race horse euthanized

[mike c]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080504/ap_on_sp_ot/rac_kentucky_derby

ok

-i'm no tree hugger / animal rights person
-i try not to post in political/religious/or whatever threads

but let's see...

horse wins people money ... yay for the horse!

horse hurts itself doing what people want it to do ... it gets killed.

wtf.

 

[chadnliz]

This is tragic and while I too am no liberal tree huger I do feel rich people showing off and pushing these animals to the limit while they wear big hats and sip goofy drinks is cruel. There is an entire other issue of the jockies health and health plan benefits that makes this entire business shameful.

 

[MDS]

I've never understood why a horse that breaks its leg or in this case both of her front ankles 'can't be saved'. More like 'can't race ever again' so lets put her out of our misery. It truly is shameful.

How about fix her ankles and let her live out the rest of her life on the pasture?

 

[mike c]

I've never understood why a horse that breaks its leg or in this case both of her front ankles 'can't be saved'. More like 'can't race ever again' so lets put her out of our misery. It truly is shameful.

How about fix her ankles and let her live out the rest of her life on the pasture?

exactly what i was thinking, i just couldn't type it out without including a lot of colorful words.

 

[Rickster71]

Hi Mike, I know what you mean.
I don't know much about horses, though I did find this clip on a horse site. It may help shed a little light:

It does seem absurd that in this day and age, a broken bone means a horse must be destroyed. As we found out, this isn't always the case, though it's still sometimes necessary.
As strong as horses are, their legs are pretty fragile -- especially when you consider all the weight they have to support. When a horse breaks a leg, the animal must remain inactive while the bone heals. And sadly, it's simply not in a horse's nature to stand still. The fact is that thoroughbreds literally live to run. Many of the worlds greatest race horses truly LOVE to run.

While it is unfortunate that accidents happen - we see it with both human athletes and animals. Professional athletes suffer broken bones, concussions, strained ligaments all the time. The difference is that with horses we cannot effectively allow them to heal and maintain a standard of living which is anything more than painful and cruel.
We're talking about $500,000 horses who have more money spent on their health care than the average American child.

 

[Vivienyuan]

I know little about horse also, but I don't like horse racing.

 

[mike c]

agreed.

i see 2 points to this thread:

-was it really necessary to destroy this horse?

-these people use these horses for "fun and games", spend a lot of money on health care (like you said) to KEEP them in tip top racing shape, but can't spend more on retiring horses?

i'm thinking the horse would prefer to be strapped down to heal for months than killed. but that's just me

 

[Rickster71]

I agree Mike,
I have hundreds of acres of woods across the street from me. I ride my mountain bike there in the summer, and frequently see women riding horses on really hot days. I'll think to myself, "how would they like to carry a person around on their backs, in this heat?"

As to the healing process. Like with people, I don't think they can be laid up for too long, without the lungs filling with fluids.

 

[mike c]

I agree Mike,
I have hundreds of acres of woods across the street from me. I ride my mountain bike there in the summer, and frequently see women riding horses on really hot days. I'll think to myself, "how would they like to carry a person around on their backs, in this heat?"

As to the healing process. Like with people, I don't think they can be laid up for too long, without the lungs filling with fluids.

exactly, if it were a human being, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

i'm not saying we should treat the horse like a man, but these people make money off these horses, it's actually a small amount to pay to fix them up.

these people don't treat the animals like a pet or friend, they treat them like property. and property IS expendable.

i long to see the day that they fall down the stairs and become vegetables and actually see/hear their family discussing whether or not to euthanize them. (while they can't speak up)

 

[stratman]

You guys know who gets the worst? Greyhounds. It's too gory to post how they're treated after they're no longer "useful" even without injuries. Luckily a few years back some folks have been "rescuing" greyhounds from tracks.

 

[aberkowitz]

I'm no horse expert, but I have a friend who explained it to me quite simply yesterday. If a horse can't stand, it dies. Plain and simple, no arguments. The way a horse is built it's body cannot support itself unless it's standing up- it has something to do with the way the animal's heart and blood flow works. If you noticed when Barbaro was injured a couple years ago, immediately after the surgery they had the horse propped up so it wouldn't die.

In the case of Eight Belles, she had 2 broken ankles including one that was bursting out through the skin. Two different vets explained that it would be more painful and inhumane to keep the animal alive than to try and operate. On top of that, there'd be no way to keep the animal standing upright throughout the recovery.

I also want to add this- my friend who has been around horses for the past 20 years of his life was saying that such an injury could have happened whether the horse was racing on a track or running in the wild (and yes, thoroughbreds run naturally in the wild). Horses hurt themselves in pastures and in barns just as easily as on tracks. If a horse breaks a leg in a pasture, there's just as great of a chance that it's put to sleep as if it had happened on the racetrack.

 

[aberkowitz]

You guys know who gets the worst? Greyhounds. It's too gory to post how they're treated after they're no longer "useful" even without injuries. Luckily a few years back some folks have been "rescuing" greyhounds from tracks.

I would agree Strat. In my opinion racing dogs is worse because dogs did not naturally occur as running animals in the wild. They were domesticated and breeded from wolves. You can find horses naturally running in the wild because they enjoy to do it.

