Jockey Saez grieves for Eight Belles

[Lacilu98]

Well, I have some stories about trainers & what they do behind the scenes from those who left the industry in disgust. To your tired excuse- oh they get treated like royalty, it'ts the same as "oh they love to run"- I say it's a load of **** There are a few people here who worked in the industry for years and say the exact opposite.

Rebecca wrote:

Unfortunately, the way horse sports are, there are going to be injuries and fatalities. Horses aren't built to run at high speeds with extra weight on their backs. In all equine sports you will have horses go down. A sad fact of life but true. In the last Olympics, a show jumper was injured and was later destroyed. IT will happen. If PETA thinks that racing is a cruel sport, they haven't been back in the barn and seen how the horses are treated like the royalty they are!

[Level Headed]

Rebecca wrote:

Unfortunately, the way horse sports are, there are going to be injuries and fatalities. Horses aren't built to run at high speeds with extra weight on their backs.

PETA, HSUS, et al = hypocritical nut cases who don't know straight from up.

HOWEVER, I will beg to differ with you about your cavalier attitude that injuries are a given and that horses aren't meant to run at high speeds with weight on their backs.

The plain and simple truth is that greedy owners/trainers have bred these once sturdy, SOUND thoroughbreds straight into the ground in their efforts to lighten the horses themselves to achieve speed. Racing thoroughbreds as we know them today are tragedies waiting to happen. Their legs have been bred down and are still expected to support the weight of the body of the horse and rider. Look at pictures of racing horses from back in the 40s/50s...compare their bone structure to that of Eight Belles. Look at their pasterns (area just above the hooves in the front). There is NO comparison. Greed and the pursuit of status and big win purses are what kill race horses today. That poor filly started breaking down BEFORE the end of the Derby. The media made it sound as though Big Brown pulled away so far in the stretch, but it is very plain to see exactly when Belles started to break...she slowed way down and the horses behind her began to catch her very quickly. Her legs didn't just snap after the finish. As for stopping her or pulling her up, therin lies the tragedy. First and foremost, no jockey can pull up a horse running on heart like she was and expect to A) not hurt her that way, or B) not risk injuring other horses or riders by trying to stop in the middle of the field.

As far as whipping a horse to make it run, PETA/HSUS/Animal RIGHTS groups are such fools. No way to make a horse run that way if they don't want to.

[Lacilu98]

How naive do you think we are to claim horses don't run if they don't want to. It's like saying Michael Vick's dogs wouldn't fight to the death if they didn't want to. My God, you apologists for animal exploitation will say anything to justify what's right in front your face. Do the losers also like to be euthanized & slaughtered. Don't talk to advocates like we don't know exactly what goes on, all it takes is some honest investigation & there's no way to deny the abuse. The industry is based on using racehorses & spitting them out when the horse is injured, sick, old!

[Lacilu98]

Level Headed-Education is your friend

Here are a few key points about how this works, and there’s lots more info on this horseracing factsheet:

1. Nobody “loves to run” when they’re suffering from bleeding lungs or painful leg injuries, but that doesn’t stop trainers from pumping **** full of drugs to mask the pain, enhance their performance and just plain keep them going.

2. We are getting calls and faxes about all kinds of cocktail mixes that "are common knowledge in the back stretch." Sometimes people are caught and suspended when they’re careless—as was the case with this veterinarian who got busted for injecting cobra venom into a horse as a nerve blocking agent. For real.

3. Why was Eight Belles so fragile? Well, horses begin training when their skeletal systems are still growing, and they’re completely unable to deal with pounding their limbs into jelly on a hard track at high speeds.

3. Don't tell me that all those people who "really know about horses" didn't have an inkling that this filly - a filly, no less - was a high risk for serious injuries like the ones she sustained. But she was raced anyway. Any gue$$es as to why?

4. As I mentioned before, horses that don’t make the cut get shipped off to slaughterhouses. The fact that anybody who knows this would still have the gall to comment on this blog saying that **** are “treated better than most humans” is just too depressing to even think about.
__________

For better or for worse, Eight Belles is now a very public representative of an industry that’s rotten to its rotten core. My only hope is that people will keep looking deeper into the way these horses are treated. And don’t dare try and tell me that they like it.

Peta files

[Lacilu98]

They Love to Run-A Follow-Up

- Well, about 500 or so comments later, the thread on this post about the recent Kentucky Derby horror is still going strong. It’s clear that this issue has deeply affected a lot of people—and hopefully, all this emotion about Eight Belles’ tragedy will result in some actual reforms that will give at least some degree of protection to the horses who are abused by this industry.

