What are your views on horse racing. Is it exceptable for horses to race or is it not??

Answer 1

'except' has almost-but-not-quite the opposite meaning to 'accept'

There is a whole lot of difference between 'over the sticks' racing and 'on the flat', the former being much more hazardous to the welfare of the horse.

Either way, even with the (few) casualties, it is an acceptable, interesting, fun activity to watch.

Answer 2

I have mixed feelings about racing. Thoroughbreds are born to run, it is what they love to do.

Where it gets iffy for me is the training practices and how the horses are ridden in a race. I do not agree with whipping the horses excessively. I think a couple good taps if the horse isn't moving forward is sufficient, but not beating on them like you see a lot of jockeys do in the final stretch.

I am not a big fan of the horses being so young. In any other equestrian sport, horses aren't fully trained until they are over 5, and are considered young at 7! Part of this is due to the horses bones and all not being fully developed.

I also don't like how the owners/trainers are only in it for the money. So many would have just put down Barbaro on the track. If all the owners were like Barbaro's, the racing world would be quite different. They seemed to truly care about the horse and wanted what was best for him, even if he wasn't going to be bringing in any money.

Answer 3

That's a tough question.

As an owner of an ex-racehorse, I know that racing is very tough on horses and makes it hard for them to have any career once they stop racing. Because they are raced at such a young age, it can hurt their bone development. It can also hurt their muscles, and it definitely affects their mental state. An off-the-track Thoroughbred is an entirely different ride than a Thoroughbred that has never raced. For example, my 13 year old, off-the-track Thoroughbred has good days, where we can do full courses of 3 foot high jumps as easily as the next Hunter, and bad days, where we're lucky to trot a straight line. His soundness is also compromised from his racing days. He carries himself stiffly, and always bends left because his right side is less developed.

However, there are horses that race and have no issues, but they are usually the better racers, tending towards winning, which in turn lands them a nice retirement at stud or brood, and no second career.

Unfortunately, as with any other discipline, horses get abused in the racing industry. This is bad, and it is what's unacceptable. Racing itself is acceptable, especially if the horses aren't over-raced. ABUSE IS NOT EXCLUSIVE TO THE RACING WORLD. There are unethical people in every aspect of the horse world, and abuse does happen.

Answer 4

Horse racing is a beautiful sport, yes, but like all such things, it has its ugly, dark side. Horses have been raced for thousands of years- no one alive today actually knows when the world's first horse races were contested. There are records of the sport appearing during the ancient Olympic Games in Greece- and the races of that time also included chariot races, which in some ways are even more dangerous than the horse races we have now. Horses were first raced not long after they were domesticated by people, and humans discovered how much fun it was to ride them at high speeds- and additionally, how much more effective it was to hunt with them. This eventually resulted in efforts to improve the speed and strength of certain types of horses, and the end result of that was the breeding industry that we see today. As to whether or not it is acceptable, consider that at this time, horses ( thoroughbreds) are normally raced and subjected to hard work long before they are physically mature or really able to stand up to the stress of the sport. The need for the breeders and owners of such horses to see an early return on the investments that they make (stud fees, boarding fees for a pregnant broodmare, vet care, farrier care, and feed are all astronomically expensive) has resulted in the system that we have in place right now. I agree with the opinion expressed elsewhere in this column that thoroughbreds are overbred and over produced, and that this is having a negative impact on the sport- and indeed, the quality of the animals produced is going down. Horses have no business doing hard work until they are at LEAST 4 or 5 years old and their bones are strong enough to stand up to it. But unfortunately, we are a long way from EVER seeing the kind of reforms in the sport that WOULD make it safer and more humane for all involved in it. In a perfect world, I would love to see the minimum racing age raised to 4 for the juvenile races ( the Champagne Stakes, the Sanford, the Hopeful, and a host of others) and 5 for the Triple Crown series and other big stakes like it. This simple step alone would undoubtedly save the lives and health of a lot of horses. But because of economic pressures, the likelihood that this will happen any time soon is essentially zero. No breeder in their right mind, and very few owners, have any interest in standing the costs of feed, care, etc, until a horse is 4 years old. The only way I can see anything like this EVER happening is if there is a fundamental restructuring and reorganization of the sport from the ground up, NOT just here in the US, but in every country where there is racing world wide. Horses may love to run, yes- but our attempts as people to exploit that natural drive that horses have has produced some really tragic results- and a LOT of WASTE- of both human and equine lives. The Barbaros, Ruffians, Go for Wands, Union City's, and Charismatics of the world ARE telling us something, but we aren't listening- or if we are, we just don't care about it. They are paying with their lives so that we can be entertained for a few minutes at a time. If humans were subjected to the same treatment that most racehorses get, then the public outcry would be so huge that the sport WOULD be banned. We can race, own and have horses in our lives as companions and friends- but we MUST treat them with the respect they have earned and deserve. ( By the way, these views are my OWN. I do not associate with, or pay any attention to, the animal rights groups such as PETA- in fact, most of those groups disgust me. I love the sport of racing, but I am not blind to its dark side. In fact, I once worked briefly as an exercise rider at a track near New Orleans- and I saw things there that gave me nightmares for years afterwards. I hope and pray that I will never encounter anything that was as cruel as that again- it was the ugliest thing I have ever seen. )

