Two horses die at Bramham Horse Trials yesterday

[Mrsspagnoli57]

Two horses died of suspected heart attacks at the Bramham Horse trials yesterday. Where is the outcry that Three Day Eventing is cruel etc???? Silence deafening from animal rights groups yet had these been racehorses there would be further calls for the sport to be banned. Double standards. Perhaps because it is a rich persons pastime it does not warrant protest?

[TheNovice]

you're right but horse racing is not for the poor either

[askyourgran]

It is a costly sport the horses are kept in relative luxury, especially those hoping to get a place in the Olympics. If Bramham is organised on the same format as an Olympic course they should expect the horses to handle the events. There will most likely be an inquiry into the course conditions etc.

[wildwood]

These events are just as dangerous as hurdle races and should be banned.

Although protesting against real animal cruelty is done by all concerned people, and in fact, not often by 'rich' persons.

[FredPuli43]

What are the Bramham horse trials ? Never heard of them. When it gets the media coverage of the Grand National the animal rights people will be out in force and getting similar publicity. A couple of pages in Horse and Hound is not the same coverage. Horses are killed at other jumping meetings, not just the National, but a death at say, Wincanton or Huntingdon, doesn't get animal rights groups deafening us; I've never seen any animal rights people at ordinary meetings, and suspect they don't bother.

It's nothing to do with "rich persons' pastimes". All horsey events are rich persons' pastimes, at the ownership level, and when they are not rained off, the famous horse trials attract very big crowds, but they are not mass spectator occasions .

[rsvp]

Mrsspagnoli57 - have you ever been to a horsr trials.?

[Mrsspagnoli57]

Yes I have been to horse trials-Bramham in the past and Badminton I also have been to a number of National Hunt racecourses. The cross country obstacles are IMO far worse than any National Hunt fences as they are largely static therefore do not break or collapse should a horse fall into them.They are often designed to give an unnatural take off and landing for both horse and rider, often to give more excitement for the spectators waiting for someone to fall in the water. My point really was that it is not just something that happens in racing which many detractors of horse racing seem to forget. Agreed that flat racing is very much a rich man's sport but not necessarily so for national hunt racing where small groups of genuine horse lovers often put together to buy and race horses. I am by the way firmly on the side of the horse racing fraternity and do not think that it should be banned at all and just wanted to point out that horses don't just get killed if they are racing, there are fatalities in any kind of equestrian sport.

[emmie]

horse racing not for the poor, crikey, what about the millions of punters who put a bet on every day, i know any number who like a flutter, some even win.

[Bambiagain]

I would have thought that being perceived as a "rich person's pasttime" would be all the more reason for an outcry. Look at the opponents of hunting, for example - who is complaining about fishing, which is definitely not a pasttime of the rich.

However, it is an unfortunate fact that an apprently fit animal can have a heart defect which causes death under stress. It is the same with people - didn't an apparently fit woman die in the London Marathon? Is anyone calling for marathons to be banned? It is very sad that these horses died, and particularly unfortunate that there were two occurrences at the same event, but they are isolated incidents. Event riders, along with all competition riders, take great care of their horses and would never compete if they thought their horses were ill.

[DTCwordfan]

Bloody hell - ban all sport and even table tennis - imagine getting a smash straight in the centre of the forehead......

[emmie]

DT, i wouldn't fancy being on the other side of the net when Nadal is playing..

[craft1948]

DT as a table tennis umpire I must admit that a player collapsed when the ball hit her nipple....................

[emmie]

that must have been painful.

[DTCwordfan]

Well you say that, em....Stefan Egberg (spelling) gave up his career after splatting a line judge with one of his serves at the Palais de Bercy near the Gare de Lyon in Paris. He caught her square on the temple; she never saw the serve whistling through and she was gone, wooden box job.

Should tennis be added to the list?

[DTCwordfan]

not nice, crafty, guess someone could have kissed it better.......(take that in the spirit meant!)

[craft1948]

I had to apply an ice pack :-(

[emmie]

DT Edberg didn't give up his career. I remember seeing him at Wimbledon many times.

5. Line judge dies on court, Flushing Meadows, NY, USA, 1983. Future Swedish great Stefan Edberg was playing the Aussie Simon Youl in the final of the USO boys’ event. Suddenly, out of the blue, one of the line judges, 60 yrs old Dick Wertheimer, received a direct hit from a tennis ball in the nether regions. He immediately fell off his chair, cracked his skull on one of the Flushing Meadows’ hard courts and suffered a heart attack on his way to hospital. Tragically, just a few days later, the poor man passed away.

[emmie]

unless it happened a second time.

[craft1948]

Bloody hell em, don't tell my mate, she's a Wimbledon umpire :-(

[DTCwordfan]

Given I was working next door at the time, well two buildings up from the Palais - .....I wasn't aware of the second (first) incident at Flushing Meadow.

[DTCwordfan]

And grass is a quicker surface.....