Shedrow Secrets
Lady
by Mary Johnson
Horseracing Wrongs recently reported on the death of Tigers Rule in the 9th at Churchill Downs November 24. Tigers died from multiple fractures and a torn artery. But…the necropsy also showed “ulceration of the stomach.” Ulcers don’t get much attention when a horse dies in the dirt or succumbs to colic locked away in his stall. The focus, understandably so, is on the broken necks, severed spines, and fractured legs, but make no mistake, ulcers are killers…silent killers…and are prevalent in the vast majority of horses in the racing industry. This story is about one such horse, a 7-year-old mare who was fortunate enough to survive a death sentence because of one woman’s determination to get her the help she so desperately needed. (Because I need to keep my sources confidential, I will call this horse “Lady.”)
In mid-October, a racing insider reached out to let me know that a horse was colicking at a low-level track. Unfortunately, this person didn’t have the financial resources to treat Lady. Rose Smith, a regular on this site, generously offered to foot the bill if Lady was seen by the track vet. She was, but for the next five days the vet vacillated on the diagnosis. Initially, Lady would be okay and colic concerns were dismissed. But then she was diagnosed with (gas) colic and eventually a blockage in the cecum. Of course, without an ultrasound definitiveness on something like this is almost impossible. It had become a guessing game. By Sunday, five days after I was contacted, there was no improvement, and we were all resigned to the possibility that Lady (below) would need to be euthanized.
In spite of the fact that Lady was suffering and in awful pain, she showed a will to live and exhibited a fighting spirit. She simply wasn’t giving up. Rose and I were both concerned that the vet had provided woefully inadequate treatment for Lady, and she (the vet) was now suggesting euthanasia. Again Rose stepped up, offering to cover the cost of Lady going to a specialty hospital in northeast Ohio.
Lady arrived at Equine Specialty Hospital on a Sunday and remained there for four days. The surgeon scoped her and it was determined that she had Grade 4 Bleeding Ulcers. (Ulcers are graded 1-4, with 4 being the most serious, possibly fatal.) Simply put, Lady was at high risk of bleeding to death. The blockage was in the colon, not the cecum as diagnosed by the track vet. Lady was aggressively treated, rehabbed, and is doing remarkably well. Even though she has recovered, she suffered, unconscionably, in silence on the backside of that track. What’s worse, there are countless more suffering – all alone in a tiny stall – in exactly the same way.
Risk factors for ulcers include:
– limited pasture and turnout
– change in diet and routine
– frequent travel or competition schedule
– consumption of heavy grain diets
– rigorous training and exercise
– long-term use of NSAIDS (e.g., bute)
Hmm. To what kind of horses do all these factors apply? In fact, research has shown that over 90% of Thoroughbred racehorses develop ulcers.
Imagine any horse being forced to run with ulcers, especially a Grade 4 Bleeding Ulcer, yet the apologists babble incessantly that they love their horses like members of their families. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. All the peppermints, jolly balls, and kisses on the nose can’t change the cruel, unnatural life of a racehorse. Lady’s story illustrates this perfectly. Without the intervention of someone outside of racing, Lady would be dead, not from a a broken neck, severed spine or fractured limb, but dead just the same.
I think that what was most galling about the condition of this brave lady was the obvious lack of professional care by the track vet. He/she should be relegated to sweeping out the stable and little else.
And still the punters enter and spend their money without a care to the real sufferers in this horrible “sport”.
Mary Johnson, Rose Smith,
God bless you for saving an innocent and beautiful Thoroughbred mare and thank you so much for sharing the photos and story of this beautiful horse. She deserves better than the horseracing industry can ever do for any horse!!!!! All horses deserve better than the horseracing industry can do for any horse!!!!! This is another perfect example why horseracing MUST BE BANNED!!!!!
It’s also an example, or should be, of “neglect” that may rise to levels of “abuse” and “cruelty.” The owner or responsible parties should be cited (at least) and prosecuted by local (or state) authorities. Surely, race horse owners or other responsible agents are not exempt from felony and/or lesser animal welfare crimes when all other citizens must obey those laws. I wonder if we have any state with laws that animal law enforcement agencies (or certified Humane Officers) could cite, and local prosecutors would bring charges–“a test case.” Possibly, horse racing may be exempt (as rodeos and livestock often are).
