[QUOTE=Texarkana;7840868]
I’m surprised that someone somewhere hasn’t redesigned the starting gate to make it safer and less terrifying for all involved. But racing (and horse people on the whole) tend to operate with the mindset, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! We’ve been doing it this way for years.”[/QUOTE]
Out of the thousands of horses that go through, only a handful of them ever seem to find it terrifying. I pony races, so I spend a lot of time behind the gates, and really they are pretty well thought out contraptions. I’ve seen horses panic and get themselves in some pretty bad jams, but only I can only remember one time when I saw a horse end up with more than a couple scratches and a little body soreness. For a piece of horse equipment the starting gate’s record is pretty good, a lot better than trailers.
I’ve never seen a gate crew member slip in the gates, most of them have their “stance” figured out. You probably couldn’t pry any of those guys from that ledge if you tried. It is much more stable than it appears from and distance and on camera.