All the horse people are saying the same thing. Too young. Too tall. Not ready.
I hope the ratings fall through the floor because viewers won't want to watch horses crash and burn. If the money starts leaving, maybe, just maybe, people will look at the horses and realize something needs to change.
Or maybe responsible breeders have tried, but are being swamped out by the greedy ones.
I remember when I first started watching Olympics equestrian events, and being surprised at how "old" the horses were. From what I'm learning, their age is the right age for that type of work/stress. My view was skewed by early exposure to horse racing.
The problem with TB racing is they take horses the equivalent of mayb 10-12 kids, feed them up *bigtime* to develop size and muscle, work them enuf to develop some speed, and them turn them loose on the racing circuit.
Many break down or just fail, and most arent racing after the age of 4.
Given the fact that they dont reach full growth til around 5-6 (when the plates over the knee close is the general term for it) its cruel and inhumane.
The good news is in things like dressage and eventing, the horses are at a proper age, often because they have to mature to build up the proper muscle mass to be able to do something other than run flat out, and also the time it takes to train for something like dressage is years.
Charisma, who is a famous eventing horse here who won gold with Mark Todd at least 2 Olympics, and he retired aged 16 after the second gold
US thoroughbreds are also more overbred (inbred) than European and Asian thoroughbreds. I believe the US has several times more deaths per year than other countries. And it's getting worse.
Eight Belles came in second, somehow, then collapsed after she crossed the finish line. She had broken both front legs, and was euthanized on the track.
What's worrisome is that poor breeding practices seem to spread more than sound practices, either because everyone makes more money, or the horses look "prettier"/flashier, or some combination thereof.
I don't have anything to do with horses now, but I was horse-mad as a youngster. Read the Marguerite Henry and Farley books and every book I could find about different breeds. Played with little model horses--my grandma made me a barn out of a cardboard box and covered it with holiday wrapping paper. When I was eight or nine, I was always asking my Dad if I could have a horse. We were in no financial shape to even think about getting one, so Dad said that there were too many stones in our yard and that a horse would hurt itself--I needed to clear out the stones before we could even consider getting one. So there I was, in the hot Florida sun, walking though the yard searching for stones...
I still like to watch horses. This year, I am going to visit the Tempel Lipp farm and watch an exhibition.
It's horrible that Eight Belles was killed in the Derby...I guess the positive that will come from it is that it raises the general public's awareness of the dark side of the racing industry.
Aside from the issue of very young horses being trained very hard on immature limbs there's also the less visible issue of what happens to huge numbers of unsuccessful race horses. Slow horses injured or healthy often end up being dumped at auction. The lucky ones become pleasure horses..the unlucky ones end up being slaughtered.
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It made it worse that my four-year-old daughter was rooting for the girl horse with me.
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That poor thing ran so hard.
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I hope the ratings fall through the floor because viewers won't want to watch horses crash and burn. If the money starts leaving, maybe, just maybe, people will look at the horses and realize something needs to change.
Or maybe responsible breeders have tried, but are being swamped out by the greedy ones.
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I wish they would change the Triple Crown to 4 year olds, but that's just not going to happen.
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(Anonymous) 2008-05-04 01:12 am (UTC)(link)The problem with TB racing is they take horses the equivalent of mayb 10-12 kids, feed them up *bigtime* to develop size and muscle, work them enuf to develop some speed, and them turn them loose on the racing circuit.
Many break down or just fail, and most arent racing after the age of 4.
Given the fact that they dont reach full growth til around 5-6 (when the plates over the knee close is the general term for it) its cruel and inhumane.
The good news is in things like dressage and eventing, the horses are at a proper age, often because they have to mature to build up the proper muscle mass to be able to do something other than run flat out, and also the time it takes to train for something like dressage is years.
Charisma, who is a famous eventing horse here who won gold with Mark Todd at least 2 Olympics, and he retired aged 16 after the second gold
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Eight Belles came in second, somehow, then collapsed after she crossed the finish line. She had broken both front legs, and was euthanized on the track.
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I don't have anything to do with horses now, but I was horse-mad as a youngster. Read the Marguerite Henry and Farley books and every book I could find about different breeds. Played with little model horses--my grandma made me a barn out of a cardboard box and covered it with holiday wrapping paper. When I was eight or nine, I was always asking my Dad if I could have a horse. We were in no financial shape to even think about getting one, so Dad said that there were too many stones in our yard and that a horse would hurt itself--I needed to clear out the stones before we could even consider getting one. So there I was, in the hot Florida sun, walking though the yard searching for stones...
I still like to watch horses. This year, I am going to visit the Tempel Lipp farm and watch an exhibition.
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What's Tempel Lipp farm?
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Lipizzans. Horses raised right.
I thought the same thing
(Anonymous) 2008-05-04 04:58 am (UTC)(link)no subject
Aside from the issue of very young horses being trained very hard on immature limbs there's also the less visible issue of what happens to huge numbers of unsuccessful race horses. Slow horses injured or healthy often end up being dumped at auction. The lucky ones become pleasure horses..the unlucky ones end up being slaughtered.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGE_fMuogKA