Answer 5

I have the unfortunate habit (thanks DAD) for the excitement and fun, to gamble and watch horse races every now and then.
I know several people that work behind the scenes caring and training the horses.
I can tell you from everyone I speak with the horse love to run. They are bred for that. They are also well taken care of generally behind the scenes, especially the quality winners. They have the best feed, are brushed, cleaned and looked closely after by Vets on scene.
I would not have anything to do with a sport that abused animals in any way and that is not the case in this industry.
What I do not like about the horse industry is you find that jockeys now routinely fix races by purposely improperly riding, steering or holding back horses that would normally easily win. A jockey might only make 30 dollars to ride a horse in a single smaller race so why not just bet on another horse that is a longshot and make 5 times that! This happens all the time now and it is unfortunate. The one downfall is that these tracks are governed by themselves (civilian employees) and do not have any federal or law enforcement agencies to oversee the activities. Major corruption takes place due to this. So to sum it up..the horses are fine and treated well but the overall industry where these horses ride is extremely corrupt and needs reform.
Hope this helps!

Answer 6

no horses should not be racing horses as yearlings and 2 year olds are broken in and raced it puts to much pressure on there joints and body they are not mature enough to carry weight as a 3 year old i have horses and i had an ex race horse i bought him because he did not make the grade he had raced for 3 years and i started competing him one day he went lame and i called the vet out after ultra sound and xrays i was asked what my horse had done before i bought him and i told the vet he was a race horse the vet said because of this undue pressure being put on him at such a young age he had developed severe arthritis and the vet said apart from painkillers there was nothing else he could do for him he was 7 years old in the end the pain killers stopped working and he limped around for a couple of days then i had to make a difficult decision which was to have him put to sleep had he not raced the likely hood is he would of still been alive today.there is also the horses that don't make the grade racing every year 1000s of race horses are slaughtered because they cant be re homed because there are to many horses not making the grade in the racing industry it should be banned and anyone who agrees with it in my opinion is not a animal lover

Answer 7

it is not acceptable when they don't race.

As for the post above, I don't know what tracks you watch, but jockeys get between $50 and $100 for a mount that doesn't hit the top 3 (depending on the track and purse structure). Even at bottom level tracks a win gets them around $250 and $3,000 at the bigger tracks. The problem with your theory is that small tracks have small pools, and any large bet on a certain horse would make that horse the big time favorite making your bet around even money. Then you have to worry about every other horse in the race,not just yours and I guess the other jockeys get a cut too then. By the time everything is said and done, you're left with the $30 you supposedly think jockeys make for a win. Ask any of the jocks suspended from riding in Florida because they may have been involved with something in Michigan how easy it is to get away with it. Also, go try to get your license to own, train or even work on a track. Last time I did which was a month ago, I had to get printed and every State I've been licensed in is run by the state gaming commission (State of ..... Department of Business and Professional Regulation), so if you have the big case solved call up your congressman or govenor, maybe they can look into it.