- I don’t usually make a point of singling out certain comments on this blog, but there were enough people who made statements along the lines of “But horses are born to race. That’s what they love,” or, like,“They’re treated better than most humans,” that I figured it was worth pointing out a few more things about the horseracing industry, which, like any industry which depends on animal domination and exploitation, will try to get away with any abusive or neglectful practice that might make them an extra dime.

- And the real victims—Eight Belles and the thousands of less famous horses who died under similar circumstances or else were shipped off to Europe for human consumption—live miserable lives and die painful deaths.
__________
Peta files

[1cat1horse]

If you people really and truly loved horses, you wouldn't push them past what they are capable of. They are living, breathing, feeling animals - not race cars.

[Otis Redding]

Simon Saez glue factory!!!!!

[Riverman Mare]

Who is Simon Saez?????
If you mean the jock who road 8 Belles and have won 7 race sine the tragedy.
His name is not Simon

[Diana]

this was a tradgedy that will not be forgotten soon. Eight Belles was a gift to all of us to see and her loss is still unbearable right now. The jocky did nothing wrong. He rode a perfect race. Eight belles also ran a perfect race and belonged there with all of those horses and proved it by running so healthy and well. she took a bad step. After watching the video over 100 times it is obvious that she clipped her right front leg breaking it making her change leads then stumble and fracture the left leg. yes this is a freak accident and a big loss to all. We all need to honor Eight Belles and give the peace and respect to Larry jones, the Porter family, jockey and all who cared for her and shared her with us. The loved that horse and you can see it when they talk about her. Peta is a bunch of out of control idiots with no education before they incert their foot into their stuped mouth. this was just a tragic accident and nothing could have been done about it or changed on how the race was run. Eight Belles we love you and will never miss you. Larry Jones you have nothing but class and are top notch! I would put my horses with you and trust you with out question. You have envested your heart into all of your horses and it shows. may God bless you and keep up the good work.

[Diana]

1cat1horse wrote:

If you people really and truly loved horses, you wouldn't push them past what they are capable of. They are living, breathing, feeling animals - not race cars.

Eight Belles wasnt pushed at all. she wanted to still run and loved what she was doing. again this was a freak trip accident. watch the vidio it is clear.

[Diana]

Otis Redding wrote:

Simon Saez glue factory!!!!!

your an idiot. you dont know the jockeys name and if you think glue factory that did not happen. she was creamated and is going to have a memorial with her cremains at Churchill Downs. Give her some respect!

[Gary]

I thought this was a forum about Gabriels feelings toward the loss of Eight Belles?

On that topic I have no doubt Gabriel feels terrible over her dying. Certainly he would wonder if there was anything he could have done to avert this tragedy. I'm sure he had true affection for Eight Belles.

I've almost had to put a horse down twice but luckily was able to save him. I don't know if I could stand there and watch one of my horses put down. I don't blame Gabriel for walking away while Eight Belles was writhing in pain before she was euthanized.

Prior to the Preakness it showed Gabriel watching a monitor while one of his peers said to the world how wondefully Gabriel ran Eight Belles - "pristinely" was the word he used. Did you notice Gabriel wiping away tears upon hearing that.

Watch the Derby again - watch how Eight Belles responded to Big Brown making his move on the outside. SHe lit out from the inside past the other horses with no obvious Prompting by Gabriel. She wanted to run Big Brown down. Once past Bob's Black Jack Gabriel did not over prompt Eight Belles.

In another forum a jockey posted his observations about Eight Belles saying "she simply ran through her bridle and ran her legs off". Gabriel didn't over prompt her.

I agree, current horses aren't built like race horses of the past. DNA has a lot to do with it these days. Read the article.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triple...

It tells about a woman in the know about horse racing and how she told her husband just prior to the Derby that she feared for Eight Belles in the Derby. She felt that because of Eight Belles DNA she was predestined to break down at some point.

But inspite of trying to make horses faster isn't it odd that the average Derby time for the last 10 years is slower than the average Derby time for the 50 year period prior to that. Heck, Secretariat and Sham both beat Big **** time by about 3 seconds back in the early 70s. How many lengths is 3 seconds? 15, 18, 20?

