Whipping Racehorses Study Whips Up Controversy - your take?

[Rena]

Does whipping make race horses go faster? A scientist sets out to find measurable answers.

What do you think?

Horsewhipping Study Whips Up Controversy

Rebecca Kessler, LiveScience ContributorDate: 09 February 2011

People have been whipping racehorses since time immemorial, but until now there has been little research into whether it actually goads them into running faster. Well, it doesn’t, according to the authors of a new study, who also suggest the practice is unethical.

“It’s the first study to confirm that whipping does not increase the chances of the horse finishing first, second or third,” said Paul McGreevy, a veterinary ethologist at the University of Sydney who is a co-author of the new paper. “Ninety-eight percent of the horses were whipped in this study without, on the whole, influencing race outcome.”

The study, which has stirred some debate in Australia, was funded by RSPCA Australia, an animal welfare group thatopposes the use of whips in horse racing.

rest of the article at:
http://www.livescience.com/12782-horse-whipping-racehorses-study.html

[danceronice]

It might not make him go faster, but if I’m galloping Lucky and smack him with the crop, it does stop drifting or attempts to stop.

[fish]

My take?? What a stupid study!!!

Horses are individuals, not machines. What works on one horse will not work with another-- or even on the same horse at a different time. Hence there is no way to establish sufficient controls on this subject to produce a valid study. and the pretense that there is one is unethical.

[Flashy_Gray_VA]

The study, which has stirred some debate in Australia, was funded by RSPCA Australia

I’ll take “Research Funded By An Interest Group With An Agenda” for $500, Alex.