Horse racing and cruelty

I expect many of the people here would throw their hands up in horror at the excessive breeding and destruction of animals, for instance dogs, in other countries such as China.

Why are there so many apologists for what is an appalling business that makes lots of money out of horses and then discards them when they are no longer of use?

It is a bit pointless giving examples of personal conduct - and those who have connections with racing are not really neutral on this issue.

Despite the anecdotal claims made here, the film footage shown and the figures provided demonstrated that large numbers of horses - some of them very young and healthy - are mistreated and put to sleep simply because they are not making their owners enough money. As with greyhound racing, horse racing is a cruel industry where the animals are seen simply as dispensable business assets.

The suggestion that it's a bit of a nuisance that horses can live for 20 or more years and it's better to put them to sleep than neglect them is, in my opinion, a ludicrous one. Why keep breeding animals that are costly to maintain? It's not for the benefit of the individual horses or the species but for the benefit of the racing industry.

I give in sometimes with the likes of Kali2.
What you say goes,in your world anyway.

When I lived down south ponies died on the moors from starvation.

No matter how careful about choosing horses for breeding the progeny will always be good, bad and indifferent, its not just racehorses either. Native ponies, New Forest, Dartmoor and the others there are far too many foals born and only the best find a home, the rest go for meat at a very low price, sad but nobody wants them.
The welfare rules are strict, the vast majority of owners obey them and I will be the first to throw the book at anyone who does not.

There was an article in yesterday's Irish Times about this because at least three of the horses came from Ireland. I was just looking for it and found this update which might be of interest.

Aspects of BBC Panorama documentary reported to Gardaí (via @IrishTimes) www.irishtimes.com/sport/racing/aspects-of-bbc-panorama-documentary-reported-to-garda%C3%AD-1.4626065

The article I was looking for is linked at the foot of this one.

*MayBee70 you are so right and tbh most decent owners will PTS before a horse dies of old age. My rule is if they can't lie down and get up again or if they can't live a normal life out in the paddock with the sun on their back free pain, then it's preferable to quietly and kindly PTS but I do it at home. I do, however, believe there should be well run abattoirs, they provide a service and there is nothing worse than an owner leaving an old horse, neglected in a field because they don't have the money to ask a vet to PTS. Yes, we over breed but it's the poorly bred, badly started horses that I worry about most. Nicely bred and started horses stand the best chance of finding a long term home. I feel it was wrong to focus on racing except there is clearly a vile scam going on, most owners will be appalled by last night's programme but to suggest this is the norm, is totally wrong.

There’s no easy way for a horse to die. Nature is totally against them. Their speed which leads to accidents even in a field: their digestive system which makes them prone to the worst death possible: colic. Even the grass they eat can result in grass sickness or laminitis. Several horses I’ve known have had heart attacks and they weren’t performance horses. Buy a horse with a leg, put it in a field for the rest of it’s life and the chances are it won’t die of old age. Put them in a field alone and they get lonely. Put them with other horses and they might get a broken leg from a kick. I do agree about overbreeding and also the fact that they seem to breed from well bred but unsound mares. I think in France they’re more strict about which mares can be used for breeding. Lessons do need to be learned from the programme but I still think it was meant to be sensationalist and didn’t give a balanced viewpoint.

Never watch it - ever. All this Grand National stuff is sickening.

There’s a wonderfully poignant poem by Pam Ayres, about a racehorse making his will before a race.
Wish I could quote the whole thing, but it’s not in either of the books I have. IIRC he refers to his jockey as the ‘(something) little short-arsed bastard…’

“That's an awful lot of horses in a short space of time. “

Putting that into perspective, it is estimated there are 850000 horses in the UK, if the average lifespan is 20yrs (it probably isnt) , that’s 42000 hoses die each year.

In reality quite likely half would be euthanized at home because they were not fit to travel, that still leaves a lot going to slaughterhouses

MayBee70

If they were filming it for 4/5 months and realised the abattoir were euthanising the horses in an unethical way why didn’t they blow the whistle earlier.

That would have finished the investigation, which was more important in their eyes

If they were filming it for 4/5 months and realised the abattoir were euthanising the horses in an unethical way why didn’t they blow the whistle earlier.

Extract from Animal Aids report: 'We filmed 267 horses and ponies being killed over
five days between October 2019 and February 2020.
Horses of differing breeds and types and of various
ages were presented for slaughter, including
professional sport horses, and others from specific
breed societies and managed feral herds.
Researchers from BBC Panorama were able to
identify, in our footage, some horses from the racing
industry - including those who had earned
substantial sums of money for their owners through
racing, as well as others who had ended up at
slaughter because of their perceived lack of ability.'
That's an awful lot of horses in a short space of time. There's also a link on Animal Aids website to a petition to limit horse breeding.