Marilyn Jasper,
I totally agree with you that all animal abuse should be recognized by law as abuse and that no one person or group of people should be exempt from being punished for abuse, neglect, cruelty and TORTURE of any animal especially in this case of horses. I keep reading the comments of others who say that the horseracing industry can abuse, neglect, abandon, and commit acts of cruelty and torture to racehorses and for whatever reason they get away with said offenses constantly and repeatedly. There is no possibility of reform therefore HORSERACING MUST BE BANNED!
Thank you so much for sharing Lady’s story- is she still racing?
No, Nora, she is not.
Nora, no, “Lady” will never race again. The previous owner signed her over to Rose Smith who is now the horse’s legal owner.
This is unforgivable cruelty in the name of money! Horse racing should be banned in every country in which it occurs!
It makes me sick to know that so many animals are abused for profit!! Also those who have given their lives in labs testing crap for humans. This HAS TO STOP. WE DONT OWN ANY LIVING CREATURE .They should be taken care of like a pet or your own child is
Bless Lady and the lady called Rose. And the lady who connected the the two. And you.
Animals have the ability to hide their pain, any owner should be aware of that fact. If a trainer takes the time to actually know the horse they would be able to know when if he/she is suffering from some sort of pain and should be checked out by their vet. No excuse for any horse to suffer and still be forced to run!~
I don’t think the veterinarian even took the time to notice much about this mare. The track veterinarian basically hum-hawed, if you will, while the horse is suffering so badly that she could die and instead of honestly diagnosing and treating the mare, decided euthanasia was the only option. I think part of their excuse is the owners/trainers and track veterinarians don’t care as much about the horses as they do about their bank accounts. This happened at a low level track but horses are neglected and killed at higher level tracks too. It’s sad but worse than sad!
Thank you! Thank you Rose, Mary, Patrick! For everything you do.It makes me happy to read a beautiful, positive story… although unfortunate the exception not the norm, every day I pray for one. Today is a good day. One horse at a time we will eventually save them all. The abusers will pay a price and there will be hell to pay. And this horrifying business will be a thing of the past.
NO Animal should ever suffer at the hands of man……..PERIOD,end of story
Yet another example why stall deaths MUST be included in racing fatality numbers at every track.
Had they gone ahead and euthanized poor “Lady” as the so-called vet suggested, she would have made their (fake) “safety” numbers look that much better. And if there’s one thing all track folks LOOOOOVE to do, it’s pretend to the world that their fatality rate is dropping, when in fact, it’s stagnant, or even rising. Thus, they’re eager to take an injured/sick/went-wrong/bad-step/faltered/stopped/broken-down racehorse, stick him/her in a stall for a couple weeks (with or without treatment, mind you), and then “report” the poor, abused horse’s demise as merely a stall death (as opposed to a racing death, which we all know it is.) Every single thing these racing creeps do is utterly disgusting, but this has to be in the top ten in terms of sheer cruelty.
As always, a million thanks to Mary and Rose for saving “Lady” — and every other equine victim racing churns out, day after bloody day — from the usual monsters.
Perhaps,the greatest evil done to the horses is…the solitary confinement,of the stalls. These are social pack animals, how would people like it if God forbid…their phones were taken away…they would flip the fuck out. Well,you are denying horses what they love the most…think about that.
Kelly, I swear to god,I was typing out my last post…I guess as yours was going through.You beat me to the punch kiddo…great minds think alike. 😆
Every horse at the racetrack should be getting Gastro Gard or some other ulcer medication but when the owner is too cheap to buy it that says they don’t care. Or they are too poor to afford it. Last time I wanted to buy some for my horse in the 80’s it was about $100 a month per horse. And you can’t buy major medical and surgical for one horse. The whole barn has to be covered and that is at the discretion of the insurance agency. Insurance companies need to step up and provide major medical and surgical at a reasonable price. Shysters.
