Re starting gates and maybe because I feel the need for a little levity:
For years, I sent my Thoroughbred homebreds to be broke at a Quarter Horse ranch owned by one of the true legends of QH racing. If I remember correctly, he had more stakes wins at Los Alamitos than Baffert or Lukas and he’s in their version of the Hall of Fame. So serious guy.
His nephew ran the farm including the track and gatework for the babies. In QH racing, the gate is deadly serious because the start is where you can lose the entire race. So from their earliest jog on the track, the babies are walked through an open starting gate and then on their way back, they go back through the open starting gate to the barn. So by the time they are ready for their first breeze, they have been through the starting gate 100 times and it is no bigger issue to them than their stall door. Later they stand in it and the doors are closed and that is usually a nonevent because of all of the patient ground work.
One day, a horse went to the track from the ranch and is going to make his debut. At some point in the post parade, the jockey and the horse parted company and for a sickening moment the horse barreled full speed to the starting gate blocking the track. Then he slowed down, trotted through one of the open gates and took off on the other side back to the barn.
The trainer from the ranch was telling me the story and he was beaming. “That’s it! That was my training right there!”
I don’t even know why that story came to me other than to counter the implication that racetrack trainers are a bunch of yahoos.
To list some of the wonderful things that have happened to the industry in my lifetime:
Increased medication testing and control
The banning of some serious offenders
Increased scrutiny of breeding stock
CANTER
Aftercare alliances
Old Friends
An awareness raised to the issue of slaughter
”Zero tolerance” policies
The Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions
Horse Country/promotion of Equi-tourism
Opportunities for the public to visit the backside
Educational opportunities for industry/nonindustry members
An influx of internet media outlets
The merging of the Grayson Jockey Club Research Foundation
RRP/TIP Classes
Improved diagnostic & medical technology
Regulation of shoes
Artificial surfaces
Simulcasting
PDJF
Healthcare and benefits for workers
The Equine Injury Database
Revolutionary research in the field
Absolutely incredible racing that has managed to persist
…and I’m sure I’m missing tons.
Yet despite all of this, the industry still struggles with some of the same things it has been struggling with for as long as I can remember: Defending itself. Showing empathy. Connecting with others outside of the industry. Communication. Embracing change in uncomfortable areas.
I agree with a caveat–forget the general public --most horse owners are pretty ignorant about keeping a high level equine athlete going. Before I got involved with racing, I had a good friend who was in the FEI level dressage world. When I met her, I was a horse crazy person who fooled around on trail rides, took lessons with some pretty indifferent teachers and rode a training level test.
Through her, I met people and horses who were legitimately targeting WEG and the Olympics with half million dollar horses. It was a revelation. My friend took her Trakhaner from 4th level to Grand Prix while I knew her. There was no quarter given-no advantage overlooked. That horse got special shoes, weekly massage therapy, regular Legend and hock injections; special supplements and the list went on. I learned for the first time that a big part of training and husbandry is soundness management and that the best athletes can be the most unsound because they use themselves more. At one point, we had horses side by side at a public stable and I remember her looking down the shedrow and shaking her head at some stupidity going on and telling me “These people might have pets but they don’t have athletes and they have no clue.” Racetrackers call them gyps and serious horse people sniff at “backyarders” but it is the same idea. Having a horse in your back 40 or taking weekly lessons does not necessarily translate into understanding how to develop a horse for the Derby trail or the Breeders Cup.
An FEI horse has more in common with a racehorse than a lot of people appreciate. The difference is that no one is clammering for the vet records of FEI horses and no BNTs will share those with you unless you are vetting one out for purchase.
My point is that we live in a world where a bunch of people on the Internet scolded Claiborne for poor horse husbandry because Secretariat died of laminitis. There will always be people who think they know it all. I’m not sure what you want organized racing in general to do about that.
I think what would go a long way is for horse people to band together on this in general. I mean what would happen if it was ‘their’ discipline in the spot light like racing is? I think that’s the most frustrating thing. Could you imagine if the general public saw blood in the mouths of event horses on the regular or saw every death splashed across the sports page? What about the hunter industry with a million ways to calm a horse so the AA can win, hell even so the pro can win?
It is disingenuous at best for horse people to criticize racing and it’s practices because there are unethical people everywhere. I agree the general public needs to see all the good more than they do. Horse people, however, have no excuse not to educate themselves beyond the headlines.
I am just a racing fan who has appreciated every mount racing has given me. It gets heartbreaking, gut wrenching, and down right disgusting at times. That also can be said about every equine discipline.
