does anyone know why horse racing has never been banned with thousands of horses being shot each year?

Question

they break their legs and have to be put down.with the big fuss about fox hunting why does hores racing seem to be overlooked?and if anyones going to say tats what their bred for don't bother.

Answer 1

Get a life! I think if I broke a leg and nothing could be done for me, I would want to be shot.

Do you really think it is easy for the owners/trainers/stable hands to go for a days racing and watch their horse get killed??

They are 'flight animals' and as such love to run, and if you had ever been in a saddle, you would understand that.

No one likes to see an animal get injured, I did not enjoy watching all these people get killed in these football stadium disasters, but it happened and it is our responsibility to try to minimise the risks.


Two years ago I was cantering across the field and the horses leg broke, for no apparent reason, he had to be put down and it broke my heart!! Don't judge until you know all the facts.

Answer 2

Let's really get things straight around here, horses at racetracks are not shot they are first anesthetized, rendering the animal unconscious, and then given a lethal injection. There is always a veterinarian at the racetrack checking the horses pre-race to make sure they are sound to race and has all the necessary equipment to help an injured horse immediately including a special horse ambulance. If you have ever had surgery (and I have) you would know that as soon as you are anesthetized you do not feel anything anymore. I had to put my horse down last summer due to a fatal bout of colic and he was unconscious in just a few seconds and went very quickly. Yes muscles continue to twitch for quite a while after death, that is a natural reaction, but it doesn't mean you continue to feel. The racing industry is very large employing hundreds of thousands of people (let's not forget about the people in the related industries that supply inputs) It generates billions of dollars, which are taxed and go to the surrounding communities. As animal welfare awareness increases, more money is being donated and funded for research to improve the health, safety and well being of the horses, which spills over into many other areas of the horse and other animal industries. There are always negative aspects to everything in life, and these are always the ones that people remember, but there are a lot of good things that seem to be forgotten.

Answer 3

First of all, the number of horses euthanized each year in the American racing industry is not quite that high. And they're not shot, either. I do agree, however, that the sport can be quite exacting on the horses. But this fault lies in the way some trainers push their horses, not in the sport itself. The thing to remember is that these horses are very young, and their bones have not always fully closed before they're being pushed to do hard galloping. Irresponsible training is what most often leads to horses breaking down on the track. Take a look at Australian horse racing, though. They usually give their horses more time to grow and develop before they start racing them. They also provide their horses with lots of turnout, rather than keeping them cooped up in a stall all day. The result is they have far less horses breaking down or coming off the track with split shins, torn suspensories, and other injuries.

The good news is there have been more people calling for reform to the sport. While there still are and always will be irresponsible trainers who push their horses too hard, there is a growing understanding of the physical limitations of the animals and there are people starting to take precautions. There's even been talk about adjusting the length of time between the famed Triple Crown races, as the short layoffs are grueling and exacting on many horses. There's so much debate over this that it's uncertain whether or not things will change for some time, but the fact that we ARE talking about it means we're thinking about the health and safety of the animal more than tradition and legacy. The sport is doing what it can, it's taking steps in the right direction to preserving the health and safety of the animal.

Answer 4

as all responants have explained, no race horses are shot with a gun. At every sanctioned track there is a veteinarian on site' Now, Thorourbreds are bred to run, so your refuasal to acknowledge a fact historically is just ignorance on your part. Research, Read then Render an opinion, your own. Reflect that there are those that have a have a more knowlegeable ,personal understanding of horses , even generational. do you doubt our sincerity?? Our love for the breeds that race?? It probably costs more to keep a horse on the track then to to pay your own morgage, so why does horse racing exist?? We love them and we strive to improve what has been bred . I do not object your right to question some aspects of the racing industry. Yes, it is an industy, and economically it benefits a very minor segment of the economy. Bit, ultimately it is the Love of the Sport and of the Horses that are for us, the lifeblood. I'm assuming that you are from the UK, foxhunting notation, if i 'm correct, fox hunting banded because of the stress/death of quarry, can duplicate that, drag fox scent. (scenethitic) Thoroghbreds not all will run. I believe you to be a sincerely concerened person, then ackowledge our ,you musrt admit highly more informed assessment...ie., we know the breed. Yes, partisan, but with love . In closing, research the history of ALL racing breeds, your adamant refusal to accept the History is/shows your intragenance, perhaps ignorance. Now that fox hunting severely limited in U.K, shall all hounds be destroyed??? Kill all the Beagles!!! Like the Man from Stratford-upon-the-Avon Kill all the Lawerys!!! Yet we ALL know He was unfathomable. You are not. Your argument as stands breaks down. Good-bye.

