Horse Racing Discussion?

Question

I just recieved a post on website, http://rpg.horsenutty.com/phpBB2/index.php about whether or not horse racing is cruel. What is it about Barbaro that has made the entire world decide this sport is more cruel than slaugther?
What is it about barbaro that has the media making his death out to be as great a tragedy as 9/11? Why are uninformed people buying into this story??? No really I want to know why more people are following this story than the presidential race.

It was one of my Admin No - less.

Sorry, I guess I should cite my source, I heard a DJ on the radio reading the news and saying this.

I wish people who know nothing about racing would grow up and quit trying to be advocates against it.

Answer 1

I'm completely with you on this.

My father has been a handicapper for horse racing my entire life. I know a lot more about it than the average person. While some trainers, owners, jockeys, and horse tracks do not treat the animals as they should, they are in the minority. Most treat the animals as if they are family.

I'm not entirely sure why Barbaro caught some people's attention. I honestly think it's because Barbaro's injury came during a widely televised race. Most people who watch it only occasionally or got the information from the nightly news probably thought a horse breaking its leg during a race was a rare thing, and they jumped on it.

But some of the responses are absolutely insane. I've never seen entire music videos made . . . . about a horse. Or get well wishes sent to the horse (Barbaro's keepers had to remind the public that the horse can't read.)

I hope it passes soon. Tired of this crap.

Answer 2

Why did the Barbaro story become a hot news topic?

Because it has all the elements of a human interest story.

Anything that can take the interest away from all the negative news out there, and keep the public focused on something else, is worthwhile (my opinion).

The masses want something to believe in.

Barbaro gave them that much.

And then when something unexpected happened, the people want to know why.

...and what ensued was a long story of hope gained and lost.

A true saga in every sense of the word is what it became, and it shows no signs of dying out, which could be a good thing.

It opened up avenues of opportunity.

I feel we were blessed that we had Barbaro, although we certainly were disappointed in him not making recovery.

I keep the memory of Barbaro close with images of him decorating my computer screen. Say a prayer for our lost hero. Thank you.

Answer 3

Horse racing is dangerous, but it is not inherently cruel. Who is comparing Barbaro to 9/11? The only place I've seen that is on Yahoo! Answers, which is about as credible as the message boards were. The presidential race is tomorrow's news, in 2008 people will discuss it.

Answer 4

Cruelty... racing has become more dangerous throughout the years, but I'd hardly call it cruel. Horses run... that's what they do. Regardless of whether a person trained it to go around a track or if the horse was living in wide open pastures, the horse would run. Races horses are not forced to run more than they can... they work for a short time every day to build up their muscles, then they race. Races only take a couple of minutes and are only run over a couple of miles or less. It's nothing that a horse can't handle. Horses instinctually run from their enemies and would have to outrun an enemy at greater distances for longer times than they must run in a race.
Nevertheless, Barbaro has caused many to question the safety of the horses. As I said, horse racing has become more dangerous throughout the years. In Man-O-War's time, horses ran races much longer into their lives and weren't pushed to run as fast as they are now. Seabiscuit ran races through many years of his life. However, today, a horse starts under saddle as a 2 year old, runs the triple crown as a 3 year old, and may run some as a four year old. Some horses continue to race later, but the majority of the horses have stopped racing by the time they turn 5. Some horses break down and are either put down or require a lot of time to recover. Some horses get minor (non-life threatening) injuries like pulling a tendon. And some horses are simply retired before anything can happen to them. Horse racing is becoming faster (the horses run faster) and shorter (the horses run for a shorter period of their lives). People mistake this to be cruel. In reality, no one wants their horse to be hurt. They do everything possible to ensure the horses safety. People recognize the danger and adjust accordingly. They train the horses to prepare for races so that they are ready to run. They stop the horses from running too late into their lives to prevent any catastrophic injury from occuring.

Of course horses do break down... but I'm pretty certain horses broke down years ago too. Seabiscuit was injured in a race, albeit not fatally. People pay more attention to horse injuries now because they're reported now. In Seabiscuit's day, you had to go to the theater to see news about horse racing... and theaters showed images of champions, not the horses that broke down on the track. The media today broadcasts images of death and destruction from all over the world and they aren't going to make an exception for horse racing.
Barbaro has also brought attention to track surfaces. All of CA tracks are required to have a synthetic surface by the end of the year because those surfaces, such as Polytrack, have largely reduced the number of injuries on the tracks that have installed those surfaces. Horses are moving at high speeds and already have tiny legs in relation to their massive size. When they step on an uneven surface, like a clump of mud, bad things can happen.

As for the presidential race... It's completely ridiculous to think that Barbaro is the reason that we aren't focusing on the Presidential race. First of all, we are, in a way focusing on the race... people have already begun announcing their candidature, and we are paying attention and considering how the field will develop. Second, we are paying as much attention as we did in January 2005... the fact is, we just had an election 3 months ago. The winning governors weren't inagurated until a couple weeks ago. Suggesting that we should pay great attention to the election now is silly because we'd be paying great attention to elections at all times... every month throughout every year.

As for 9/11... I've heard people ask why people are comparing Barbaro to 9/11, but I've never heard anyone actually compare him to 9/11. All I can say is that Barbaro is our most recent tragedy. Since 9/11, we haven't had such a shocking event. Certainly we fought (or are continuing to fight) a war in Iraq which of course has a lot of attention, but it's not as shocking as 9/11 or Barbaro... while we hear people have died in Iraq, it is very distant from us and it's unsurprising because we are fighting a war... we understand that death comes from war. 9/11 shocked us all... Life stopped that morning and we watched continuously for the next months. The same thing happened with Barbaro... we watched him break down at the Preakness and for some reason everyone paused their lives to focus on Barbaro's fight for survival. (I'm a horseback rider and racing fan, so I understand why I was so interested, but I suppose it was just Barbaro's talent and the surprise of his breakdown that caused the ordinary person to take such an interest in Barbaro's survival). The horse completely captured the nation... people sent posters and cards and carrots and apples to the New Bolton Center.Then we got reports that Barbaro could go home within the month. And suddenly Barbaro had been euthanized... so the entire nation was interested and it was very shocking. Incidentally, the last time there was such an outpouring of support was 9/11... people took posters and flowers and stuffed animals and everything to the places the planes crashed... just like people sent things to Barbaro. I guess that's why people compare the two even though a national catastrophe killing thousands of people and putting the nation at war doesn't seem like it would have much in common with a three year old colt... even a 3 year old colt who was such a champion. Personally, I wouldn't compare the two... I see too many differences between a horse and a tragedy with international consequences. But it's true that I paid close attention to both.
Barbaro was a great champion. He commanded our respect and admiration and that caused us to pay such attention to his developments.

Answer 5

You should have seen the beautiful way that Invasor won his race today, when I saw Jara take the rail I said no, there is no way he'll get out of there but Invasor saw a tiny opening and just went for it for a spectacular win. Good thing I taped it, it will be a classic.