Yes, but since the majority of racehorses are claimers whose owners cannot afford diagnostics (we took in hundreds of horses with fractures who didn’t have so much as one X-ray at the track) nor expensive treatment (like Ulcerguard), the horses suffer – THEY pay the ultimate costs.
And if one can’t afford to take care of their horse – including diagnostics and treatment – one has no business having a horse. Including racehorses.
Joy, the claimers SHOULD be treated even better-because they’re the only thing that keeps this “thing” somewhat going. They race more frequently and they are not treated as well as the stake horses…I say fuck that everyone (Horses) and people should be treated the SAME!!!!!!!!! That’s called FAIR and JUSTICE!!!!!!!
Bonnie…not saying they shouldn’t – just saying they don’t. Hey, you read the racing rags…how often do you see articles about the “cheap claimers” that are injured racing and subsequently euthanized? – NEVER. Why not? – one, racing wants to ignore and deny (can’t have the truth out there!) and two, they simply don’t give a damn.
My heart BREAKS for the lowly claimers.
With the money these parasites make off the horses, and the continual blathering about how they love them like children, there is NO excuse for this kind of neglect and cruelty. And you butchers who work at the tracks are not true veterinarians – the only oath you’ve taken is the hypocritical one. To let a horse suffer for days while you walk around with your thumbs up your ass because you or your connections don’t feel the horse is worth the effort of helping is just disgusting.
Once again ladies who had nothing to do with Lady’s exploitation stepped up to the plate with their wallets and hearts to save this beautiful mare from suffering and death.
Lady is one lucky lady.
A huge shout out to Mary, Rose and the others who were part of this rescue.
As mentioned, there are many more “ladies” in horse racing suffering and although it’s a multitude of factors as listed above, I can say with certainty that the stress of horse racing is a major contributor.
Now, can you imagine these racehorses with painful ulcers in their stomachs getting beaten with a whip triggering more stress?
Furthermore, racehorses in the claiming ranks are usually owned by people who really can’t afford to own and upkeep a racehorse unlike the image of wealthy people owning racehorses that accounts for only about 10%.
The rest are struggling owners/trainers with a racehorse who is usually claimed and comes with a whole host of serious issues that are intentionally HIDDEN from anybody who buys them.
This exacerbates the entire situation putting these racehorses at high risk of breaking down or death as the Kill Lists are a testament to this.
Moreover, the racehorses who are in the claiming ranks usually have serious ailments, which is why their in the claiming ranks in the first place, and their needs are high.
Yet, they are owned by people who can’t afford their needs – fact.
The industry, the tracks, the vets just about everybody else in the stable area knows that these racehorses are suffering and that they are not even afforded ulcer medication in most cases and to get to the point of Stage 4 like Lady it’s a clear indictment of an ailment that started-off as a Stage 1.
This is neglect in the first degree, it’s animal cruelty and this is common on tracks all over the place.
People often ask why are these people not charged with animal cruelty?
The sad truth is that horse racing operates with total impunity under our legal system and there are no D.A’s or neutral agencies stepping up to change this, to include them under our laws probably due to the expense.
Many racehorses, as we’ve seen time and time again, who are running in the claiming ranks were, at some point, champion racehorses who earned their connections hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The minute they stop performing up the upper levels, and after they’ve crippled them it’s time to DUMP them and that’s exactly what they do.
This business facilitates dumping because they know damn well that these racehorses are nothing more than disposable gambling chips.
The entire system is set-up for the racehorse to fall and fall hard and there’s little to no effort to hold people accountable for what they are doing to these racehorses because they require theses daily abusive business practices in order to fill races and to flip a buck, which is in the billions in profits while they totally BETRAY these beautifull magestic racehorses.
All the words in the world can’t dispute the fact that this business doesn’t care, it’s vile, and it’s full of vile people who are nothing more than parasites.
Gina, women make the “world” go. If it weren’t for women,a lot of things wouldn’t get done,or EXIST. Most things are left to women. Always…pick up the pieces..of the ruins. It’s our curse of having the caring gene.
