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228 Comments
- wexmajor, on 05/07/2008, -3/+66Horses are poorly constructed.
- rjpaulisick, on 05/07/2008, -7/+64PETA should check this article out...best to put the horse down in a peaceful manner than have it suffer through an agonizingly slow death as a result of its two broken ankles.
It's not because they hate horses, PETA. Those owners and trainers keep better care of those animals better than you could ever hope to do. - schnikies79, on 05/07/2008, -7/+60If you don't anything about the subject then just shut up.
Horses make much more money after retiring from racing than they ever do in racing. Ever heard of stud farms? Millions was spent on Barbaro and they still couldn't save him.
I love it when people talk about horses and horse racing like they have a clue. I'm not supporting or bashing racing but I've worked with (and owned) horses all my life. - lukeduke, on 05/07/2008, -13/+61Not really lethal, but the world needs Elmer's glue.
- sbader, on 05/07/2008, -4/+43Nice article, yesterday I saw a lot of people wondering why a broken leg was lethal for a horse.
- soupnrc, on 05/07/2008, -1/+39Because it gets shot.
100% mortality rate. - inactive, on 05/07/2008, -4/+36These animals are being bred for destruction. Compare how lightly built the thoroughbred is compared to the handler's horse next to him. Back in '73 Secretariat was a war horse. Huge with thick legs. The horses of today do not resemble him.
- trogdor282, on 05/07/2008, -1/+30I think if people are still losing limbs to diabeetus then we haven't quite mastered circulatory problems.
- truthhammer, on 05/07/2008, -3/+31Do you have any idea how much that horse is worth? If it could be saved, the owner would save it.
- skyshock1, on 05/07/2008, -1/+28Dude, ***** yeah. Rambo 4 ruled.
- Chompy, on 05/07/2008, -0/+24You can't keep a horse in a pool for three months. The real reason that it's lethal is because horses freak the ***** out when you try to cast up their legs. Bones take months to heal, and if horses could talk all you'd be hearing for those three months is getitoffgetitoffGETITOFFGETITOFF.. Horses can literally kill themselves just with sheer panic.
/grew up with horses
//shoveled enough horse crap to build a small island - TropiCara, on 05/07/2008, -9/+332 horses are euthanized on the race track a day in the u.s.... that to me makes this sport not worth it.
- RealmDown, on 05/07/2008, -3/+25This comment is full of FUDD.
- kh99, on 05/07/2008, -2/+24Yeah, because the owner wasn't upset about it or anything.
- displaced1, on 05/07/2008, -10/+3122,000+ dead in Myanmar.......
- BelatedHero, on 05/07/2008, -4/+23It really is a pointless "sport".
- cawpin, on 05/07/2008, -1/+19Shut up. He didn't say anything about ID. You're making a problem where there isn't one.
- schnikies79, on 05/07/2008, -0/+17PETA is one of the most hypocritical, ***** organizations on the planet.
Even my vegetarian friends won't support them in the slightest. - schnikies79, on 05/07/2008, -4/+20She still reproduces, no? With the right stud, her colt(s) would be worth a fortune.
Females are worth a lot too. - inactive, on 05/07/2008, -8/+24PLEASE PEOPLE STOP!
Just let the poor animal have it's peace... Your common sense won't do it any good at this point.
/reloads shotgun - schnikies79, on 05/07/2008, -2/+16Money wasn't a factor, it simply wasn't possible to save this horse.
Again, for the 100th time. No amount of money could have saved this horse. Check out Barbaro, millions was spent trying to save him and he still died and with only one leg broken. Belle had two broken legs, at least one with a compound fracture and the other shattered. - hd95, on 05/07/2008, -0/+14Read an article on Secretariat. His handlers will tell you that horse knew he was the shiznit even blowing grass in people's faces as a joke.
- Murdats, on 05/07/2008, -5/+19I know you are trolling, but tv and planes have been around for only 1-3 generations, it takes hundreds of generations for evolution to take effect.
60 years = not much
200 years = not much
5000 years = maybe something
20, 000 = something measurable
1,000,000 = noticable differences
1 billion = new species - spoonchucks, on 05/07/2008, -0/+13Horsies, dude... HORSIES.
- hd95, on 05/07/2008, -4/+17it's a goofy idea but i wondered why they couldn't have one of those wheelie things they do for dogs... now i know why
- Ladymongoose, on 05/07/2008, -0/+13Actually back-to-basics horses are perfectly put-together. The Thoroughbred is a poorly constructed horse, man-altered equine. Ever take a look at Mongol ponies or the Spanish Barb?Those critters are tougher than any 1000 pound, 17.2 hand modern race horse. We're the ones that bred horses to be tall and fast without regard to their basic structure, which nature prefers to be small and squat.
- jc7012, on 05/07/2008, -0/+13Then you're missing out...
- acdcfanbill, on 05/07/2008, -0/+12You don't have to make them, any horse that makes it into a race of that caliber loves to race. Most of the race the jockey will probably be slowing them down so they don't burn out before the end stretch.
- Velvolver, on 05/07/2008, -0/+12I'll be eating at taco bell tonight. That counts as horse btw.
- anstice85, on 05/07/2008, -0/+12I actually emailed PETA to ask why they kill more animals than even the Humane Society. The representative said that PETA will take animals who are knocking on death's door and their owners don't have enough money to take them to a vet or need them humanely euthanized. They think of themselves as a last resort.
By the way, the people behind that website (petakillsanimals.com) are the Center for Consumer Freedom, a front group for the tobacco, restaurant and alcohol industries. Some of their board members are from Philip Morris and various steakhouses across the country. Obviously they've got some corporate interests to protect by attacking PETA. Not saying PETA are right, but it's good to know about motives (the Scientology/Narconon connection comes to mind). - meruru, on 05/07/2008, -1/+13Slate had a better explanation: http://www.slate.com/id/2190571/
- inactive, on 05/07/2008, -0/+12There is nothing mature about supporting eco-terrorists. In fact most of their views are so child like its amazing they live long enough to breed.