“I am just a racing fan who has appreciated every mount racing has given me. It gets heartbreaking, gut wrenching, and down right disgusting at times. That also can be said about every equine discipline.“
Well said. Horse racing gives me life. Seeing a horse pull out of the pack down the stretch so powerfully to win the race is such a high. However, this article is correct because fatal injuries are much more common in high speed events. Laminitis, colic, etc. happen in a variety of situations, but racehorses break their limbs and must be euthanized because horses cannot live without the support of all 4 limbs. It is reality, not a PETA ploy. I think this guy is extreme, but we have not found the thing that can guard horses from this. No drug test, no prerace exam, no race history can predict whether or not a horse will suffer a catastrophic injury. He sees the only way to prevent these injuries is to not have racing. The racing industry is working hard to counter these events and there is more work to do, but hearing about and seeing breakdowns at the track and fearing a horse going down in a race does blur the enjoyment.
Horse racing has its problems. No one denies that. But all horse sports have issues, and right now I am a little weary of the fact that this forum–unlike the others on COTH–seems to draw posters who appear for the sole purpose of telling us that they hate racing and think it should be banned.
I don’t visit the Eventing forum to announce that measuring by number of starts v. fatalities their eventers are more likely to die on a cross country course than my racehorse is on a racetrack. Perhaps eventing should be banned?
Nor do I go to the Hunter/Jumper forum to air my distress about drugging, or lunging til dead, or that fact that a certain BNT makes his Ammy hunters controllable by tying fishing line to their bits and pulling it tight it across their gums so they don’t dare make an unscripted move. Maybe horse shows should be banned for cruelty?
I don’t go to the Western forum and yell about the fact that reining horses are taught to do those sliding stops by running them full tilt into sold walls. Maybe western events should be banned too?
Yes, I’m feeling a little cranky tonight. But it would be nice to be able to hold informed discussions here without having to feel as though we’re constantly under attack.
4 horses, perhaps you should plan to follow the Retired Racehorse Project competition that will be taking place in the next week or so (forgot the date). This is only one of many retraining options the TB has, which many other breeds do not. Perhaps you will learn something.
Plus I think there is some serious ignorance out there as to how horses are taught to race. I think there is a misconception that racehorses are just nuts, that they are whipped into a frenzy and that they run as fast as they can as far as they can before they tire and the horse which is least tired wins.
I can’t speak for the entire industry but my horses start out by being long lined and then they move to a round pen and then to an arena. In the arena, they learn walk, trot, canter being ridden in circles and figure eights by a 150 pound person in an English saddle. They are taught simple lead changes and then flying lead changes. They have stop and go firmly down before moving to the track where they are legged up by jogging (trotting) for a month before they gallop. They two minute lick before they breeze and breezes start at a 1/16th of a mile and then an eighth and then a quarter. They walk through the starting gate before being shut in there and sometimes they are hacked through and around the barn on trail rides.
In other words, they have plenty to build on for other disciplines after their racing careers. True some people are bozos and don’t do things the right way but bozos usually aren’t successful and they certainly exist in other disciplines and not just racing.
The key is control. Horses generally have one move in them and can only run top speed for about a quarter of a mile. So the typical horse needs to rate, ration his speed and go when asked. They need to switch leads and should be listening to his rider. These are all qualities necessary in a good saddle horse. The difference is the speed in which the horse works is expected to change after retirement and most horses given a rudimentary reeducation, catch on fast.
Now Thoroughbreds by nature are sensitive, athletic and don’t know the meaning of the word No. That makes them excellent event horses. It can be a lot for an indifferent or untrained rider to handle.
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While there is a lot in your post that I do not disagree with, I wanted to point out a few things here. I proposed “following” racehorses throughout their lives during and exiting their race career 25 years ago. Racing officials scoffed. Perhaps they would not scoff any more. I feel that information about what ends a racing career, and what happens to race horses (without assigning “blame and shame”) would be useful. Because OTTBs “go” everywhere, as riding horses, as competition horses, as breeding stock for racing and non racing breeding programs, polo, chucks, lesson horses, recreational mounts. Few actually go for meat, though they may go to auction at some point. I think that having this information would be useful in battling negative press.
Yes, sometimes lameness issues result as a result of a racing career, and the result of owners or trainers acting not in the horse’s long term best interest. What is the excuse for all the lame horses who are “sport specific bred”, have never raced, and have never possibly been in a situation where the horse’s long term best interest and soundness may not be the primary interest in his care? Those ones who go lame trotting around a riding ring.
