Should horse racing be banned?

Discodog wrote: »

It may be the last point but it is the most pertinent. No one is going to ban the National it makes too much money in tax. I have been to a lot of horse shows & I have never seen a horse die as a result of show jumping. Cross country is different & so is point to point.

But it is another concern when one race regularly results in so many deaths. There has to come a point where you are subjecting the animals to reckless endangerment.

Your right show-jumping is a bad example but nonetheless horses do get injured in it, it would have been a better example of the point that if a horse didn't want to do do something you couldn't make it.

If your interested in horses you'll probably know about Badminton Horse Trials, it's the biggest eventing competitions in the world, the cross-country course is notoriously dangerous and difficult with substantial jumps where horses regularly fall and some unfortunately die during it, if I remember correctly 6 horses fell at the same fence in 2010 ( one I remember was a rotational fall where the horse could have easily be killed)and a horse died at a different fence the same year but there's never as much uproar after Badminton as there is after the national. I suppose what I'm trying to say as that if all these people who are so gun-ho that the national should be banned actually had an interest in horses at all they would see that horses die in all aspects of the sport not just in racing.

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

The point is that it's one race in the racing calendar and over 20 horses have died in this one race in 12 years. That's a lot. If that many horses were dying in one single cross-country event every year, there would be a reassessment. Most people who understand anything about the equine world agree that racing itself shouldn't be banned, but the Grand National needs to be looked at. First and foremost, reducing the number of runners would greatly reduce the risk. This is something we don't see in cross-country for example - we don't have 40 horses galloping at 5 ft high fences all together.

Believe me, I've seen horses come and go and I've seen my fair share of horrible accidents, but the organised carnage that is the Grand National is just a death trap. That's not what an enjoyable sport should be about, and furthermore, it gives the equine world a bad name.

I'm not arguing that it shouldn't be made safer, I'm all for it being made safer but I'm not a course designer or an expert on racing so I can't really comment on it how that could be achieved aside from the obvious point of reducing the number runners. Admittedly my post is a bit long winded but I was trying to illustrate horses die a lot as a result of being ridden and it's fairly redundant imo to ban a one race when horses die in other areas of the sport.

LilyCricket wrote: »

What use would it have been to him with a badly broken leg, probably wouldn't have recovered

Sad, but true

Oh yeah I agree with that. Just it seemed to be suggested above that McManus, McCoy and Co. ran the horse to his death even though they knew something was wrong. Have no doubt the horse would have been pulled if they knew what was going to happen as the "physic vet" above seems to have known.

It was a bad, unfortunate fall. The horse didn't refuse to jump the fence as some other horses did, he just didn't clear it. Very sad.

The numbers definitely seem to be a problem - one horse fell and took out 2/3 other horses with him at one stage.

Princess Peach wrote: »

The footballer chose to play the sport knowing risks, the animals aren't given a choice.

i dont think a horse would run if he didnt want to,but i think cutting down the number of runners would help,

This thread comes around every year. Its a shame that the horses are dying. Everything has been changed in the course to try and stop this such as changing the height of jumps but realistically its just made the times quicken up and put them in more danger. People in horse racing obviously care about the horses and its unlucky that a non-threatening disease for humans like a broken leg is fatal for horses as they get pneumonia. Like Noel Feilhy broke his leg today..

Things like this happen a lot in horse racing unfortunately. Gottany O's died while running on the flat during the races. Its not always because of the hurdles and jumps..

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Every year without fail, some horses refuse to take starting positions (thats me calling a horse "contrary") . Theres a bit of messing and eventually they start, usually those of us with money on the spirited nags know they're not going to perform too well (I'm not psychic, just been around). Sometimes they don't make it to the start at all.
Sometimes something happens in the stables and we have a non-runner.
This Cheltenham Gold Cup horse did the mother of all tantrums yet still ran.
Those are all facts.
"Contrary" is just a phrase I used. "Insurance" was mentioned too. I haven't read the insurance contract on the horse - so who could tell ?

Byebye horsies, RIP.

Finans Rainbow ran throw the barrier yesterday and won.. Its impossible to know if they don't want to run or too eager to run.

My name is URL wrote: »

Is there really the need for 30 fences? Reduce it by 10 and the chances of a horse being fatally wounded are cut by 1/3.

The race will go faster and chances of a horse being fatally wounded would increase? Perhaps they could increase the jumps so horses have to go slower?

should horse racing be banned? no, but the grand national should be changed.

its a wonderful event, but its also the most dangerous in the world in terms of racing. i really really cringed today seeing some of the falls, they were awful. surely they need to review the length of the course, the heights of the fences and number of horses in it.

Princess Peach wrote: »

I believe it should be banned, along with greyhound racing.

Cruelty to animals for sport and gambling pretty much disgusts me.

Sadly is never going to happen though.

I'm sorry but in no way are either horse-racing or greyhound racing cruelty!

Horse racing or even this one race isnt going to come close to been banned. This compares oddly with the HBO series Luck that was cancelled after I think the third horsey death.

One senses that was probably because HBO probably didnt want their reputation dragged thru the muck by the protesters. Undoubtably racing takes many more horses than that every year but doesnt attract the same hysteria as Luck did. Cutting the number of the fences as dramatically as a third is unlikely-it then isnt really the same race, the biggest test etc, maybe they will continue to lower the jumps as they have tried. But the fact is **** will always hit the fan at times.


Life is of course about more than death otherwise meat eating, car driving, sport playing events would all go to Room 101. Which would suck.

Palytoxin wrote: »

I'm sorry but in no way are either horse-racing or greyhound racing cruelty!

Ya brute! I bet you think its alright for wolves to hunt in packs??? Totally inhumane the way they do that :pac:

Princess Peach wrote: »

I believe it should be banned, along with greyhound racing.

Cruelty to animals for sport and gambling pretty much disgusts me.

Sadly is never going to happen though.

This comment has me pissed off to no end.

A lot of people enjoy horse racing, and I'm glad it won't ever be banned. your comment is the equivalent of vegetarians moaning about cruelty to animals for the purposes of food when other "less cruel" food is available. if you actually believe that race horses and greyhounds aren't treated better than 97% of animals you're just clueless.

I could probably write a more articulate and detailed post but i'm actually too irritated, can't believe there's people out there this stupid.