- inactive, on 05/07/2008, -1/+13because horses are delicious
- catachip, on 05/07/2008, -6/+17It's the same in your own body. The reason that blood makes it back from your feet to your heart is that the muscles in your calves and thighs compress the veins, forcing the blood upward. There are also one way valves in the leg veins that keep your blood from moving back down once it's pushed up.
This is why if you sit for a long time, say on an 8 hour flight, you can form clots in your leg veins. The blood pools down there because your leg muscles are not contracting and pushing it up. This pooling causes clots to form. When you stand up, the blood starts flowing again and the clot can get lodged in your heart or brain (i.e., heart attack or stroke).
This is actually a very ingenious evolutionary solution to the problem of low venous pressure. Human animals out in the savannah are typically not sitting motionless in plane seats for 8 hours. - XStatic, on 05/07/2008, -0/+11The legs have limited muscle and limited blood flow which inhibits healing of the bone and limits the ability to fight infection.
Nerves are often complete severed in a break and the small number of arteries in the leg are often damaged which leads to even less blood flow.
Antibiotics are generally not very effective because of the size of a horse.
Horses don't tolerate being sedated very well, they tend to thrash about when coming to which damages many repairs, they also don't tolerate being immobilized in a sling for short periods of time, much less the months required to heal a bone.
During healing, or even after, a non broken limb is often damaged attempting to support the entire weight. - granolajoe, on 05/07/2008, -0/+10Definitely. And he was a ridiculous performer. There's no reason to breed these top-heavy, super-light-legged horses. It's just asking for trouble
- HonestAbe, on 05/07/2008, -3/+13PETA would love to put it out of its misery.
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/ - RudeTurnip, on 05/07/2008, -1/+11"Elitist" is the new dismissive term for people who disagree with your point of view. It's the 2008 version of 2000-2007's "liberal."
- inactive, on 05/07/2008, -1/+10You sir are stretching the anti-religion thing to far. We all know that there are serious problems with theism, but this is not one of them.
- Meatetarian, on 05/07/2008, -1/+10I don't know why you're being dug down. There's a ton of inbreeding in horse racing. We were all digging the story on Japanese imbred dogs with horrible defects a few days ago and it's the same situation here.
Moreover, we're racing horses that aren't completely developed -- their legs aren't fully bone until 3-4 years from what I've read and the horses that we race are, generally speaking, 3 years from the first of the year, not the date the horse was born (so really the horses are 2-3 years old).
Not to be crass, but it's akin to having a newborn headbutting competition. - Rev0lver, on 05/07/2008, -0/+9I don't exactly piss on all fours.
- MoofTheStoof, on 05/07/2008, -1/+10Sometimes compassion is providing a quick, painless end instead of a painful, lingering one.
- schnikies79, on 05/07/2008, -1/+10I'll quickly explain.
Horses are built to distribute weight across their legs, with about 65% to 70% of the weight on the front. Putting the front legs in a cast would force most of the weight to the back legs, which quickly kill the horse. Uneven or extended periods of extra stress on horses legs causes blood-pooling, abscesses, infection. Well why not just suspend the horse? That can be done to an extent, but a horse won't cooperate. A human in a similar situation would understand but a horse just won't stay like that for very long. How about the horse laying down? Again, horses don't like (and won't) do that, but even if they would, it quickly causes pneumonia and fluid build up around he heart which leads to heart failure.
When Barbaro broke a leg, they did try and save him but infection killed him. Belle had two broken ankles. As far as I know (not all details are out yet), one shattered and they other was compound. Think of a tree breaking over and splintering, this is similar. The compound break and the wounds that go along with it ended up deeply in the dirt, which added to the break makes almost guaranteed infection.
Normally if a horse would have to euthanized, they would do off the track and away from the crowd, but this horse was hurt so severely they couldn't even move her. - AtomB, on 05/07/2008, -1/+10Well I would say that they shouldn't be pushing these horses to these levels against their will anyways. I don't think this horse would have two broken ankles if it wasn't pushed to the breaking point every race.
- cawpin, on 05/07/2008, -1/+9"That is it."
No. If a horse has a broken leg it can't stand on it, obviously. A horse isn't smart enough to know this. They will constantly try to get up if you lay them down. Two broken legs is impossible to mend, even enough for them to walk. - Protoss, on 05/07/2008, -0/+8I'm Wilford Brimley, I'd like to talk to you about diabettus...
- Velvolver, on 05/07/2008, -0/+8Well regardless, involvement by man such as taking to young horses that have been selectively bred...all leading to the horses not having very strong joints and bones; then racing them like crazy down a track could be a factor.
But just go blame it on God.
***** idiot. - schnikies79, on 05/07/2008, -0/+8Thoroughbreds are selectively bred, so that might (read probably does) cause problems, but all horses are this way.
Wild horses who break a leg always die, every single time. Same goes for zebras, giraffes, deer, etc. - directedition, on 05/07/2008, -0/+8You're right, Zebra racing would pwn much more.
- directive0, on 05/07/2008, -2/+10Hmm, wow that sounds like a really fragile cardio-vascular system. Seems like if we cared about these animals we wouldn't put them in situations where they could injure themselves to the point where the only treatment is euthanasia. I'm not saying it's cruel, thats not my call to make as I can't tell if the horses enjoy it or not. But if it were my horse, and I wanted it to stay healthy, it would be hanging out in my field and going for the occasional ride not tear-assing around a dusty track. That being said, I don't own a horse, nor do I have any experience racing them.
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