Horse Deaths at Santa Anita Spell Trouble for an Industry

[Heartstrings]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/sports/santa-anita.html

[djg21]

1. If there is going to be thoroughbred racing,

Last edited Thu Mar 7, 2019, 07:54 AM - Edit history (1)

horses shouldn’t be raced until they are at least 5 years old. At 2 years old, they are still babies, far from skeletally mature. It would cost owners and breeders more to maintain horses to that age. And it also would limit the time after racing when successful horses could be bred. But too bad. It’s inhumane to run young horses.

[wasupaloopa]

2. Wife and I have been to Santa Anita quite a bit. We don't gamble. We like horses

having owned 4 at one time.

I am envious of the riders that take the horses from the stables to the starting gate.
I would have loved to have tha job. The picture in the article shows the hallway between the stables and the track.

I am not clear about what is going on but I wwsnt a clear understanding. I won’t go back if it is due to cruelty.

My wife just told me a horse died there today.

Seems to me profit motives are killing the horses.

[UniteFightBack]

4. They are suspecting track conditions with all the rain lately. I hope they find out what's going on

[leftieNanner]

8. Not just one horse

I understand that something like 20 horses have died there in the last four months!

I work at a horse rescue sanctuary in Oregon. Horse racing is awful. And it's all about the money. Each year's group of foals is called a "crop" - like corn. And any horses that don't measure up are effectively thrown in the garbage. They are shoved on to trailers and shipped either to Canada or Mexico for slaughter.

If this signaled the end of thoroughbred horse racing, it wouldn't break my heart.

[Awsi Dooger]

3. California racing fatalities were down 33% during fiscal 2017-18

I remember seeing that number and all the attempted rationalizations. As always I defaulted to big picture and concluded there was no explanation...likely a short term deviance. Now we're having a blip in the other direction, likely partially caused by the abnormal weather. I remember a similar wet year when I was a USC student, spring 1980, with mud slides everywhere and more fatalities and injuries than typical at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita.

https://classic.drf.com/news/preventing-fatalities-high-priority-todays-racing-industry

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Some time back I recall reading that a problem with thoroughbred horses

is a very narrow genetic line. I just checked, and here's what I found: "Virtually all 500,000 of the world's thoroughbred racehorses are descended from 28 ancestors, born in the 18th and 19th centuries, according to a new genetic study. And up to 95% of male thoroughbreds can be traced back to just one stallion."

Here's the link to the 2005 article this comes from: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7941-95-of-thoroughbreds-linked-to-one-superstud/

That paucity of genetic diversity is disturbing.

I also recall reading somewhere that in more recent years the horses being raced have thinner and thinner legs, but I couldn't find that information readily on line, so I may be mis-remembering or that information simply isn't true.

Many dog breeds have been so inbred that they live shorter lives than they used to, and have all sorts of physical problems. I wonder if we aren't seeing something similar happening with horses.

However, I am not going to give a pass to the race tracks if that's a huge part of the problem.

[StarryNite]

6. Arizona racehorses are dying at a record rate. The question is: why?

It's time for the horse racing industry to die.

"At Arizona tracks last year, that scenario played out at a record-setting pace, as 50 horses were put down during the 2017-18 season, mostly during races, according to a study issued by the state Department of Gaming.

That's more than twice the number of "catastrophic injuries" experienced two years earlier, and double the national equine death rate at tracks."

"Even as the study was underway, with new precautions being tested, the death rate continued to surge. Last year, nearly one animal was euthanized at Turf Paradise for every three days of racing. "

Two deaths on one day
"On Jan. 8, 2017, two horses suffered catastrophic injuries while racing at Turf Paradise.

Video of the first race shows a quarter horse named With Love Too, under the whip early, crumpling in the final turn with jockey Enrique Garcia, who suffers bruised ribs.

Six races later, Mydancingshadow breaks a foreleg in the middle of the pack and face-plunges to the earth. Jockey David Lopez somersaults over the top before getting clipped by a trailing horse.

Both injured animals were euthanized, and their demise punctuated an alarming trend previously reported only in an industry blog: Horse deaths in Arizona climbed 83 percent from the 2015-16 season, and were continuing to rise."


[link:https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2019/02/04/arizona-racehorses-dying-staggering-rate/2585283002/?fbclid=IwAR3TIaX5Mtb3qovLeRhLVXbzT5gokx0-fu3kXU8qYmlREmRRmYpwWsSrUJo|

[StarryNite]

7. Horse racing is not a sport...

It's the cruel exploitation of horses. They start racing those horses before they are even finished growing. That's just one of the major problems.

[link:http://www.planetexperts.com/the-perpetuation-of-a-cruel-pastime/|

[leftieNanner]

10. 100% Agree

They do start racing them too young. And since a horse's "birthday" is always January 1, some of them are less than 2 years old.

It is cruel - and the end point for most of these horses is being shoved on to a trailer headed for Mexico or Canada for hideous slaughter. Do NOT support this vile "sport".

[StarryNite]

12. Few people are aware of how many horses end up in slaughterhouses.

Race horses, Quarter horses, America's wild horses...it's beyond horrible.

[leftieNanner]

15. I am deeply involved in an equine sanctuary

in Southern Oregon where we take the worst of the worst that no one else will take.

There are an estimated 170,000 unwanted horses in the US every year. We have 55 horses on our property and several of them were pulled from "auction lots", with the next stop being a slaughter house in Canada.

We have several thoroughbreds, Arabs, and formerly wild Mustangs who were emotionally damaged (deemed dangerous by a vet). They get to live out their lives in the best of circumstances. It's not difficult to fix the starvation and medical problems that many of our horses come in with, but the abuse is harder to fix. We work hard at it every day and never adopt out any of our horses. They are here to stay and we love them every day.

[Heartstrings]

9. I witnessed a horse break down at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, AR

Devastating to see the horse struggle to get back up and then the white tent set up, knowing full well what was happening inside. Haunts me to this day. I still watch the big races, for the beauty of these spectacular animals, but have a pit in my stomach the entire race.

[StarryNite]

11. My daughter saw a two year old filly break down...

...the white screen of death put around her so people wouldn't see what was going on and they could go about their business of drinking, betting, and have a good ole time. Disgusting! My daughter called me in tears. I stopped watching horse racing after Barbaro broke down and was eventually euthanized.

[Heartstrings]

13. Ruffian....just one of many other tragedies....

I'm rethinking watching the races.....

[StarryNite]

14. Yes, Ruffian, another tragedy.

I love horses. I cannot bear to watch them race anymore. I used to look forward to watching the three races of the Triple Crown. I just didn't know any better. When we know better, we do better.