Read about a Horse name John Henry back in the early 80s. He ran 89 races, won 39 times placed or showed another 30 times. He won 6.6 million for his owner. The sad part is he was gelded at an early age because he was he was too cranky. Too bad, it would be nice to have some of his DNA in the current gene pool.

So, Gabriel feel bad. I'll bet a good part of him is still in shock and disbelief.

[Gary]

Diana wrote:

<quoted text>
your an idiot. you dont know the jockeys name and if you think glue factory that did not happen. she was creamated and is going to have a memorial with her cremains at Churchill Downs. Give her some respect!

Diana, I read the day after the Derby that Eight Belles was going to be creamated and placed either at Churchill Downs or somewhere else, I don't remember where, perhaps the stabels she ran out of.

Did you read for sure she will be placed at CHurchill Downs? That would be very nice and very appropriate.

[Gary]

OOps, In #36 I meant to finish by saying:

So, I'm sure Gabriel feels bad, I'll bet a good part of him is in shock and disbelief.

It's late and I'm a little punchy...

[Simon Saez]

Gary wrote:

<quoted text>
Diana, I read the day after the Derby that Eight Belles was going to be creamated and placed either at Churchill Downs or somewhere else, I don't remember where, perhaps the stabels she ran out of.
Did you read for sure she will be placed at CHurchill Downs? That would be very nice and very appropriate.

Churchill Downs has a glue factory?
I never knew that.

[Gary]

Simon Saez wrote:

<quoted text>
Churchill Downs has a glue factory?
I never knew that.

It's obvious you've been hanging around somewhere sniffing some of that glue.

[Simon Saez]

Gary wrote:

<quoted text>
It's obvious you've been hanging around somewhere sniffing some of that glue.

You're right. I think I actually sniffed a little of eight belles.......

[J R Wise]

Death of Eight Belles at Kentucky Derby Raises Horse Welfare Concerns
It is unusual for a filly to be able to compete successfully with male horses in the sport of horse racing. Eight Belles was the exception to this rule, and managed to come in second in the Kentucky Derby this year. Unfortunately, this valiant effort cost her life. The filly had to be euthanized due to shattered ankles. This horrible accident has led to questions concerning animal welfare issues surrounding the “sport of kings”, which include excessive use of the whip, performance-enhancing or pain-masking drugs, and race horse health management in general.
The Jockey Club could contribute to the general health of race horses by moving the official birth date of January 1 to sometime in the spring. Foals born during inclement winter weather may be excessively confined. Foals confined to stalls are more likely to develop foot problems such as contracted heels, and are unable to obtain the level of exercise necessary to build strong bones and tendons.
There is also the problem of foals born in December that are regarded as yearlings because they were born before January 1. Some of these foals have been destroyed in the past simply for being born at the wrong time of year.
Thoroughbred horses start their careers at a tender age. On some farms, they may even start training under saddle as early as thirteen months of age. Actual racing starts at the age of two, even though a horse’s legs are not fully developed till the age of three. Starting young horses too early can result in major injuries to bones and tendons. When pain causes a racehorse to stop performing, pain-masking drugs may be used. The use of drugs causes the horse to further damage himself, running his heart out because he can’t feel the pain that would normally keep him from straining a tendon, or breaking leg. Permissive drug policy on U.S. tracks is risking the lives of horses, and jockeys as well, since riders can be severely injured or killed when a horse goes down. Drugs should not be used to keep injured horses on the track. The continuous use of drugs can also cause problems with the digestive system.
Broken down race horses are quickly discarded, as trainers charge several hundred dollars or more per month to keep a horse. Though responsible race horse owners do make efforts to find homes for their retired race horses, unwanted horses can end up rotting in back pastures, or sent to slaughter in Canada or Mexico. Better health management of race horses would give them a chance at a second career after retiring from the track. Please help support the efforts of race horse rescue and adoption operations – especially now, when feed prices are higher than ever.
Submitted by J.R. Wise, author of “Give a Horse a Second Chance: Adopting and Caring for Rescue Horse.”
Note:
Readers welcome to copy this post as long as you properly credit the source - J. R. Wise

[Riverman Mare]

Most TB race horses are born Jan through March monthe will not make a different in changing the date
www.canterusa.com is just one in about a hundres

[BAD JOHN]

why do some feel that this kid is not hurting- whether he came from sa is moot-fact is he is going to be a very fine rider unless the fools out there that believe the peta **** derail him.

that he chose this profession to make his living
shows he likes horses. to suggest otherwise is downright stupid.