Should horse racing be banned?

My name is URL

Or at least, should they get rid of jump racing?

Two horses died at the Grand National today. I never actually watch or bet on the sport but just happened to see the race today. Loads of other horses fell while going over the fences. It's a wonder that there were only two fatalities.

Is it worth it? Would the sport not be just as enjoyable if there were no fences? Doesn't make any sense to me to risk the lives of both jockeys and horses by having them jump.

What say you?

Digits

Hurdles>Flat Racing

dr.bollocko

If they were race horses and died while racing they were most likely crap horses to begin with and deserved their fate.



edit: this was a joke. Please contain your outrage until you read more of the thread.

eth0

No there are enough things banned. Government interferes in one's daily lives too much already

and I don't buy the 'mere humans can't/shouldn't be allowed to think for themselves' crap either

Cantona's Collars

Lets ban all sports on health & safety grounds:rolleyes:.I hate to be callous but they are only horses.When an animal dies we get all the animal rights loons coming out of the woodwork.

A footballer in Italy died today from a heart attack while playing for Livorno,should we ban football?

LilyCricket

This actually really upset me.

Such a huge cost

LilyCricket

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If they were race horses and died while racing they were most likely crap horses to begin with and deserved their fate.

Cheltnam winner actually got put down today

Princess Peach

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.

Mycroft H

My name is URL wrote: »

Or at least, should they get rid of jump racing?

Two horses died at the Grand National today. I never actually watch or bet on the sport but just happened to see the race today. Loads of other horses fell while going over the fences. It's a wonder that there were only two fatalities.

Is it worth it? Would the sport not be just as enjoyable if there were no fences? Doesn't make any sense to me to risk the lives of both jockeys and horses by having them jump.

What say you?

I've been behind the big screen that they pull over when a horse's life is been ended at the races. Not a pretty sight. The horse knows its coming even when sedated. I've also seen a young vet missing the first time and having to do the job twice.

I would have no qualms about banning it.

Da Shins Kelly

This comes up every year after the Grand National. I don't think racing in general should be banned, but I wouldn't miss the Grand National if it was gone. I like a bet from time to time, but there's too many horses in the field and the fences are just ridiculously big. I know it's meant to be the ultimate test, but it just ends up as complete carnage with horses dying almost every year.

Synchronized won the Gold Cup at Cheltenham last month, and had to be destroyed today which is gutting and such a waste of a promising horse (eerily, the horse threw off Tony McCoy before the race, and seemed very stressed beforehand). Then According To Pete, who was jumping beautifully throughout didn't even fall, but was brought down by another horse. This is a horse bred and raised by a man at his home in Yorkshire. The same man said that he didn't expect the horse to win, but to just put in a good show and come home safely. It's a terribly sad story.

Over 20 horses have died in the Grand National since 2000. If they scrapped the thing after this, I wouldn't object.

Princess Peach

zerks wrote: »

Lets ban all sports on health & safety grounds:rolleyes:.I hate to be callous but they are only horses.When an animal dies we get all the animal rights loons coming out of the woodwork.

A footballer in Italy died today from a heart attack while playing for Livorno,should we ban football?

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

Digits

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If they were race horses and died while racing they were most likely crap horses to begin with and deserved their fate.

Surely a joke. Synchronised won the gold cup this year.

jack presley

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If they were race horses and died while racing they were most likely crap horses to begin with and deserved their fate.

Good to see that intelligence isn't required to become a mod

Pherekydes

They died doing what they loved.

Princess Peach

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.

Couldn't agree with you more!!

My name is URL

zerks wrote: »

Lets ban all sports on health & safety grounds:rolleyes:.I hate to be callous but they are only horses.When an animal dies we get all the animal rights loons coming out of the woodwork.

Well that's not really where I was coming from. I'd sooner see the short-arsed jockeys than horses be whipped and made to jump over ridiculously high fences.

It just seems like a crude sport.. and it's considered to be one of the main sporting occasions of the year. That race did not seem very sporting to me. The winner was whipped far more than the rules are supposed to allow for.

People get all preachy and upset over bullfighting whenever it comes up here, so why is it not the same for this sport?

Where To

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If they were race horses and died while racing they were most likely crap horses to begin with and deserved their fate.

I'm actually pro horse racing and pro Grand National but jaysus . . . . :eek:

titan18

Horse Racing as a whole no, but I think races like the Grand National should be banned.

As a personal choice, if I could, I would ban it, but not a chance that'll happen

dr.bollocko

jack presley wrote: »

Good to see that intelligence isn't required to become a mod

Tongue in cheek buddy.
Watch the personal stuff in future though.

BattleCorp

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If they were race horses and died while racing they were most likely crap horses to begin with and deserved their fate.

If you died while working in a dangerous environment, would people say that you deserved your fate - I think not.

dr.bollocko

Where To wrote: »

I'm actually pro horse racing and pro Grand National but jaysus . . . . :eek:

Does anybody have a gif which involves a bad joke backfiring quite badly?

