Should horse racing be banned?

   / Should horse racing be banned? #111  
daugen said:
and this is why I brought this up in the first place....particularly to those of you who actually own horses.
Seems to be a lot of folks, and I'm not one of them, yet, who are clearly saying professional
thoroughbred racing is an unnecessary and immoral abuse of animals who don't have a say in their fate.
Is it unnecessary? I think we could agree life would go on fine without it, but you could say that about a lot of things.
It's the immoral part, where you put an animal in a high risk situation simply for the entertainment of man.
Do we just treat horses as dumb animals and let it go at that? Yes horses are bred as race horses.

And that makes them different. American Indians loved to have horses races, different types though, and I bet some ponies died in the process.
So horse riding is common and racing seems a natural fun offshoot of that. I get that.

Perhaps the question is how much risk do we allow the horse to take?
We sure make it safer today for Nascar and Formula One drivers, constant evolution.
I am curious if anyone is actively trying to make things safer for these horses. Not ban them, evolution not revolution...

Folks who own race horses are very wealthy and I have zero sympathy for their financial loss of their entertainment device.
I am sympathetic to the horses though.
Lot of you have knee jerk reactions that absolutely nothing should be changed.
And you even poke fun at those of us who even dare to question this topic.
My hope is we all have something to learn here.
Please remember this is a Rural Living thread, not FP.
Many of us tractor owners own horses too, I don't, never have, that's why I'm interested in hearing horse owner opinions.
Those of you who have the true flesh in the game.
Click to expand...


I've got 5 horses. (2 saddlebreds, a Friesian/TW gelding cross (an AMAZING animal), an Arabian, and another.) Interesting reading here. Lots of discussion about mistreatment and abuse. But that doesn't just happen on the race track. Ever see how some of the horses get treated (abused?) that are used as riding lesson horses? I believe in using a soft hand, and easy on the reins. Trust between rider and horse, and the connection. Imagine being a lesson horse and having those reins in your mouth yanked around every which way a few hours a day by folks who have never been on a horse and think they can just climb on and go. smh. One of my mares is 28 years old, long since "retired". She's simply a companion horse to the others now. My commitment to her, and to each of them, was lifelong when I acquired them. I've got my horses boarded close to the house in a facility with about 30 animals. Just like learning so much by watching the body language of animals, you can learn a lot by watching the humans too.
 
   / Should horse racing be banned? #113  
A bit of a ramble here...I think those race horses are doing as they are bred to do. I am against blood sports like dog fighting, bullfighting or cockfights. That is cruelty in my mind. However, I am a serious hunter. Is that cruel? We all have a different line of what we may call cruelty. For me...horse racing is not cruelty to the horses. Maybe what some owners do when it is all over would be considered cruelty. I think the days of the circus is over as well...with the elephants and such. I can agree why. What about greyhound racing? It has been banned in many places, too. That confuses me...is it like horse racing? I don't know enough about either, I must confess.

Ahhh...Times are different. I probably would have enjoyed the Roman Colosseum with its gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. But...I guess football and boxing fill that spot now.

Food for thought: The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. - Mahatma Gandhi

I told you this would be a ramble...Ha!
 
   / Should horse racing be banned? #114  
aczlan said:
We had 2 of them, they were at the house when we bought it, had been here for 16 plus years and the lady we bought the place from was moving into town and didn't have a place for them. Didn't seem right to split them up, so they lived here in the pasture until they weren't able to get around and enjoy life anymore, then we had the vet come in and put them down.

Aaron Z
Click to expand...

:drink: Good man.
 
   / Should horse racing be banned? #116  
Kind of like calf roping at a rodeo, no one is interested in pushing out statistics of put downs.
 
   / Should horse racing be banned? #117  
Redbug said:
A bit of a ramble here...I think those race horses are doing as they are bred to do. I am against blood sports like dog fighting, bullfighting or cockfights. That is cruelty in my mind. However, I am a serious hunter. Is that cruel? We all have a different line of what we may call cruelty. For me...horse racing is not cruelty to the horses. Maybe what some owners do when it is all over would be considered cruelty. I think the days of the circus is over as well...with the elephants and such. I can agree why. What about greyhound racing? It has been banned in many places, too. That confuses me...is it like horse racing? I don't know enough about either, I must confess.

Ahhh...Times are different. I probably would have enjoyed the Roman Colosseum with its gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. But...I guess football and boxing fill that spot now.

Food for thought: The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. - Mahatma Gandhi

I told you this would be a ramble...Ha!
Click to expand...

I agree, we could use some basic animal rights to prevent abuse.
 
   / Should horse racing be banned? #118  
Not sure if the story is on CNN's main site or not but Google had it on my cell phone. It was about the money some of these horses bring at say the yearling auctions and the returns which tend to be in stud fees. I have read these types of articles before and it reinforces my belief in that the owners to do not take these losses lightly. As they say, it is the sport of kings and their certainly is a lot of one "upmanship", etc., but the death of one horse or of multiple horses is a serious concern.
 
   / Should horse racing be banned? #119  
32nd horse dies at Santa Anita after catastrophic injury

AP news
 
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