Horse Racing Exposed: Drugs and Death

[StarryNite]

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This is a PETA video and I know a lot of people don't trust PETA but please don't throw the baby out with the bath water. We all need to be more educated when it comes to animal abuse issues. On average, 24 horses a week die on racetracks in the US. Somebody I know witnessed it on April 6, 2014 at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Arizona when a 2 year old filly Quarter Horse broke her leg in the second race of the day. Horse racing is a brutal business.

Here is the link, I have no idea how to make it work on here...

[Politicalboi]

1. I think we should ban horse racing, it's too cruel

And how is betting on a horse legal, but gambling online is illegal?

[StarryNite]

2. Good question...

one of many good questions I have about horse racing.

[riderinthestorm]

3. I don't like horse racing but as a pro in the horse business, I watched the video

Because I was curious what PETA had to say.

PETA obviously wants to make a point that ANY usage of horses is a problem imho. Any breakdown or problem must be caused by being ridden or raced. That's simply not true. The one horse who colicked to death (hearsay on the video but I'll take their word for it as being true) didn't colic because he raced as they make clear in the video. He just colicked. Shit happens. I've been on the backside of some very sorry racetracks looking for sport horse prospects and nobody likes to see a horse die an excruciating death. Nobody.

So on to my remarks about this video:

1. The nasal/gastric scope in one of the first scenes is used to check for gastrointestinal ulcers - that's not a punitive procedure - its an expensive test designed to HELP a horse.

2. Joint injections and shock wave therapy are commonly used for humans as well. Again, those procedures aren't punitive - they're designed to alleviate pain and inflammation.

3. Icing achy or bruised body parts after exertion isn't punitive or problematic - it shows a great deal of concern and compassion.

4. Poor quality feet are most commonly a breeding issue - not a training or trainer issue. YES, some farriers and trainers CAN destroy a horse's foot through poor management but its not common and not in their best interest. Remember? They WANT these horses to run - no foot, no running. Its FAR, FAR more common in some performance breeds other than TBs where they mechanically destroy a horse's feet like the Tennessee Walkers (where they grow the toe out to monstrous lengths and undercut the heel to achieve the "high stepping" gaits), or the QH (where they value small dainty feet).

5. All of the drugs shown in this video are being prescribed by veterinarians who stand to lose their licenses if they're abusing the meds. I have no idea about the Thyroxine - that's a new one and can't comment on it but the rest of the drugs mentioned are not dangerous or abnormal, not even for pleasure horses where bute and aspirin are commonly used on a regular basis.

6. Having workers sleep in the barn isn't uncommon. In fact, at virtually every competition my husband - the rider and trainer - usually sleeps in the barn. He wants to be as close to the horses as he can to ensure their health and well-being. Some trainers have staff that sleep there - I have no problem with that. Honestly, if you're going to bed your horses in a barn it better be fit for a "king" or "queen" in my view. Best way to ensure that is if you're willing to sleep there yourself.

7. Undocumented workers being exploited in America??! Snort. I'm shocked! shocked to find gambling here!

All of the above noted however, let me say I find the use of a shock whip to be pretty despicable. I'd never even heard of a maquina before this video and after looking it up, it is banned in all horse sports. The riders and trainers who tempt fate and use one of these are flirting with life-long bans if they're caught. I hope they are. I'm no fan of racing in the first place FWIW, I DO think the horses are raced too hard, too young and I don't like it. Add in additional cruelty like the maquina, well ugh.

[StarryNite]

5. You made a lot of good points...

Thank you! However, I must say that the fact that on average 24 horses die on the track in the USA every week is indicative of a huge, huge problem with the racing industry. That fact came to light in a NY Times 3 piece article...


BreakdownDeath and disarray at America’s racetracks
Mangled Horses, Maimed Jockeys
The new economics of horse racing are making an always-dangerous game even more so, as lax oversight puts animal and rider at risk.


"On average, 24 horses die each week at racetracks across America. Many are inexpensive horses racing with little regulatory protection in pursuit of bigger and bigger prizes. These deaths often go unexamined, the bodies shipped to rendering plants and landfills rather than to pathologists who might have discovered why the horses broke down."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/us/death-and-disarray-at-americas-racetracks.html?pagewanted=all

That article is only 2 years old and I seriously doubt that anything has changed for the better since it came out. It's a very interesting article. I also learned from it that some states, including mine, Arizona, "do not require pre-race inspections of horses and do not perform post-mortem inspections on horses that die while racing or training." So when the horse in Sunday's race at Turf Paradise broke her leg, there was no investigation done. I find that appalling.

