Horse Racing...... ? Cruel or Not ?

I think it is cruel. I will never enter the office sweepstake for that reason. I know they all think me weird, but I don't want to support it.

I agree Bluebell.

Ohh Phoenix, this is terrible to read. Why do they need to have their ears cut off? I assume it is so that no one can be held to account .

In my opinion ALL horse racing is cruel, yes wild horses like galloping around and maybe they can go a few miles BUT they don’t have anything (7/8/9 stone) on their backs, they don’t have horrible cruel metal things in their mouths and they don’t have a human with a whip yes it’s called a whip not a ‘tapper’ it’s designed to sting to make them go faster
In answer to your question baggs wouldn’t training and breeding make a difference yes I m sure but that doesn’t mean it’s right and whose to say the training isn’t cruel there is such big money resting on these races that to get them faster the training could well be cruel
I personally consider dog racing is cruel too and I don’t believe animals are here to entertain us in this kind of way

Racing greyhounds have their ears tattoed. There have been quite a few reports of them being abandoned with their ears cut off if they don't make the grade.

Please think of a brilliant little horse, Kauto Star, who had a fantastic racing career, was retired and went to retrain as a dressage horse, had a lovely retirement until he had an accident jumping out of his exercise paddock and had to be put down.

Horses will run, and some are inclined to jump.

With regard to the whip, there are currently rules in place, and these are due to be revised.

Dee1012, Thankyou Although upsetting to see & read , it shows us that the situation is worse than many of us will have realised.

Yes, I think that it's cruel. Horses can be medicated to race through injury, break legs while running their hearts out and jumping incredible heights. In the name of entertainment. Then of course what happens when they are no longer fit to race and no use for breeding?

Baggs I would say yes, they are athletes.

Just as I could not compete with Mo Farrah, or Usain Bolt in a sprint, or anyone who can run a marathon because A)I'm not built for it, and B)I'm not trained for it.

Yes Salsaqueen, there are quite a few Greyhounds in Kennels after they have served their purpose.

My view is purely personal, I think the whole racing "industry" is cruel.
Here's a link to one report but it's not pleasant;

www.animalaid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/troubleracing.pdf

Yes, Baggs I think you are correct , there are different breeds of horses.
Perhaps they should be raced without Jockeys, could be interesting ?

I think it's cruel. I hate dog racing even more. The greyhounds have a horrible existence and are dumped when they can't run any more.

I think it's sad that horse deaths are associated with racing but, again, it doesn't follow from that that all horse racing is cruel?

Measurements don't mean much. Human athletes train to jump enormously high or long distances and can sustain injuries by doing so. That doesn't stop them wanting to do it.

So, to go back to something I said earlier, mightn't training and breeding make a difference? What I'm asking is whether race horses are horse athletes compared to your average horse?

Not all races are that long but I do stand by my view that "jump racing" i.e Cheltenham / Aintree etc are the worst.

There's a site run by Animal Aid and if you look at this year alone in the UK, 23 horses have been killed mostly in National Hunt racing.

What about the horses whose riders fall off and just carry on? I guess that might be to do with their herd instincts.

Are all races over four miles?

Jockeys are quite small adults and horses are very strong animals. Are those things they hit the horses with actually whips? Or non-injuring whackers?

It's over 4 miles with an adult on it's back, holding/using a whip! Looking at the National, one fence alone is 5 feet 3 inches high (1.60 m), preceded by a 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) open ditch on the takeoff side (just checked).

I don't have a pre-formed view on the matter but its cruelty does not seem 'obvious' to me. I'm open to being persuaded.

That's what I'm querying. Given that horses are naturally galloping animals and that natural selection developed the galloping ability, as in other galloping animals – wildebeest, zebra, etc — to escape predation, I wonder if "making" them gallop is cruel.

I think it’s cruel. Would a horse choose of its accord to gallop non-stop for four miles?

Just googled. It seems wild horses can gallop for two to two and a half miles without over-tiring.

Now I'm wondering if the training, better diets, and breeding of race horses would make a difference. My guess is that they would.

Very cruel poor horses

I would think that ‘galloping nonstop ‘for 4 miles is too much .