A public holiday for cruelty, congrats Australia.

in #animals5 years ago

Today in Australia is the event many people wait year-long for.
The Melbourne cup, a very popular and significant horse-race held every year in November during the Spring racing carnival
Horse-racing is perhaps one of the more glamorous looking animals sports when compared to things like bullfighting, but in reality most of the animals involved face an incredibly harsh reality.


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Some background

The Melbourne cup is Australia's most prestigious horse race with a long tradition, first held in 1861 it is a 3,200m (appox 2 miles race for three year olds and above.
Aside from being old it also commands huge sums of money. The winner this year will get a $7.3 million dollar reward split between owner jockey and trainer. Aside from the prize money Australians will bet $350 million dollars on Melbourne cup day alone, the gambling market for the cup is enormous.

What's the issue

To start with most horses are forced to race/train far too young. The skeletal system is still growing at this stage and can be incredibly painful and damaging to the animals growth being forced to run on hard ground day in day out.
Aside from that horses are pack animals but race horses are more often than not kept in almost solitary confinement. As they spend their days travelling from track to track or being penned in a stable alone this can often result in damaging behavior such as "fence biting" and self mutilation.

Incorrect diet

"The feeding of high concentrate diets (grains) fed during training rather than extended grazing, often leads to gastric ulcers. A study of racehorses at Randwick (NSW) found that 89% had stomach ulcers, and many of the horses had deep, bleeding ulcers within 8 weeks of the commencement of their training (Newby J, Welfare issues raised by racehorse ulcer study, The Veterinarian, March 2000)."
This would be incredibly painful to deal with and racing season isn't short. Extended periods of the incorrect diet can be hugely damaging.

Internal injuries

The exertion of racing can be extreme and has only recently been realized. In the last few years endoscopes have been used to examine horses after a race and a study by the University of Melbourne found that 50% of the horses tested had blood in their windpipe and 90% had blood deeper in their lungs.

Just imagine being forced to run until you're choking on your own blood

Other injuries

Have you ever seen a horse fall whilst running, everybody always says "oh i hope the jockey is okay". Sure maybe he will break an arm or a leg or some ribs, and sure some have died from falls, but not many. They will be rushed to hospital and nursed back to health to go on with life.
The horse however will probably be killed. If it didn't break its neck in the fall it may of shattered a shoulder or leg. Usually the damage is so great a vet will be unable to repair it and it is deemed uneconomic to keep the horse.
The few exceptions to this case are when the animal could be used for breeding, even then though injured horses are prone to infections like pneumonia.

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The above image is Tony McCoy falling from his horse during a race. No mention of the horse, no mention of what happened to it and no one really cares. seems unfair since the horse is probably dead and Tony is happily retired.

Wastage

What a lovely term... Wastage refers to the discarding of unwanted race-horses.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney (Epidemiology of horses leaving the Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing industries, by Hayek AR, Jones B, Evans DL, Thomson PC and McGreevy PD
Tried to track ex-racing horses and found that almost 40% of racehorses leave the industry each year due to sub-par performance, illness or injury. Given approximately 15,000 thoroughbreds are bred every year just for the racing industry this means around 7000 horses a year are discarded.

Most failed racehorses will be sent to slaughter, either to be used as pet meat or to become part of the 2,000 tonnes of horse meat we export annually for human consumption.

These animals are useful so long as there is financial return

We are more than happy to keep them around so long as they make money. Sure some may find homes after racing life but just like the greyhound industry most wont.
Why do we need to be so cruel just for our own enjoyment? Some of these horses will suffers for years only to race once and be put to death.

Respect the animals you share the world with, don't bring them into systemic pain and torture.

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Where I live in Northern Rivers, Melbourne cup day all the businesses closed so myself and another technician colleague decided to go a few doors down and get a drink in the pub, it was a stinking hot day. The man opposite us had a fist full of betting cards, returning to his seat noticed it missing and started aggressively asking who had taken his seat. He then removed his teeth, and asked who was going to “av a go with him”, his stool was promptly returned by a younger fitter guy who told him to keep his hair on. Then the race started and all eyes were on the screens. We chuckled, finished our drinks and went back to work.Aussie pubs! Always entertaining,
Luckily no falls in the race , I grew up in the UK where steeple chasing takes the lives of many horses each year, certainly a cruel sport.

Yea I believe the rate of deaths during jumps racing here is around 20x higher. It's especially dangerous for them and they get no choice in it :/

Eldest and I were discussing this yesterday when he commented that horses looked so fragile. We got into a nice discussion of the fragile looking ones being a stupid shape (big chests with scrawny legs) and being easy to break whereas normal/wild horses seem to be ponies (and a much more practical shape with their stocky bodies and necks and thicker legs).

My inlaws have known horse people (don't know if they owned racehorses, I think one of their friends does/did showjumping and related) who were obsessed about the safety and comfort of their horses and would sometimes even sleep with them.

Yea I definitely know people who love their horses, my boss's wife is also obsessed with them, I dont necessarily think racing is cruel in and of itself, but just like the meat industry its the process's to get there that are really cruel and need to change

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