I think the entire issue of these trainers not being able to afford to take care of a horse is ridiculous. I make minimum wage, yet I still spend almost $1000 dollars a year just in supplements for my horse (who is just a backyard buddy), since he is an Arab and they are prone to colic. If you truly love your horse you find a way to make it work so they get the care they need. The vile truth of the matter is that these horses are expendable commodities that – in the trainer’s eyes – don’t deserve any more than the basic food and water to keep them on their feet.
EXACTLY, Rebecca. And if one truly cannot afford to care for them – which includes being prepared for an emergency – then simply DO NOT HAVE a horse.
Like you said, racehorses are expendable commodities – racing owners/trainers/breeders have no intention of keeping all of their racehorses and providing for them for life when they are riddled with ulcers, suffering with musculoskeletal injuries or just worn-out and used-up – when their racing slaves can no longer do what’s demanded of them, they just want them gone.
Rebecca, I think what is even more ridiculous and even malicious is a business that knows exactly what’s going on and stil permits owners, without financial means, to own racehorses.
This business facilitates owners or trainers who neglect racehorses, who don’t “find a way” like you do, like most of us do, and they are never held accountable.
So one would ask “why?”
The reason why is that this industry requires racehorses, mere gambling numbers, to fill races, to generate wagering profits and the more they expend them the more money they make.
Racehorse ownership 101.
It costs, on average, $5000 per month to own a racehorse and to pay for trainer fees, additional costs, and upkeep.
Most of the costs are fixed (hay, feed, bedding) whether a racehorse is running in the upper ranks or the lower claiming ranks, but the unfixed costs of vet care (which many don’t provide) can be astonomical.
A small portion of the population can afford to pay and potentially lose $5000 per month and the upkeep aftercare can be considerably less, but most of these parasites don’t even think or don’t even consider taking care of the racehorse when it leaves the track and most don’t even have the proper facilities (farm, shelter, fencing) to take care of them or can afford to pay for boarding.
On many occassions I saw situations where a racehorse was severly injured, required vet care, the vet comes to the barn, and I hear the owner say they don’t want to pay for it or an owner who has outstanding vet bills usually renders that racehorse to suffer because a vet won’t treat a racehorse whose owner owes money and that’s more common than anythiing.
This business continues to facilitate, protect, and defend such inhumane neglect that would be chargeable under any other setting in America.
Almost everything about this business supports the complete and total failure to take care of racehoses in any capacity even when their racing.
It’s vile.
AGREED,my heart TOTALLY breaks for the claimers,if it wasn’t for them there would be no “product” ,they are the majority who are abused. If racing relied on stake horses…this scam would be GONE.
Bonnie, I think it’s on the way out. Sports betting is legal in many states now with many betting options. Horse racing is a difficult game with many ways to lose. Not saying betting on sports is easy but probably not as hard as betting the ponies. The giant computer electronic show in Las Vegas each year (CES) attracts many thousands of people, many of them young. Guess what? They avoid the craps tables and slot machines because they KNOW how difficult it is to win. They are computer nerds who know the odds are bad. They don’t go to the track, either. New generation thinks differently. The “Sport of Kings” will go away, I believe.
I am glad she is doing better! What was wrong with the Vet at the racetrack? Why wasn’t this diagnosed? Thank goodness for the 2 wonderful ladies that helped Lady! And of course, you bringing this to everyone’s attention!!
The best treatment for ulcers on the market is gastrogard and it is very expensive. When it first came out there was a powerful marketing campaign by the company which included free endoscopic exam. They claimed that they found that 80% of race horses had ulcers and I believe it. I once had a groom who I found was horribly abusive and very sneaky about it. Since I galloped my own horses I was out of the barn much of the morning and he would know exactly when I left and when I was due to return so he had free rein in the shedrow. I finally caught him punching a filly in the face and I fired him on the spot. At this time I had 10 horses and 7 of them were on ulcer medications. I hadn’t been able to figure this out since I didn’t train on daily doses of Bute like most trainers and actually used very few NSAIDs and steroids. 10 days after I got rid of this horrible man in my barn all horses started eating normally and did not need ulcer meds. This story still chills me to the bone and this happened in a good barn, MY barn. I was horrified to learn that other people in and near my barn were aware of the abuse and said nothing to me. The abusive groom was quickly hired by another trainer. When I told him what had happened in my barn he fired the guy as quick as he had hired him. I got him fired from his next two jobs and then he disappeared. Hopefully he will never be allowed near another horse. Not that track management would step in but there is always the hope of a good debilitating accident to keep him away from horses.
