping for a large part of my life, and a lot of ex-race horses end up being sold for competition horses. Sometimes these are horses that are too old to race anymore, sometimes they are horses that were not good. Not in all of them, but in a very large number you get horses with leg problems that can easily be traced back to racing, mainly because the horses are not fully grown before they start racing. I know we treated our horses like royalty and they certainly had better medical attention then most people, but, I don't believe horses should be racing before they are fully grown.
sambudMay 5, 2008
Check out www.petakillsanimals.com. I'm sick and tired of PETA and their hypocricy. Although I am not condoning horse racing or other events involving any type of animal, PETA kills more animals than most people are aware of. They represent themselves to be animal advocates and they really aren't. They're just "popular" and celebrity endorsements only further their cause. I'd bet any amount of money that none of the celebrity endorsers have every looked into what PETA is really all about.
matschigMay 9, 2008
huh?