There USED to be a substantial interest in owning an OTTB. Practically EVERYONE who rode competitively WANTED one. Every kid finished with ponies was bought an OTTB fresh off the track to reschool, ride and compete with. There were bidding wars at the track for the good prospects. The pedigree of “a good one” was kept secret, names were changed to keep the identity and breeding of a horse private, so that related horses coming off the track would not be offered at inflated prices for the rider/trainer who had identified a “hot” family" in sport disciplines. Information was not as available as it is now in the computer age. This all CHANGED with the invention of sport specific bred horses, the “warmblood invasion” and the associated marketing and promotion. The role of coaches and trainers at the shows changed also, it’s a business now, and “clients” are kept from actually becoming “riders” with actual knowledge about riding, training, and selecting horses, they are kept dependent on the coach, kept a “client” instead of becoming a “horseman”. If you are in business, why cut off your own meal ticket? Is it in a coach’s best interest to tell a rich client that they can buy an OTTB for $1000 and take the commission on that sale, when they know the client has $100,000 to spend, and they can take the commission on that sale instead? And have the client ready to milk at the horse shows in a week’s time? No, best to tell the client that they need the $100,000 horse, teach them how to sit on it to win a prize, and not let the client learn how to actually ride or train anything, and not let the client actually ride their horse very often. This change in the “horse business” has really hurt Thoroughbred horses, and damaging the value of OTTBs, buyers being “warned off” buying one, marketing and promotion of more expensive horses who are not TBs, convincing clients that they “need” an expensive “sport specific” bred horse in order to win. As a result, the few OTTBs purchased directly off the track may tend to be now purchased by riders and trainers who are lower quality, less experienced, and often get less quality training and riding, making a self fulfilling proficy come true. 40 years ago, the TOP riders and trainers in the sport industry used to shop at the racetracks annually, each bringing home a few each year to ride, train, campaign and resell into the sport industry. They don’t often do this any more. TBs have been cast adrift and labelled as “unwanted and low quality” in a sea of sport specific bred horses. Unfortunately for the TB. “Please mommy, can we buy a Warmblood so that I can win the jumping class at the horse show”.
The “horse slaughter industry” is not “supported” by “overbreeding” any type of horse. This industry exists because there is a DEMAND for horse meat, by people who LIKE and WANT to eat horse meat, and WANT to pay money for this product. This branch of the horse industry searches for horses who are healthy enough to transport and in good flesh, and gives these horses “value” when their current owners do not value them highly, and will accept a low purchase price in a sale. Pet food is also a valuable byproduct from this industry, often purchased by a wide selection of people, making use of organ meat and trimmings from the slaughter industry of all sorts of animals. Since you can’t force owners to “value” something they own, if they don’t value it, it’s a good thing for horses that this branch of the horse industry gives these horses “value” for something, even if it is something that YOU, personally, don’t like or participate in. Because horses who have no or low value to their owners are not well looked after or cared for.
If racing were “outlawed”, the TB breed would disappear. The most accurately bred and produced athletic equine breed would be gone. Because racing itself is the selection process to identify quality in individuals. Not a judge’s opinion, or an “inspector’s” opinion, or because of a horse’s colour, or because someone thinks a horse is cute or pretty. Racing itself decides which are the soundest, which are the bravest, which are the most honest horses, who tries the hardest, which are the best athletes. Racing IS the culling system, and a harsh one. Culling can be hard on individuals, but for the breed, a harsh culling system is very important. Because it produces the best breed of horse. Show me another breed of horse who can do what a TB horse can do? There isn’t one, because no other breed of horse is as strong as a TB, due to 400 years of selection by racing. This is why they are so often used to improve other breeds in crossbreeding.
