Thoroughbred reforms needed

If the May 3 running of the Kentucky Derby didn't bother horse racing fans, when Eight Belles broke both front ankles and had to be euthanized on the track, perhaps they need more information about the sport.

[oscar1]

All that you say is true but you fail to mention that horses love to run and the chances of your comments making a difference, is not good.

[Karen Schelinski]

Excellent letter. But now Ms. Peters is going to be called a "PETA radical" like everyone else who has pointed out the harsh reality that horse racing is a cruel business.
I am tired of hearing the lame phrase "horses love to run". Horses enjoy running in sprints. Not galloping at top speeds while being continually and harshly whipped. And not when they are only two years old with immature and incomplete skeletal structures.
I ride at a farm that houses some off the track thoroughbreds. They are a very small minority of lucky racehorses that avoid fatal injuries and a sale to the slaughterhouse. Strangely enough, they do not enjoy running. These thoroughbreds that are supposedly bred to gallop and "love to run" avoid speed.
Beautiful, factual and intelligent letter. Ms. Peters. Now prepare yourself for the name calling, labeling and nasty backlash that inevitably is thrown at anyone who tries to spread a message of kindness to animals. Especially when they are defending a multimillion dollar "sport" like horse racing.

[lucy]

Horses love to run

More of the same from these people, the peta radicals

[pete]

need your wife or daughter service

[jacie]

peta radicals

[wilbur]

Thoroughbreds are a terrible thing to waste.

[oscar1]

Karen you are a mean person. Nobody wants to see a horse in pain but most trainers aren't cruel people and most owners don't mistreat or abuse their investments. Cool down.

[james]

Karen, you must be a member of peta. if not, please strongly consider joining. you seem perfect for the cause

[james]

by that i meant you seem very radical in your approach

thanks

[Gretchen23]

May 5, 2008
Statement from Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The HSUS, on Kentucky Derby Death

This industry has not had a rigorous critic to set it in the straight and narrow, and major problems have grown and festered.

Here are some of the historic problems:

--Drugging of injured horses to keep them running, which makes vulnerable horses more susceptible to breakdowns. Racing horses too young. Because the marquee events feature 3-year-olds, these horses must start racing at the tender age of 2 years, well before skeletal systems are sturdy enough to endure pounding from rigors of race tracks.

--Racing horses on track surfaces that are not forgiving – with American tracks favoring dirt surfaces over grass or synthetics.

--Breeding too many horses, & waiting for someone else to clean up the problem. Breeding horses for body characteristics that make them vulnerable to breakdowns, especially those "spindly legs" underneath these stout torsos.”
__________
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization – backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of every 30.

For more, read Pacelle’s blog on this topic: Alarm Bells over Eight Belles.
http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/pr...

[Racoon]

lucy wrote:

Horses love to run
More of the same from these people, the peta radicals

I own two horses (one is a quarter horse and the other is a thoroghbred quarter horse mix) and they do not enjoy running. They like to sprint on their own terms. My older gelding refuses to trot when he is being ridden, he will but only after a lot of work to get him there. Horses love to eat and be lazy, maybe take the occasional gallop across the field but that's it. Horse racing before the age of 2 or 3 is unsafe and cruel. Horses are not fully developed either skeletal or muscular wise. The horse racing industry knows this, but the reason why they do not like to run older horses in the Derby is because it could no longer be considered the fastest 2 minutes in sports. Horses at age 3 start filling out muscle wise and gain a lot of weight therefore the 2 min speeds would dwindle.

[AAron]

Hey if the racehorse can't run what good is a race horse? They do the civil thing and kill it. After all they were pampered when they alive. That's better than the Jews got from the Nazis.

[Racoon]

AAron wrote:

Hey if the racehorse can't run what good is a race horse? They do the civil thing and kill it. After all they were pampered when they alive. That's better than the Jews got from the Nazis.

I don't doubt that the emergency equine crew did the right thing by putting 8 Belles down. The horse had no chance of survival after breaking both legs. Look at Barbaro, I was surprised he lived as long as he did with one broken leg. However, I do think the horse-racing industry needs to be more responsible in racing young horses. At 2 years old the horses bones have not capped or closed to allow for continued growth. 8 Belles at age 2 was 17 hands tall, which is a huge horse,(to put it in simple terms, she was taller than a 6'5" man) she still could have grown and actually filled out and by the age of 3 or 4 probably been close to 17.5 to 18 hands tall.

[Join PETA]

PETA, lets collect millions and gas dogs and cats. We would rather kill bad humans and pretend to protect animals. All about money FK heads!

[anonymous]

"Eight Belles" Should Sound the End of Racetrack Betting

Just after crossing the finish line in the Kentucky Derby on May 3, 2008, a young filly named Eight Belles collapsed when both of her front ankles snapped. She was euthanized in the dirt where she lay, the latest victim of the dirty business of thoroughbred racing.

Eight Belles' death is yet another reminder that these horses are raced when they are so young that their bones have not properly formed, and they are often raced on surfaces that are too hard for their bones—like the hard track at Churchill Downs. Eight Belles' jockey whipped her mercilessly as she came down the final stretch. This is no great surprise, since trainers, owners, and jockeys are all driven by the desire to make money, leaving the horses to suffer terribly.

PETA is calling on the racing industry to suspend the jockey and trainer, to bar the owner from racing at the track, and, at the very least, to stop using young horses who are so susceptible to these types of horrific injuries. We're also demanding that the industry stop racing horses on hard tracks and switch to softer, synthetic surfaces, which would spare horses' bones and joints, in addition to calling for a permanent ban on the use of whips. Help PETA call for an end to cruelty masquerading as sport by using the form below to take action today.

