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?

[boxtops]

gromit, you're right - people were outraged when that horse drowned in the river at Appleby Horse Fair some years back, but nobody pickets racecourses. There is no logic to the lack of outcry.

[EDDIE51]

Now they can't even get away with selling them to a food processor for burgers either which is what happened up to a year or so ago.

[pixie373]

It is awful when something like that happens, but is a risk in sport. I am an animal lover and have always had horses and worked in Racing yards. This is not cruelty. It is something horses are trained for and most of them love. Horses are also killed on the roads out hacking.
The difference is that nobody wanted the horse to come to harm. It was not deliberate.

[FredPuli43]

Anybody suggesting that the 1000 horses weren't humanely destroyed as soon as they were injured, in the same way, or a quicker way in terms of time between injury and destroying, that an injured pet or farm animal would be?

[FredPuli43]

Not quite true that nobody pickets racecourses. There's a handful of protestors at the Grand National meeting every year. Never seen any at any other course than Aintree, and they don't bother to picket that at other meetings.

[Svejk]

As lives go in the animal kingdom, racehorses have a fantastic one.
Without racing they would not exist.

[Jeza]

I love all animals, especially cats but IMO we seem to care more for animals than we do humans. Animals are put to sleep if they are suffering, rightly so yet people have to suffer to die. Would I ban racing NO. Nor would I ban Boxing and I don't like that either.

[Gromit]

This thread about killing badgers got 153 posts...

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Animals-and-Nature/Question1171413.html

I bet 153 people aren't as bothered at 1000 horses being killed.

[FredPuli43]

Does anybody have any grounds for questioning the BHRA figures given in the link in the OP ? They give a clear picture of the scale of the problem

[Wharton]

A very good post Gromit, I'm with you all the way for what it's worth.

[Jeza]

Badgers carry bovine TB. Horse racing is a sport. all sport carries risks. Badger baiting was once a sport that was banned. Maybe if it hadn't been banned bovine TB wouldn't be a problem. I am not saying I agree with badger baiting I don't. I try to look at every side of the story.

[joko]

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 enjoy running but they don't know they could be hurt, they don't know they will be killed when they are no longer useful.

lots of things are enjoyable - until they kill you.
but we have a choice - they don't.

also no-one had ever ever suggested that the deaths are deliberate!
why on earth would they be? when ever would it be 'on purpose'?
of course no one wants the horse to come to harm - they are of no use if they are harmed....
that is a pointless argument

this number amounts to one horse death about every 2 days... but hey, that's what happens in sport eh?

[FredPuli43]

There is sometimes a bit of nonsense said or suggested by people associated with jumping racing viz. that horses once ran wild over the plains (true) and so they jump naturally (not true). You only have to see the height of the post and rail fencing around Newmarket's paddocks to see the error; it's nowhere near as high as the typical racecourse fence, but the horses within don't jump out.

Once they are schooled for jumping, they get in the habit to do so when encouraged by a rider. You see them running loose in races when they unseat the rider and some will jump fences thus, but that's just because they are in a pack and don't want to lose it. You don't see it often, and those that do always run out at some point. Most don't even bother to jump. Amusingly, older horses run straight back to the racecourse stable entrance; they're no fools, they know where their friends and the food and a rest are!

[Wharton]

'Unseat the rider' - I love that expression. I always imagine the horse thinking 'Here's where you get off, I've had enough'

[tamborine]

No racing means less breeding. Race horses are usually individually stabled and when released in a race they resort to the herd instinct of gallop, kicking etc to be boss.

[Wharton]

Does that include the mares tambo?

[tamborine]

yes, they run the fastest ;)

[joko]

its quality not quantity.

the notion that they are only alive because they have been bred to race, so if they don't race they won't exist - is pointless.
it is often the same 'argument' trotted out when people defend other forms of animal cruelty - as though the species could not survive without our interference with breeding programmes!
as though churning them out to serve our selfish needs is better that just letting them procreate on their own.
they managed perfectly well before, and they will after.

as for horses liking to race - maybe they do - but the horses racing is not the problem - it is the courses they are forced to race on - they dangerous jumps.
and the beating them - forcing them beyond their comfort levels.

if they lowered the jumps and banned the whips, there would be no problem.
but they won't do that ... because there's nothing in it for them.

[tamborine]

There are few drays since breweries & farms made them redundant. I agree with courses, jumps & undue whipping being controlled.

Land has to earn its keep and less demand on livestock will mean alternative usage.