I’m not going to watch the programme as I don’t want to see images that will stay with me. But I believe most of the horses being slaughtered at the abattoir weren’t ex racehorses. From what I’ve heard two of them were and, sadly one of them was a horse that a previous lass had been searching for as she wanted to give him a home. Perhaps it would be better for horses and ponies if they didn’t have such a long lifespan. Even with the best will in the world it’s difficult to know for certain that you can devote 30 plus years of your life to an animal, especially one that is a 24/7 commitment and very expensive to look after if your financial circumstances change (as mine did). And I’ve heard people say several times that they were giving a horse a home for life only for them to sell that horse within a short space of time. Horses can end up being a long time retired and even then are prone to colic laminitis and grass sickness.

I have very mixed feelings about flat racing as the horses are raced before they are mature but I've been to several racing stables and know lots of people in the industry, IME the horses are very well looked after and many will be retrained after their career ends. I've owned an ex racehorse, he'd gone on to be quite successful as an eventer and came to me in his early teens as a hack and dressage horse. He was a lovely sensible horse and my 14 year old daughter used to do some PC stuff on him.
However, no horse should be transported when lame or sick and having watched last night's programme I was appalled to see how horses were being handled and euthanased . What I saw was illegal as well as cruel and I fear there are some very unscrupulous people out there but they do not, IMO, represent most people involved in racing. I don't have a problem with horses being PTS, often it's the kindest thing to do but it must be done well and according to the law. fwiw, the whips used in racing are highly regulated and make a noise rather than inflict pain. Every horse I have owned has had a mind of it's own, horses won't race or jump if they don't want to, I had a little TB who had never raced but he loved to gallop, always wanted to be at the front and lived a full and happy life until he was 28!

Shandy57

I wanted to ask if anyone knows where the horses are going?

There is a lot of horse meat eaten in Europe, some would also end up in pet food. Flouting welfare regulations cannot be defended, rifle shooting in a closed area is very dangerous that needs a lot of explanation.

I too did not have the stomach for watching all of the cruelty shown within this programme.
Having lived in a rural county all of my life I have noticed that very wealthy people can get away with quite a lot of cruelty and pass it off as sport.
As a child I used to follow the hunt most Saturday mornings on my bike, until I actually say the kill and how the blood was smeared on the face of my 9 year old friend from Sunday school.
Went I went home very upset and told my parents they said "Well, toffs have always done that and always will".
Fortunately change did come in that area.
However, large scale shoots are still very much in vogue and vast numbers of birds are breed to be shot for sport!
As for the horse racing/meat trade/abattoir industry well, I doubt many people attending racing even consider the end route for these poor animals, the meat trade is shady and has been for a long time.
Realistically, if you work in an abattoir, what are the consequences of reporting?
Losing your job .....fear of being intimidated, fear of the top people catching up with you.
In society today people don't report drug dealers out of fear, the same will probably apply to this chain of trade as well.

Eloethan I haven’t watched the programme, and in all honesty I probably never will.

We always have an empty stable/small field available for emergency rescue ponies/horses the majority are able to be re-homed.

I am angry at any/all forms of animal cruelty, and have seen the end results first hand.

MD I have owned horses all my life actually.

We have had previous threads about horse racing and the general feeling was that "it's natural for horses to want to race", they are much loved by their owners and trainers, etc, etc. Some of us disagreed and pointed to the huge numbers of horses that are destroyed - like unwanted pieces of equipment - every year.

Grannygravy13 What was "sensationalist" about the programme? It quoted the number of horses that were being destroyed each year and it showed footage of horses being extremely cruelly treated - being transported sometimes hundreds of miles when they had injuries and could not weight bear and being shot at from a distance. I would have thought that, as you say you have had many horses and ponies, you would be outraged at the cruelty and needless loss of life involved in the racing "industry" but it seems you are only outraged that it has been exposed.

I hope many people have seen the Panorama programme and at least some of them will re-think their support of this so-called sport.

Shandy - the slaughter house

I wanted to ask if anyone knows where the horses are going?

I've just remembered my trip to Iceland about twenty years ago - the Japanese members of our party wanted to eat horse meat, they were excited about it.

Also I see we have one poster, always the same one, who seems to know everything about everything. The whip used be it a "wide bladed" whip (never heard of that one in all my 70+ years) is used to make the horse go faster. A horse is the most obliging animal there is and will always do it's best for the rider and whipping is cruel and not needed and not allowed in other horse disciplines.

Completely uncalled for personal comment, lavenderzen and as you appear to know nothing at all about horses the whole post was probably best left unsaid...

Katie59 yes, absolutely. Re racehorses moving on, there's always such disagreement in the horse world. If you've been riding all your life and you're confident, probably you can manage an ex racehorse. If you're nervous, not very experienced, don't understand thoroughbreds, then it's more unlikely that you'll successfully take one on. I've seen it - an 'unmanageable' horse gets given to someone who has experience and it's a completely different outcome.