That sure would be useful about now.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Is there an argument to be made for the horses enjoying the racing?

Mickeroo

Get rid of the hurdles. Leaving the ethics aside, considering the amount of time and money that goes into breeding and training horses to that level it seems like an unecessary risk.

I don't think horse racing should be banned in general though, race horses are generally treated very well and genuinely loved by their trainers/riders.

Mocha Joe

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Does anybody have a gif which involves a bad joke backfiring quite badly?

That sure would be useful about now.

I hope you get put down.


*Just a joke. Like yours. :rolleyes:

Mickeroo

My name is URL wrote: »

People get all preachy and upset over bullfighting whenever it comes up here, so why is it not the same for this sport?

In fairness, thats a complete straw man. The very point of bull fighting is to hurt/maim the animal. That's not the case with horse racing.

GetWithIt

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Does anybody have a gif which involves a bad joke backfiring quite badly?

That sure would be useful about now.

It looks a bit like this -> :I'm sorry)

Samich

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If they were race horses and died while racing they were most likely crap horses to begin with and deserved their fate.

That's Coontish!.

FueledByAisling

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If they were race horses and died while racing they were most likely crap horses to begin with and deserved their fate.

If I forced you to run a long race, pushed you to the extent where your heart can explode does that mean you're a crap human being? I would have thought the person forcing you to the action would have been the crap human being

Green Diesel

Digits wrote: »

Surely a joke. Synchronised won the gold cup this year.

Had a few quid on Synchronised. Feel a bit guilty now.

Jimoslimos

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Does anybody have a gif which involves a bad joke backfiring quite badly?

That sure would be useful about now.

Think that joke fell at the first

dr.bollocko

I truly apologise and will post haste ban myself for as long as I deem necessary until rehabilitation kicks in.

Robdude

If horse racing should be banned because some of the horses might die - shouldn't we ban all types of animal slaughtering because all of those animals will die?

We should ban fishing, and cattle farms, and make it illegal to buy or sell meat. Then a lot less animals would die!

We should also ban hunting; because the goal of hunting is to kill animals.

Mickeroo

Robdude wrote: »

If horse racing should be banned because some of the horses might die - shouldn't we ban all types of animal slaughtering because all of those animals will die?

We should ban fishing, and cattle farms, and make it illegal to buy or sell meat. Then a lot less animals would die!

We should also ban hunting; because the goal of hunting is to kill animals.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Do they eat the horses that die in the races?

Mint Sauce

Horse racing, No. I think the horse racing authorties have gone to some lenght to protect the horses well being. Synchonised was one of the horses who unfortunatly died today, he actully unseated his rider in the warm up, and was examined by a vet before his rider got back on and raced. It was a horrible co incidence he was one of the horses who died.

It is vey sad when an animal dies or has to be put down, but you dont usally hear of these incidents in your normal everyday race meet.

But the grandnational, I wouldn't miss it if it was never ran again. I only really watch or follow the the big races or festivals, I might only places a bet on a few races a year, the National being one of them, but at times during the race today I was shuffling uncomforably on the seat.

Dannyg90

it shouldn't be banned. While no one especially the owners wants a horse to die while racing for the obvious financial reasons as well as personal attachment to the horse unfortunately it happens every so often, but the fact remains that most race horses would not have lived at all without horse racing as they were bred for that purpose. If horse racing was banned outright the population of horses would drop very quickly because people aren't going to be willing to pay the expensive upkeep for a horse they can't race.

FueledByAisling

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Is there an argument to be made for the horses enjoying the racing?

I ride and know myself that a good bunch of horses do loooove to race. However some don't, a lot of the horses run out of fear as it is their nature. But it's more the treatment they get, recently a whip ban has been put in place which I'm very happy about but people still break that rule. Also the amount of weird **** they get fed sometimes to make them run faster is ridiculous. In america a horse had broken it's leg before a race and the owner injected it with a drug to numb the pain so it would run the race.

My name is URL

Mickeroo wrote: »

In fairness, thats a complete straw man. The very point of bull fighting is to hurt/maim the animal. That's not the case with horse racing.

Maybe it is a strawman. But more horses die each year as a result of injury or because they are no longer wanted by breeders, than are killed each year by matadors.

I don't understand how anybody could be opposed to one sport and supportive of the other.

Obviously banning is way too strong a word but if they reduced the amount of horses in the race it'd be a safer race for horse and jockey.

Green Diesel

As a matter of interest, what happens which makes it necessary to destroy them? Broken legs?

titan18

Robdude wrote: »

If horse racing should be banned because some of the horses might die - shouldn't we ban all types of animal slaughtering because all of those animals will die?

We should ban fishing, and cattle farms, and make it illegal to buy or sell meat. Then a lot less animals would die!

We should also ban hunting; because the goal of hunting is to kill animals.

Tbf, a lot of people would support a ban on those things, especially hunting.

Also, there's a big difference between an animal dying for food, and an animal dying as a result of doing something for entertainment and financial reasons.