I recently had a conversation with a very kind and caring friend of mine, who rode TBs in show jumping events decades ago, and was an avid 3 day eventer too. He was criticizing the chuckwagon racing, as cruel and damaging to horses, with recent accidents and deaths at the Calgary Stampede this summer. Wanting to “stamp out” chuckwagon racing. Here we have a growing branch of the equine industry, the “passion” of those who participate in the industry, that employs older OTTB geldings who have had long and successful racing careers on the track, with what is NOW good quality horsemanship and care supplied to high levels of efficiency, and it was being criticized by someone who supports and likes 3 day eventing. The double standard was offensive. We in the Equine Industry do need to support each other, encourage each other to higher levels of horsemanship and caring about horses, rather than tear each other down with rampant criticism. Even branches of the horse industry that you PERSONALLY may not be involved in, “like”, or participate in. Western Pleasure. Rodeo. Hunter/Jumper. 3DE. Backyard riders. Racing. Dressage. Polo. Chuckwagon racing. Endurance. And yes, Meat. Yes, there are horrible people involved in all of these branches of the horse industry, and atrocities occur in all these branches of the horse industry. This is a human failing, because there are horrible humans around, but not the fault of the industry itself. These are all branches of the Equine Industry, all “jobs” for horses that give them value to their owners, who feed them and care for them and attempt to keep them healthy. The people involved in most of these branches of the horse industry often see their branch of the horse industry as their PASSION. YOU, personally, may not care for some of these branches of the horse industry, but they all give horses value to humans, and make those humans into horsemen. And humans who do not value horses are not horsemen. Without horsemen, horses die out. We need a wide and varied equine industry, in which horses and horsemen can move between branches as interests and talents and values dictate. More people being interested in horses, for “something”, and value those horses for that purpose. The bigger the equine industry is, the more people who like horses and want horses and are horsemen, the better for horses. As it is, our equine industry is dying, suffering from high costs and an elitist attitude, and “backbiting” within the industry itself. Which is a pity for both horses, and horsemen, and people in general.
With reference to your comments about the H/J scene, when I came back to riding and showing after a very long time away, I purchased a 3yo sport bred Thoroughbred because TBs were what I had known and shown as a child. She didn’t look or move or jump like a warmblood, but she was a truly lovely mare and we won plenty of championships. I often had judges say things to me like “It’s so nice to see a classic hunter back in the show ring.”
You are quite right to point out that warmbloods rule the show ring not because OTTBs can’t be competitive but because warmbloods offer people who are only interested in collecting ribbons a quicker path to success. And also because the trainers who rule the industry would rather collect a fat commission check on a warmblood than encourage a client to think slightly outside the box.
It saddened me that the news on the radio as I woke up this morning featured Emtech (although they did not use his name) who went down at Santa Anita on Saturday. The report was also sensationalist, uninformed and outright false. Did you know there were huge potholes in the stretch at SA disguised by a “thin layer of sand”? Me neither. But the PETA-esque morons offering their ridiculous opinions that were taken as great wisdom and given a platform made me angry. They also echoed the oft-repeated garbage that most racing TBs are sent to slaughter without a care once they “stop earning money for their abusers”… and that the slaughter industry depends on the racing industry to keep going. WTactualF?
The part about the report that made me the angriest was the way the report noted that a green screen was erected to keep the public from seeing the injured horse and to HIDE IT. Unless maybe those who are clueless really want to watch a badly injured horse struggling and then being put down. What ghoul would want that!!! Apparently many do! It is a sad and private moment for that horse and their connections … and yet somehow trying to keep it that way is seen as wrong??
BS like that becomes “truth”. And the actual truth is tossed aside.
As far as starting gate issues - the sheer garbage that “the cameras always turn away from difficult loads” infuriates me. Witness the long sequence with loading Quality Road for the Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita that Zenyatta won… you cannot get more high-profile than that. Just watch the race card from any track over the course of an afternoon or evening - and see difficult loads handled correctly and professionally and the camera does not turn away.
Do cameras turn away from breakdowns if possible? Yes. Why focus on any horse’s pain and distress? I still have haunting memories of Go For Wand snapping a leg in the stretch during her Breeders Cup Distaff duel with Bayakoa… she went down and rolled… and then the front on shot before the camera cut away was GFW struggling to her feet and making her way across the track, her leg flopping at the fetlock.
I also have trouble believing that a tail was ripped off by two assistant starters… maybe caught in the gate or some other issue but sensationalist tales like that that are presented without any verification whatsoever always leave me skeptical.
@punchy - I am - or rather was - a “racetracker”. Both with TBs and Standardbreds. Kindly do not lecture me as if I am clueless and tell me that what I have seen and experienced over many years cannot be true simply because it does not line up with your at times sensationalist views.
The worst breakdown I ever saw was a femur shatter on a right hind leg… oh wait - that happened to a fit, happy Arabian mare in her perfectly level pasture as she played…
@4horses , You should cry if racing is “outlawed” if you care anything about the Thoroughbred breed, because that will be the end of most all of Thoroughbred breeding in The U.S.
I wonder about the thought process that takes people from “I love horses and don’t want to see them hurt” to a conclusion that would wipe out the breed that they claim to care about so much.