 

[unreal.freak]

When you are atop of the food chain, you get the perks of not getting put out of your misery when you sustain an injury of this nature. Its a horse, i like horses, but im not gonna lose any sleep over the fact that the horse died doing what it loves. Too bad everything and everyone on earth dont go doing something they love.

Peace,
Tommy

 

[Tomorrow]

Guys, those of you who have no experience with horses are not really making valid points. Rickster's post is on the money. Those horses who have catastrophic breakdowns, as did the filly yesterday, cannot be saved. Horses are built much differently from the human athlete and veterinary medicine, as advanced as it is, could not save her.

As far as the ethical treatment of animals, that kind of 'poor them' logic can get pretty absurd. Mike, have you thought that maybe koi don't want to be cooped up in your small, concrete pond, swimming in a small enclosure, eating what and when you deem fit to feed them...all for your pleasure? Do you have a dog or cat? Do you feed it that packaged rice crap they call pet food...when what they want and need to maintain healthy, natural lives is to eat live chickens and other small animals? Anyone have pet birds they keep in cages? Anyone eat meat or fish?!!! I'd guess cattle, chickens, pigs, fish, etc...don't really like being slaughtered and eaten at our grubby little meals. Have you ever seen a beef slaughtered? That is NOT a pretty sight.

Get my point?

That was a tragedy at the Kentucky Derby yesterday. There is no doubt about it. But if you've ever been around horses, you'll know that they LOVE to run. It's what they do. All horses. An accident can happen at any time to any horse for just about any reason. As Rickster's post pointed out, their bones are very fragile for such large animals. And while there are perhaps some ethical and ego issues about "my horse can run faster than your horse", race horses are better treated than average (non-racing) horses by far! They get better medical care, better nutrition, better grooming, better exercise, etc. And when the racing is done, there are a couple of nation-wide groups that "rehabilitate" the horses, turning race horses into trail horses, family horses, jumping horses, etc, and ensure good homes for the animals. (Only recently has such a system been implemented for greyhounds...about time!). Last, and definitely not least, successful racehorses retire early and have sex for the rest of their lives.

 

[jonnythan]

Rickster and Tomorrow are right on the money.

Don't you guys remember Barbaro? Dislocated his leg something fierce - and that was only one leg. The horse was immobilized for intensive treatment, being held in water baths, suspended from the ceiling, etc. He died anyway after millions of dollars of treatment several months later.

This horse broke both front ankles. There was no hope. This horse couldn't stand at all, even with assistance, like Barbaro could.

 

[mtrycrafts]

i'm thinking the horse would prefer to be strapped down to heal for months than killed.

I think that is the issue, can you really strap them down for that long for the bone to heal properly and will it really heal well enough.

 

[jonnythan]

I think that is the issue, can you really strap them down for that long for the bone to heal properly and will it really heal well enough.

No, you simply can't strap them down. It's just not an option.

 

[Tomorrow]

I think that is the issue, can you really strap them down for that long for the bone to heal properly and will it really heal well enough.

Abe sent his post in while I was doing mine...I didn't see it until after I posted. His post answered this question exactly. A horse will die if it is forced to lay down for extended periods (measured in days). Quite simply, the horse's physiology is such that laying down stresses the circulatory system and primarily the heart, which won't pump blood to all the necessary areas of the body. One of the first problems will be denial of blood to the hooves which in turn will cause laminitis. Laminitis will serve to detach the hooves from the bones and literally, the horse will never be able to walk or even stand again. Also, a horse cannot digest its food while laying down, so starvation is imminent. Finally, as pointed out, compound fractures such a suffered by Eight Belles, are very painful to the horse and always fatal.

There is/was no issue with trying to save this horse. It was not possible even with strapping it down or slinging it ala Barbaro. This was a very sad breakdown, indeed. And by the way, those people that train and ride race horses, know, love, and care for them more than anyone can imagine. I've owned trail (pleasure) horses and I've been around racing people/horses for years. If the general population of pet owners treated their pets as well as these people treat their horses, there would be no need for Humane Societies or half the vetinarians in the world.

 

[avaserfi]

This is Andrew's horse-person girlfriend. Just wanted to add my 2 cents on this one. As previous posters mentioned- this horse had no chance. There was no way to fix her up and put her out to pasture, or give her any other sort of happy life. It was a tragedy, and the saddest part is that it is largely preventable. The horses running in this race were all 3 year olds, and most have been running for nearly 1 year already. Despite assertions from the racing industry that Thoroughbreds 'mature early', the joints and bones on these horses simply haven't fused together- these horses are immature, and that is why these horrible injuries happen.

So no, this horse couldn't have been saved- they would have spent hundreds of thousands, only to have her put down after additional months of suffering. However, if the horse racing industry was more realistic and intelligent in their treatment of their animals, and allowed animals to mature before running them, this would have been prevented.

 

[jonnythan]

A bit off topic, but I was wondering something.

What's the significance of the fact that Eight Belles is a filly? They made a big deal of it. Are most race horses male, or older, or something?