A horse I loved was found dead in his stall at Belmont in 2019. FOUND DEAD!!!!!!!!! For Christ sakes!!!! I will NOT let that go…..BELIEVE me! I truly do not care about the people in this evil. I WILL NOT LET THAT GO. MAL, I pray to God your right.
Joy,these poor horses are being driven insane by the imprisonment and cruel confinement. I would like to put the …holes in this racquet scam in 23hr. a day confinement in a filthy stall. See how long they’d last f’n …holes.
I hesitated to write this story because I was fearful that the previous owner would be criticized unmercifully but, with Rose’s support, I decided to forge ahead because Lady’s story needed to be told. Lady is extraordinarily lucky and, if the owner hadn’t reached out, Lady would be dead. Thousands of horses are suffering in silence on the backside of tracks throughout the country waiting for help that will NEVER come.
I know Lady’s previous owner personally. This person knows how much I detest racing yet she has provided me “insider” information when that information would not have been available without open lines of communication between the two of us. I do believe she cared about Lady but she didn’t have the financial resources available to adequately treat her. Now, there has been criticism that if you don’t have the money to treat, then don’t have the horse and I agree with that, at least in theory. However, there are many people who have horses that would be financially devastated if this same situation happened to their horse. GastroGard costs $1000 per month and is the only FDA approved medication to heal ulcers. Ulcers don’t normally heal on their own. Lady entered Equine Specialty Hospital on a Sunday so it was considered an emergency. After being hospitalized for four days, the costs, along with rehab, exceeded $5000. That is a huge amount of money, at least to me, and I am financially stable. I doubt if some of those criticizing the previous owner would have been able to quickly come up with that amount of money but that is what it took to save the horse’s life.
I have spent time with Lady on several different occasions and she is beyond cute. She is small and compact and reminds me of a quarter horse. And in regards to her personality…she is an “in your pocket” type of horse! She is being turned out with two other mares and is definitely the “alpha” mare. Her herd gets along great and I would describe her as being a very happy girl…a far cry from last October. Lady won the lottery and she didn’t even play!
Mary, I think it’s awesome that you are able to maintain a relationship with a person for the betterment of the racehorse, which shows how much you care.
I’ve been in that situation countless times in the stable area where I had to put aside my feelings aside to save a horse and the same goes here.
I blame the racehorse business, the system that faciltates the ownership of racehorses to people who they are well aware can’t afford to pay for them.
Furthermore, as you know, on average, a racehorse costs $5000 per month to keep training and racing.
Most people can’t afford that, they know it.
Yet, they want races to be filled to flip a buck.
Racehorses are set up to fail, fail hard, every step of the way and there’s no reforms or anything else that will change this fundamental business model.
It just needs to be shut down.
Gina, the majority of the people posting on this blog want racing to be shut down, me included, but I have chosen to work with certain people in order to help the horses. There is more to this story that what is posted. In other words, there is a “backstory” but my lips are sealed!
I had no idea of the cost to keep a horse in race training at the track but that seems excessive for those based at low level tracks where the stalls are free and many of the owners and trainers perform their own labor. However, I know what it costs to properly provide for a horse outside of racing because I have been involved with horses for decades. Horses are tremendously expensive and my costs are through the roof. There have been many times that I have delayed getting my horses’ teeth done because of the cost. The equine dentist I use is the best in the state of Ohio. He is a vet that went back to school for further training in equine dentistry and most people don’t know that you can’t call yourself an equine dentist (in the state of Ohio) unless you are a vet. I have suggested Dr. Reiswig and his associate, Dr. Dickey, to many horse owners and one of the first things out of their mouths is to complain about how expensive he is. It literally makes me sick! Yes, he is expensive but he is the best and well worth the price.
