Horseracing takes terrible toll

The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont Stakes: Lee Hall began her May 8 column against horse racing with reference to the annual triple crown races here in the US. Then she mentioned two horses who died last month during a British race, and a third who was “too exhausted to be ridden into the winner’s enclosure.”

She noted that “Of those who race, about 420 each year will be run to death, according to Horsedeathwatch.com, which has tracked horse deaths since March 2007. In Australia’s steeplechase events,” she added, “five horses have died this year alone.

“The horses don’t all die in plain sight. Some racers or jumpers die hours or days after an event, victims of leg injuries or bleeding lungs,” Hall added, before moving on to the horrors of American horse racing.

Bolstered with specifics and strong quotes, Hall’s point of view on this subject, as with most, is unequivocal. “The focus should be on stopping the use of horses, whether that involves thoroughbred racing, jumping and showing, fox hunting, barrel racing, tourist carriages or polo.”

The following link takes you to the complete column, which appeared in "one green planet," the "online destination for the ecologically ethical generation." It’s recommended reading.
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http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/out-with-the-races-the-cruel-truth-behind-horse-racing/#Scene_1

No horse sense

In these sour economic times, some bigger animals seem to have proportionally bigger problems. Horses are one (sad) example.

A few weeks ago, a newspaper story told about retired race horses who had been sold for slaughter. Their racing and breeding work was done and it was too expensive to continue boarding and caring for them. So, the creatures who had never had a say about whether they wanted to race in the first place, and who in many cases had nevertheless made skazillions for their owners . . . weren't even allowed to spend the rest of their lives in a green pasture somewhere.

The last horse slaughter facility in the US was closed a couple years ago, but horses are still trucked to Mexico or Canada for slaughter. So much for the one-time "stars" of the racing industry. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/sports/24tour.html?emc=eta1

But why are we surprised? Horse racing is an awful "sport." Innocent animals are ruined and killed in the process, and now we simply know more about what happens to many of them if they survive to retire.

On another front, in this area, a number of horses were out of a home and up for auction. Their current owners -- one-time horse lovers; kids who had to have a horse, then tired of it, etc., -- claimed they could no longer afford to keep them. So, as humans already do with dogs and cats, they "surrendered" the horses.

Disposable animals: how convenient.
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