I often have TVG on as background noise and I would disagree that the track feeds stay on the problematic loaders. Often I’ve seen either the track or TVG (usually the track) switch from the camera behind the gate to a camera on the front of the gate or move the camera behind the gate to view the horses waiting to load rather than the one that won’t. You don’t see the ear twitches, the lunch whips, picking up the horse’s rear (just about) and forcing them in the gate when they don’t want to go. You might see them open the front of the gate for a problematic loader but that’s because that’s the camera they are using… front of the gate and not behind.
Maybe at the top tier tracks, the problematic loaders and the gate crew are shown, but not at all tracks. I tend to cringe more when I watch the gate crews and how they load the QHs into the gate. Yes, I know the break is critical for the QH but sometimes the load make me want to hide my eyes.
Honestly, i think outlawing horse racing would be about as effective as trying to outlaw guns. It will never happen. Even if it was banned it would only be one state. So if California was to ban racing, i bet Kentucky wouldn’t. So no, it wouldn’t be the end of the breed. What i really want is better regulation. I would love to see the stud books opened up and some newer blood added.
”‹”‹”‹I don’t agree with this “Racing itself decides which are the soundest, which are the bravest, which are the most honest horses, who tries the hardest, which are the best athletes.”
My problem with this statement is that racehorses are not bred for long term soundness. You are selecting horses that are only expected to have a short career. If the horse is a great racehorse, but breaks down and is retired to stud, are you really selecting for soundness? Did the horse have a conformational defect that made him predisposed to breaking down?
The university here had a horse donated that had excellent bloodlines, but his ankles were too long, and his owners donated him because “he was likely to break down on the track.” At least they recognized the horse had a problem, but again how do you dispose of a horse like that? How many horses are likely to break down, and are run on the track anyway? I believe that horse was eventually adopted from the university for $250, along with the rest of the donated thoroughbreds.
However you "wouldn’t cry " if racing was “outlawed”.
It seems from your post that you are not educated where TB breeding is concerned nor do you understand the breeding industry and how it is interconnected, throughout this continent and overseas.
You have heard of a horse donated to a university because it had “long ankles” and you would “love to see the stud books opened up and some newer blood added”?
Can you translate your word “ankles” into a term that refers to an anatomical part of a horse?
To what breed do you believe the Thoroughbred stud books should “open themselves up”? Quarter horses? Arabians? Standardbreds? Tennessee Walkers?
Your posts hint at you wanting the TB breed gone. Why on earth would you want to open the stud books up? Racing is way more regulated than any other horse sport. Again can you imagine if the media covered the other disciplines as much as racing?
Racing gives the average rider access to great horses. I could never have afforded my horse had she not washed out of racing.
Why would you “dispose” of a horse with long pasterns (I think that’s the word you were looking for)? Not everyone wants to hit the show ring at the upper levels or participate in the grind of showing for weeks on end.
Horse racing is the most rigorous test of ability, health, and soundness that is ever demanded of a horse.
The fact that a horse is deemed to be not a race prospect based on his conformation (which coming from a racehorse owner actually means “I don’t want to spend the $30,000 it would take to get him to the track only to find out that he can’t stand up to training”) has nothing to do with his prognosis for long-term soundness in other disciplines.
You get that, right?
It costs a lot of money to train and race a horse–which is why those who are unlikely to earn that money back get weeded out early. Most of those horses go on to become fantastic eventers.
This conversation reminds me of a moment from a past life:
For several years, I worked in the equine NICU of a major university hospital in an area with active racing and sporthorse breeding programs. Thoroughbred and standardbred mares were our bread and butter, so to speak, although we got a lot of every breed.
I remember accompanying an owner to visit her warmblood mare & foal. In the stall next to them, was a thoroughbred mare & foal. The warmblood owner peaked into the stall next door, then said to me, “it’s disgusting that these thoroughbred breeders continue to breed these cheap horses.” Then she went on to tell me how her foal was easily worth anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000, and that foals by that sire have sold for as much as $30,000, as if I was to be impressed.
The comments caught me off guard. I wasn’t at liberty to say much about another client’s animal, and quite honestly, I was trying to keep from laughing in her face, so I just redirected her attention back to her own horses. But the irony was the thoroughbred mare she commented on was a stakes winner, probably valued around the six figure mark, with a foal by a top Kentucky stallion. I guarantee you there were more dollars worth of horse flesh in that stall than the warmblood breeder had on her entire farm. Yet she automatically dismissed the mare and foal as “cheap” and of poor quality based on a cursory glance. What on earth was she even judging? Conformation? Body condition of hospitalized horses? “Quality” of a sick, newborn foal?