You are listening to the wrong people, there is no way a jock makes less than $50 at AQU or GP, a win is 10% of the winners % so a jock winning a $10,000 race still makes 10% of $6,000 which is $600. Of all the horses I've run at Oaklawn, Woodbine, Turfway, Keeneland, Laurel, Finger Lakes, Buelah, Tampa etc.. no mount has ever been lower than $55. Most of those places have a standard mount fee from $70-100. Mount fees start at 10% for winner and drop down for 2nd and 3rd. Shane Sellers has been the PETA of jockeys for a while, I wouldn't beleive a word he says. If your quote is right a jock is better off riding a $10k claimer anywhere in North America than trying to make the $60,000 he will get for a win in the Derby. What Shany doesn't mention is that a jock probably worked 5-10 horses that morning at $15 a mount and also got on 5-10 a day at $70 (we'll even out $50-100) a day so realistically they make from $500-1,000 a day. Anybody who applies for a license has to get printed, bottom line, New York to Florida, there is no way around it, if you ever had to get licensed you would know better rather than assuming I had a reason for getting printed. I wish you owned a horse and was able to see how much was taken out of you account every race per mount, seriously call the track bookkeeper I will bet my life it isn't $30. A jock who wins a $40,000 race at AQU will win $2,400, why would they risk riding for a top barn to throw a race and make all the other jocks throw a race to bet a longshot to make more than $2,4k or even $100 for running last. Your argument may look big to the no-nothings on this site, or hotwalkers you may know who think they are insiders. But seriously you're full of ****.

I take this seriously because as long as there is one person out there talking **** about the industry I make my living from, they are affecting my livelyhood and I would never make false claims about anybody elses industry unless I knew it was true, which you clearly do not, send me an account summary from AQU showing that jocks only get $30 a mount and I will beleive you, but since I know its not true go **** yourself..

Answer 8

Thoroughbreds have been bred to race, that is there purpose in life. The breed would not exist if man had not decided to try and create a speed-driven horse by mating the stamina laden arabian stallions to the native British mares.

Every horse loves to run, watch them in the field when they are liberty - no one is making them run around and chase each other, they enjoy it.

As for those who say they are not treated well, most racehorses live better lives than some humans! They are waited on hand and foot, fed the highest quality food, receive the best veterinary and farrier treatment and sleep on the best bedding. When they finish racing and go off to stud they will spend at least 7 hours a day in the fields.

Edited to add - I'm sorry but I have no time for animal rights idiots. I have worked in racing for years and have never known a youngster to be destroyed unless they have a deformity that well prevent them from racing or breeding. Racehorses in the UK very rarely end up slaughtered for pet food and the new EU reulations mean very few, if any, will end up in the human food chain.

Answer 9

I am a horse lover and I think it's a fine thing that horses race. I mean I'm sure they like it... right? If they didn't then I'm sure the horse that was racing would sure show us by bucking or kicking. It's not like the horses' are getting abused or anything, even though horses have to get put to sleep from deadly injuries but that's just the way it goes and there's nothing we can do. Unless we didn't race them. Most of horse racing is about horse lovers watching wonderful horses run so fast or just gamblers wanting money. But even if you don't like horse racing I'm sure you would miss not having it around because it is so fun! I'm not the gambler person but I am a horse lover and I just love watching beautiful horses run up to 40mph! I don't even get how the gambling part works. So yes... I think horse racing is perfectly fine.

Answer 10

Horse racing is a very old and storied sport. It is a thing og beauty to see those magnificent animals run with all their hearts. I do feel however, that a horses career should not start before age 4. Their bones aren't strong enough any younger. With better breeding and racing at a later age we will see fewer breakdowns and fatalities. (By the way, the word you wanted is "acceptable" not "exceptable;" which implies some special exception is needed.)

Answer 11

I do not take any exception to horse racing.

I find it totally acceptable - the horses love it.