Robdude

Mickeroo wrote: »

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Do they eat the horses that die in the races?

If killing animals is wrong; the top priority should be banning the things that kill the most animals.

While some horses do die while racing, it is not the intent and it represents a small percentage of the horses. The owners pay a lot of money for the horses and want to see them alive and healthy.

Meanwhile, our store shelves are literally lined with dead animals we've killed for no reason other than we want to eat them; despite having the means to avoid it.

Da Shins Kelly

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Is there an argument to be made for the horses enjoying the racing?

Some of them probably do. But the Grand National is an incredibly stressful race, by the looks of things. The fences are HUGE (The Chair and Becher's Brooke up close are monstrous) and the size of the field (40 horses or thereabouts) is a serious hazard (impaired vision, pushing and shoving, several loose horses causing accidents). There are some horses that are 100% suited to it, but there are some seriously irresponsible trainers and owners out there who put horses in that are simply not capable, be it jumping-wise or stamina-wise, to complete the race, and those horses are being put at great risk of being seriously injured or killed. For example, I think it was utter insanity on the part of the connections of Synchronized to run that horse today. The whole race itself is just asking for trouble, really.

Glico Man

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Think that joke fell at the first

Thats a good put down

Mickeroo

Mickeroo wrote: »

Robdude wrote: »

If horse racing should be banned because some of the horses might die - shouldn't we ban all types of animal slaughtering because all of those animals will die?

We should ban fishing, and cattle farms, and make it illegal to buy or sell meat. Then a lot less animals would die!

We should also ban hunting; because the goal of hunting is to kill animals.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Do they eat the horses that die in the races?

I have eaten horse meat in restaurants abroad. Remember thinking at the time it was quite nice....

Robdude

titan18 wrote: »

Tbf, a lot of people would support a ban on those things, especially hunting.

Also, there's a big difference between an animal dying for food, and an animal dying as a result of doing something for entertainment and financial reasons.

That's only true in situations where it is necessary to eat the animal to live. Sure, at one point in time, we as a society might have needed to kill other animals to survive.

We're LONG past that point. Plenty of people live healthy lives without eating animals. We all could. I eat steak because I ENJOY it, not because I risk death or starvation with out it.

It's only a slightly different type of enjoyment than watching horses run around a track. Both are completely unessential for my survival. Plenty of vegetarians are proof of this.

But anyway - if someone is against all of those things; horse racing seems like an odd place to start the call for bans. It's trivial compared to the other stuff.

bil

o yeah and lets ban motor racing because humans die in that. also lets ban football, running and evey sport that may involve injury. In short, shut up op

inmyday

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If they were race horses and died while racing they were most likely crap horses to begin with and deserved their fate.

Crazy stuff. Dya watch horse racing?
Crap horses???
deserved???


Ya must be taking the mick? Im guessing you are, yeah?

Princess Peach

Robdude wrote: »

If killing animals is wrong; the top priority should be banning the things that kill the most animals.

While some horses do die while racing, it is not the intent and it represents a small percentage of the horses. The owners pay a lot of money for the horses and want to see them alive and healthy.

Meanwhile, our store shelves are literally lined with dead animals we've killed for no reason other than we want to eat them; despite having the means to avoid it.

You are bringing up a whole different topic here.

And its not only about the horses who die in the race. Its also about the treatment of the race houses, and the treatment of the horses who aren't good enough to race.

My name is URL

bil wrote: »

o yeah and lets ban motor racing because humans die in that. also lets ban football, running and evey sport that may involve injury. In short, shut up op

Very intelligent response there, bil. Much appreciated.

Maire2009

FueledByAisling wrote: »

I ride and know myself that a good bunch of horses do loooove to race. However some don't, a lot of the horses run out of fear as it is their nature. But it's more the treatment they get, recently a whip ban has been put in place which I'm very happy about but people still break that rule. Also the amount of weird **** they get fed sometimes to make them run faster is ridiculous. In america a horse had broken it's leg before a race and the owner injected it with a drug to numb the pain so it would run the race.

How could it run with a broken leg? Surely if its leg was broken it couldn't move it properly and wouldn't have supported its weight? Didn't anyone else notice? Like, if you see a person with a broken leg you know they aren't moving right, whether or not they feel the pain.

Calling for an all out ban is wrong. Sure, do something about the fences at the Grand National, do everything to reduce the risk, but ban it? The same people calling for it to be banned today will not even think about it tomorrow. Not saying its the case for all, but the majority won't give a second thought to a horse again until the next big name dies at a big meet.

Mickeroo

My name is URL wrote: »

Maybe it is a strawman. But more horses die each year as a result of injury or because they are no longer wanted by breeders, than are killed each year by matadors.

I don't understand how anybody could be opposed to one sport and supportive of the other.

They're killed humanely though, i think that's the key difference.

At the end of the day both race horses and fighting bulls are commodities bred for a single purpose, so from that point of view its not cruelty in either case. Its a complex issue.