Answer 5

Its a difficult question to answer, because if we automatically banned everything that caused injury or death we would be in a very dull world. I have just arrived back from skiing with a busted knee but I would hate to see skiing banned and will be out skiing as soon as it is fixed. I have ridden race horses and if you could ask a fit horse if it wanted to race it would say yes. The hardest thing is to slow them up as they adore running and being pack animals it is a delight for them to pit themselves against their own kind. Unfortunately horses have vulnerable legs and one of our horses, two years ago, broke a leg trying to get up after a good nights sleep. It was an enormous sadness when the vet said the kindest thing was to put him down and we lived in weeks of gloom afterwards. Horses and most animals are not frightened of death for they don't understand it but they do fear pain. We in UK love our animals and only want the best for them but I sense that you are not an animal person and perhaps live in a town. You will be amazed how country people understand their animals. I cannot comment on the hunting issue but if I see anyone supporting battery hens by buying the eggs I am rude to them because, like horses, I would prefer to run free with the associated risks then to be caged.

Answer 6

RACE HORSES ARE NOT SHOT, EXCEPT IN VERY RARE INSTANCES !!!!!! When it is necessary to destroy a horse, as they had to do with Barbaro recently, the animal is given a lethal injection of a tranquilizer and an anesthetic overdose. This is even true with racehorses that break their legs on national TV. Racing as a whole will NEVER be banned- not while there are millions of people whose livelihoods depend on the sport and the industries and business it supports. As for fox hunting in the UK, what your Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his cohorts don't want to admit is that there is a HUGE segment of the British economy that depends on that sport- and that the law that banned it has proven to be utterly impossible to enforce to any degree- as yet, hunting continues unabated in most parts of England, and NO ONE has been arrested or imprisoned for it. And by the way, racehorses aren't the only ones who break down in the field- so do foxhunters, and sometimes they even kill or seriously injure their riders. The book Black Beauty may have been fiction, but some of the events that the author weaves into the story and describes were based on reality. People can, and regularly do, break their necks in hunting accidents. People are often cruel to horses and to each other, but that is hardly a reason to ban a sport or a way of life. In a perfect world, we would all live in a bubble- and no one would ever hurt anyone else, either man or beast. Life isn't perfect. Death is part of life. Sorrow is part of who we are as humans. They haven't talked about banning soccer because of the boorish behavior of the fans at matches, where people have gotten hurt and even killed in fires and stampedes, have they now. They aren't saying anything about banning motor sports because drivers get themselves killed doing it. Why would racing be different, just because some idiot animal rights activist who doesn't understand the sport says it has to be? Listening to PETA is like listening to Al-Queada. Their tactics are similar in many ways. No one wants to live in a world that is devoid of anything that brings joy- and racing does that for lots of people. Think about it.

Answer 7

The reason horse racing will never be banned is simple, the powers that be are very rich, rich people use horse racing to invest money in, by buying horses, also up til a few years ago, the betting industry brought in billions in tax.

Now, as for the destruction of horses, rightly they are no longer shot, but injected.
Also, many many horses with very bad injuries are retired rather than destroyed, and every attempt is made for horses with injuries to avoid being put down.

There is also a charity running in the UK for injured racehorses, which takes them in and homes them rather than them being destroyed.

Basically. a broken neck, back, or pelvis means being put down, broken legs can be repaired.

It just depends how much the owners want to pay for a crippled horse.
Its cheaper to kill them.

Anyhoo, nobody likes the horses being put down, but thankfully its a lot less than it used to be!

Answer 8

To correct some of you, most race horses are shot as lethal injection takes too long for the horse to die and is a much more stressfull way for everyone concerned.
Horses can break there legs galloping round the field (as my friends did) so why should racing be banned due to accidents?
People have car accidents but we don't stop driving!


In addition and response to Debby R injection is far slower than being shot! And very traumatic it takes nearly 5 mins for the nervous system to shut down so the horse twitches! And i know several horses shot at race courses! (used to work at one) and husband is a vet!

Answer 9

1. Horses are not shot they are euthanised with drugs no bullets used.
2. Racing generates huge amounts of money from betting to employment of thousnads of people.
3. The numbers of horses euthanised each year is not that high.
4. Fox hunting has been banned not having anything to do with the horses hurt doing it but because they are hunting and killing foxes.

Horse racing is an aceint sport often called the sport of kings. People with money own and race the horses. They employee lots of people who ride train and work with the horses and people at the tracks and the food at the tracks.
The industry is well managed and has good backing. It is not going anywhere anytime soon.
If you do not like racing do not watch or support it but do not look for it to be outlawed anytime soon. To much money is involved.

Answer 10

If it was`nt for the sport, the horses would never have been born, and never had a life at all, some sadly suffer injuries in their races and are put down as swiftly and painlessly as possible. Without equestrian sports there would be no reason to have a horse population, and there would just be a few specimens kept in a zoo to preserve the species.Most horses live to a ripe old age, in superb conditions. Think it through please.