Although Eight Belles' death, like Barbaro's before hers, made headlines, countless lesser-known horses suffer similar fates—their broken legs and battered bodies are simply hidden from public view. Most racehorses end up broken down or cast off or are sent to Europe for slaughter.

Please use the form below to join PETA in demanding that the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority institute sweeping reforms that would stop needless, preventable suffering and cruelty in the racing industry.

Take Action on This Issue

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/eight_bell...

[anonymous]

Typically, the public becomes aware of the problem when horses break down and are destroyed on the track.

Some recent examples are:

Retama Park, San Antonio, Texas

April 28, 2006. Miss Pretty Promises collapses near the finish line and struggled to rise on her shattered forelegs. A pickup rushed to the crippled racehorse. Two men sprang out and shielded the filly from the crowd with a crinkled tarp as the vet went to work. Behind the tarp, Dr. Stewart Marsh had taken one look at the grotesquely twisted legs and saw there was no hope of recovery. "Both front legs were broken," Marsh said minutes later, shaking his head as he walked off the track.

At the state's five licensed tracks, Marsh and other veterinarians with the Texas Racing Commission have euthanized or documented the deaths of 300 horses in the past five years, usually after the animals broke ankles, legs and even spinal cords during races.

Arlington Park, Chicago, Illinois

As of July 5 2006, with two months of racing left, 17 horses have been injured and destroyed at Arlington Park, Illinois, surpassing the 12 that they reported euthanized at the track last season.

Cheltenham,England

At the 2006 Cheltenham Festival, England, in March nine horses were killed, the worst fatality rate since the 1996 Festival when 10 died.

Epsom Downs, England

In this year's [2006] English Derby, one of Europe's premier races for three-year olds and Britain's top prize, Horatio Nelson broke a front leg and was put down at the track.

[anonymous]

No animal should have to DIE for human entertainment. Eight Belle's death isn't the first to occur, nor will it be the last. Greed will see to that. But more of racing's dirty little secrets need to be exposed. The grim reality of horse racing goes beyond steroids.

Just look at the typical pre-race procedures. Many thoroughbred trainers rub down the front legs of their racers with a numbing liniment and then stand the horses in huge tubs of ice for hours before they race. It is very likely that Eight Belles went through the same pre-race procedure. Maybe she could not even feel her legs that day.

Personally, the most disgusting aspect of racing is the nurse mares.(Google "nurse mare foal" if you need proof.) A nurse mare foal is conceived for the sole purpose of bringing its mother into milk once it is born. Seldom are the nurse mare and her foal allowed to remain together and bond as the milk she is producing is to be used to nourish another mare’s “more valuable” foal. These “more valuable” foals are usually thoroughbreds. The gestation period for horses is 10-11 months, so a thoroughbred mare can give birth to one foal each year provided she is re-bred immediately after delivering a foal. The Jockey Club requirements stipulate that a thoroughbred mare cannot be artificially inseminated therefore she may have to be transported, as soon as 7-10 days after giving birth, to a stallion’s farm. The newborn racing foal is unable to accompany its mother because transporting it is far too risky, so a nurse mare is hired to raise the thoroughbred foal. The nurse mare’s foal is left behind, without anyone to feed and care for them, often to die or be slaughtered.

Racing may have been going on since time began. But the horse racing of today is a far cry from what it used to be, when the love of the horse far outweighed the love of the dollar.

Unknown

[AAron]

Racoon wrote:

<quoted text>
I don't doubt that the emergency equine crew did the right thing by putting 8 Belles down. The horse had no chance of survival after breaking both legs. Look at Barbaro, I was surprised he lived as long as he did with one broken leg. However, I do think the horse-racing industry needs to be more responsible in racing young horses. At 2 years old the horses bones have not capped or closed to allow for continued growth. 8 Belles at age 2 was 17 hands tall, which is a huge horse,(to put it in simple terms, she was taller than a 6'5" man) she still could have grown and actually filled out and by the age of 3 or 4 probably been close to 17.5 to 18 hands tall.

You sir: make sense.

[oscar1]

Hate horseracing, hate your neighbor, hate your wife and hate your life. Nothing but negative. I don't own horses because I couldn't care for them properly but I do like to watch them compete a few times a year. It's too bad that a horse died but life goes on and not because of greed. Most people who gamble lose and that is a good reason to stay away from the sport.

[jmccausland]

Horses are not culety whipped. Sometimes ya gotta do that to keep them from the fence and hurting them selves!

Spilled thut wrung? But ya know what I mean?

They kill over one horse a day in Peurto Rico because they lose. Now that's a shame!

Horses

Karen Schelinski wrote:

Excellent letter. But now Ms. Peters is going to be called a "PETA radical" like everyone else who has pointed out the harsh reality that horse racing is a cruel business.
I am tired of hearing the lame phrase "horses love to run". Horses enjoy running in sprints. Not galloping at top speeds while being continually and harshly whipped. And not when they are only two years old with immature and incomplete skeletal structures.
I ride at a farm that houses some off the track thoroughbreds. They are a very small minority of lucky racehorses that avoid fatal injuries and a sale to the slaughterhouse. Strangely enough, they do not enjoy running. These thoroughbreds that are supposedly bred to gallop and "love to run" avoid speed.
Beautiful, factual and intelligent letter. Ms. Peters. Now prepare yourself for the name calling, labeling and nasty backlash that inevitably is thrown at anyone who tries to spread a message of kindness to animals. Especially when they are defending a multimillion dollar "sport" like horse racing.