12 horses die from injuries over the past month at Churchill Downs | Hacker News Reader

12 horses die from injuries over the past month at Churchill Downs

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24 pointsgeox25 comments

Horse riding competitions of all kinds should just be shut down. When I was a kind, I spent some time around high level riders and the amount of animal abuse and doping is just unfathomable. There is nothing good about horseback riding as a "sport".

You’re not wrong, but lots of breeds are bred for just such a purpose, particularly thoroughbreds. They’re very expensive animals. Losing those competitions would come with consequences.

Consequences? Other than financial cost what are you predicting?

Horse meat would be a few euros cheaper.

Those horse might have been medicated at some point which basically means that you need to either cremate them or get a digger...

I think a case could be made that if there is a "valuable use" for elite horses that stimulates breeding more of them, horse meat would decline in price from the availability of surplus horses (similar to there being plenty of greyhounds to adopt).

What consequences? Less horses being abused?

That's a broad brush you're painting with. You could just as easily say that most dog competitions should be shut down. Most human competitions while we're at it.

Dog racing is also known to be highly abusive to dogs. Human racing can be hard on the body, but at least it's consenting adults.

I was thinking more like conformation and agility. Also, probably the majority of humans playing sports are not adults. Think about the damage high school football can do.

I don't know how much money is in agility. If there is any money to be made, you can be sure it will attract abusers.

Dog racing definitely should be shut down. They are drugged to the hilt and when the dogs get old they get killed or adopted if the dog is lucky.

You're missing a valuable difference: consent. If there are people being forced to compete the same way we force animals, that should be shut down too.

I'm not one to complain about government spending... for the most part, but here in NY from what I read there are at least $230 million in subsidies paid out every year to this "sport" which seems just crazy to me.

Ligament rupture as a cause for euthanasia? It's good that we don't treat human athletes the same way.

Human athletes can lay down for weeks at a time while a ligament is healing. A horse needs to be upright for its systems to continue functioning. They can lay down for hours, but not days. That means you can either put them up in a sling for the length of time it takes to repair the ligament or you can euthanize them. If a human athlete's ligament can't be repaired, there's crutches and wheelchairs and a number of other options. If a horse can't use all 4 legs, they can't function any more. Dogs and cats and people can adapt to being short a leg, but horses are not built the same.

Aren't there any horse leg prosthetics?

They exist, but they're not a great option.

Doesn't it make any sport that involves straining horses deeply immoral? Basically you raise those animals to risk their lives daily. You could just throw them to the wolves instead and bet on whether they escape.

If you're using that reasoning, owning horses is deeply immoral. They injure themselves to the point of having to be euthanized in stalls, on pasture, and in dry lots way more often than I think you realize.

I used to co-own a mustang with a couple friends. He was a spoiled trail horse, well-fed and well-loved. When the three of us weren't able to keep our horses together, he went with the friend who had the best resources, the most time to spend with him, and the most veterinary experience. A few years later, he kicked through a board fence and severed a tendon in his hind leg. He was euthanized . Not because she didn't care to pay for the surgery to repair the tendon, but because the surgery had a very high chance of failure and she felt it was more humane to let him go than to string him along for 6 months in pain and stuck in a stall before having to make that decision.

Let me just make this clear: horse racing is a cruel industry well above and beyond any other horse competition I'm aware of. Betting on any animal should be illegal. Any breeder/owner/trainer of any sport who sees consistent injuries in their animals of the types seen on the track should be in jail for animal cruelty. They start riding these horses at a year and a half old. The ones who make it far enough to die on a big-name track are some of the luckier ones. The rest run their few races or never race at all and get sent to auction. Some get bought from auction and are turned into hunter-jumpers or show jumpers. The rest get bought for pennies a pound and crammed onto trailers to Mexico where they're slaughtered in godawful conditions.

Screw thoroughbred racing and everyone involved in it. Screw any trainer who puts money and fame above their animals health.

But don't lump all horse competition in with thoroughbred racing. If you don't see the vast difference in the treatment of the animals between different sports, I'd say you're not acquainted enough with the subject to be commenting.

If you keep horses the best way you can and just ride them for pleasure then fine I guess. Not worse than the ZOO. Tradeoffs of existence. But when there's competition involved, there's undue stress. So I don't think I want to give a free pass to other horse competitions just because thoroughbred racing is just the worst by a long shot.

That's true. Another factor is that a lot of horse owners use the horse as sports equipment like a tennis racket. If it's economical to repair, they may do it, otherwise throw it away.

I always found that huge horse racing track in Berkeley to be such a stark contrast to Bay Area sensibilities. Is that still a thing?

Yes, 22 horses died at Berkeley in 2020. Several hundred workers also came down with COVID during that time. The sport is hard on labor and horses.

There is fair-sized article in today's NY Times about the difficulty in treating broken bones in race horses.

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