[riderinthestorm]

6. Honestly (and this will sound callous), I don't think 24 deaths per week is that high

And that statistic doesn't tell us exactly how they died. From your link:

A state-by-state survey by The Times shows that about 3,600 horses died racing or training at state-regulated tracks over the last three years.

Considering racing is a daily activity across the country, that means approximately 3 horses died while actually racing per day. Unless you don't want horses ridden by humans, ever, I'd say that's probably about an average stat for virtually any horse activity across the country. People lose their horses trail riding, jumping, giving lessons, working as a ranch horse, hell I even had one horse break a leg just frolicking in his paddock - whatever their job is - its certain that some percentage of horses are going to die doing their job every day.

That 24 horses die each week at racetracks across America also doesn't surprise me because there's so many factors that can influence WHY horses die. With something like 70,000 racehorses in the US every year, again a certain percentage will die from other ailments like colic, EPM, cancer, EHV-1 etc that are unrelated to racing.

[StarryNite]

8. Not acceptable....

Yes, of course horses will die. We all will die. However abuse is never acceptable. Horse racing is not a sport, it's an industry and not a good one. The horses are used and used up! And when they are used up they often wind up in slaughter houses at the age of about 4! I have owned horses. I live in an area zoned for horses now. Drugging horses to mask their pain so they will still run is abuse. Shocking horses to make them run is abuse. Running them when they are just 2 years old is abuse. Running them on tracks that are not fit, is abuse.

[riderinthestorm]

10. All working horses are "used up" eventually. Its the nature of working animals.

Beyond that, I agree with you 110% about abuse, the young age of race horses, drugging, the maquina use, bad footing conditions on the track etc.

[StarryNite]

13. Well they shouldn't be "used up"

If that's what happens in an industry, if animals are abused in order for somebody to make a buck, then that industry either needs to be cleaned up or shut down because abuse is never acceptable. Using an animal up to where their life span is shortened from it's natural length of about 25-30 years down to 4 years, unacceptable by any humane standards.

[Sunlei]

4. I've read they test for drugs but testing seems inconsistant between states.

A real shame those who admit in the video to using shocking devices! Those people should be banned. Gives the entire sport a bad name.

[riderinthestorm]

7. Drug testing is random absolutely. HOWEVER, that said, if you have a positive test ONCE

you WILL be targeted again, over and over and over.

The trainer in the video had been busted for illegal substance abuse in the past so he now has a big fat red arrow on his barn. Any infraction will be played up - even giving a horse a sip of your Coke or a bite of your pb and jelly sandwich will show up on the toxicology reports (caffeine etc). If you have ignorant grooms who don't know any better and they do stupid stuff like share their Snickers bar, you'll get busted.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with that. Asmussen is a top trainer and if he doesn't run a tight operation he deserves every bit of legal thumping the industry dishes out. There's no excuse for a sloppy operation, especially at that level, and if he can't keep a lid on shenanigans he deserves to be under heavy scrutiny. I think illegal doping is a major crime in ALL horse sports and I support random drug testing 110%.

[StarryNite]

9. Really?

"if he can't keep a lid on shenanigans he deserves to be under heavy scrutiny" Really? Don't you think he should be run out of the business if he can't "keep a lid on shenanigans"?

[riderinthestorm]

11. Sure he should be run out of business. Good luck trying to do that however.

Unfortunately this video doesn't expose him as the worst abuser. Lucas Haas and Asmussen's apprentice have the riders who used the banned whip. Asmussen's drugs are perfectly legal and administered by vets. Except for the thyroid meds that may or may not be questionable (I don't know), his drug usage for the horses under his CCC are perfectly within the standard protocol and used daily by horse owners across the country on a regular basis. Is any horse owner who gets hock injections, or gives bute, or gets their horse scoped for ulcers "abusive"?

His horses are clearly already being tested every time they run and if he were an egregious criminal with illegal doping, he would be banned.

[StarryNite]

12. I don't buy it.

Horse racing is a dirty industry. And just because the drugs are administered by the vets doesn't mean they are okay. It's not okay to drug a lame horse so it will run. Sorry, that just doesn't pass the integrity test with me. Those vets are getting paid a lot of money to do "what is necessary". Just because a person had a Dr in front of their name doesn't mean they are necessarily good people with good intentions or good moral values or good ethics. Money corrupts.

How can you defend this...how can you honestly believe that a horse that "requires" that many drugs should be out on a racetrack?

One Horse, One Week of Injections
Coronado Heights, a 4-year-old thoroughbred who received a diagnosis of early degenerative joint disease, broke down and was euthanized on the track at Aqueduct on Feb. 25. Below, an illustration of the drugs and dosages given to Coronado Heights the week before he broke down.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/29/us/one-horse-one-week-of-injections.html