Should Horse Racing Be Put Down?

[asleepathewheel]

Yesterday was the Kentucky Derby. Did anybody besides Oerdin get sloshed on mint juleps while watching it?

The story wasn't so much the winner, as the first loser, filly Eight Belles, who broke two ankles while crossing the finish line and was euthanized on the track. This comes two years after Barbaro met a similar fate, albeit in the comfort of his stall rather than on the track. An ignoble end for two magnificent beasts.

Horse racing, similar to boxing, has increasingly become a niche "sport". A relic of a past where men were men and women wore exceedingly large hats. Should horse racing be put out of its misery like its two recent high profile victims? Aren't there enough other outlets for gambling that we don't need to watch midgets whip horses for two minutes?

[Darius871]

Why do they keep euthanizing horses over minor injuries anyway? Obviously it would never be able to race again even if the broken ankles could eventually heal with top-notch veterinary care, but putting it out to stud would still turn a hefty profit. It just seems like an absurd waste.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Darius871
putting it out to stud would still turn a hefty profit.

A family of weak-ankled sissies, more like it

[Darius871]

Well they could at least make for some tasty Big Macs

[Ninot]

Originally posted by Darius871
Why do they keep euthanizing horses over minor injuries anyway? Obviously it would never be able to race again even if the broken ankles could eventually heal with top-notch veterinary care, but putting it out to stud would still turn a hefty profit. It just seems like an absurd waste.

From what I recall after the Barbarro incident, injuries like these are pretty much fatal to the horse. Its just a matter of time before their legs go gimp and they die of some kind of infection.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Darius871
Well they could at least make for some tasty Big Macs

[Darius871]

What the hell was evolution thinking designing such a feeble creature? We seem to deal with broken ankles just fine.

And even a multiple-amputee stud can still produce stellar offspring. Anyone see that movie Kingpin?

[asleepathewheel]

Sheesh. This is why I shouldn't make polls, I got my options mixed up.

ugh.



I fail at the internet

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Darius871
Why do they keep euthanizing horses over minor injuries anyway? Obviously it would never be able to race again even if the broken ankles could eventually heal with top-notch veterinary care, but putting it out to stud would still turn a hefty profit. It just seems like an absurd waste.

this wasn't a minor injury for the horse, and She was in severe pain. We can deal with a broken ankle, but the horse needs a leg to stand on. She was clearly drugged up, and her trainer was pushing her far more then she should have been pushed. In any event the amount of people going to horse racing has gone way down, and it will eventually die on its own.

[Krill]

Big macs

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel

...I fail at the internet

Allow me to mercifully euthanize you.

[Krill]

yeah, but painfully...

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Allow me to mercifully euthanize you.

thanks?

[Timexwatch]

Thoroughbred racing is a perfectly fine spectator sport. It's no better or worse than say, dressage or harness racing. It's certainly not cockfighting or bullfighting. Injuries happen, but that happens in every sport. It's certainly more interesting than NASCAR, and there are a lot less rednecks.


Note: I am biased. It's a hometown sport

[Apocalypse]

I am more interested in the glue than the big macs.