The racing industry doesn’t care about the welfare of the horses. They just want to fill the cards. That has been proven over and over again. Rose and I do what we can but it is just a drop in the bucket.
Thank you for standing up for this owner. I believe she did the best she could and that is all any of us can do. Her vet really let her down. Ulcers are not difficult to diagnose. I diagnosed them with 100% accuracy without an endoscope. New horses in my barn that I had claimed often presented with symptoms of ulcers. They would go to their feed tub and look at the grain like I wish I could eat this and then walk away from their food. I would put them on gastrogard or a much more affordable compound with the same active ingredient , omeprazole I bought from Farm Vet. I know there have been articles written claiming that the compounds don’t work but they were written by the gastrogard company. The proof is in the pudding and my results were exactly the same whether I used the Farm Vet compound or gastrogard. The Farm vet product was approximately $10 a dose per day while gastrogard was $30 per day. Within a few days they would start eating better. After 30 days of treatment they would eat like a healthy horse without an ulcer.
Yes, former trainer, she did the best she could for Lady. She resisted euthanizing the horse because she recognized Lady’s fighting spirit. She asked for the help needed and got it. Like the horse, the owner was not willing to give up without a “fight”.
Lady is alive and doing very well because the owner “fought” for her.
former trainer, yes, I will stand up for her because she truly cared about Lady. Should she leave the industry? Of course she should and I have told her so several times but, until that happens, I will try my best to help when I can.
It is troubling that Merial charges so much for both GastroGard and UlcerGard. $1000 for a 28 day supply seems excessive at least to me. You would think that a generic formulation would be available by now. Did you have omeprazole compounded by Farm Vet? I know the ingredient is the same but one must give the proper dosage. This ulcer issue has really depressed me. It seems that the majority of horses have ulcers (even 50% of weanlings have ulcers) so it is a problem of humongous proportions and the treatments are outrageously expensive. There has to be a solution.
I am happy you are there to help! She will leave when she becomes aware and not 1 minute sooner.
The Farm Vet product was same dosage of omeprazole as GastroGard. I price checked with them regularly when I was training. I was searching for affordable GastroGard and they talked me into trying their compound. My argument was the articles I had read that the compounds don’t work. Even vets were parroting that the compounds don’t work. Farm Vet replied that GastroGard puts out those articles and why wouldn’t a compound work?? I think they added calcium to the formula so that they didn’t face legal problems. At that time I paid $60 for a 6 dose tube of the compound. The cheapest GastroGard I could get was on the black market from Mexico for $25 per dose per day. I always observed my horses at feed time, in fact I fed them myself so I would know exactly what they were feeling and thinking. No one could have observed horses eating better than I did and my results were conclusive. The Farm Vet compound had the exact same results as the more expensive GastroGard.
I use SmartPaks for my Arab’s supplements, and their stuff is guaranteed, in fact, with certain supplements (like the one I use for gastrointestinal support) there is a colic surgery reimbursement. They offer several different ulcer treatment options, too.
SACK THE VET. ARREST THE OWNER. TAKE THEIR ASSETS and Set Up a Sanctuary for Retired Racehorses. All that money and not a heart beating – just Swinging Bricks.
Pauline, I think the owner of “Lady” should be given some credit for reaching out to Mary and Rose who could and would (and did) make a positive difference in this mare’s life and health. Instead of reading about this mare’s rescue and recovery, we could be reading her racing name on a kill list. I would much rather be reading about a horse being saved from death than about a horse being killed.
I totally agree.
What I would really like to see is to BAN horse racing, shut it down so that situations like “Lady,” and we know there are many more, would be history.
I know that’s what we are all aiming for, and I realize it’s going to take lots of time so if some can be saved along the way I’m all for it – I get that.
However, it’s not that simple for me because I rescued 22 racehorses years ago, when I had the facilitites and was in a financial position to do so (back in 2005 it cost me about $30,000 to take care of them, vet care, transition time, and finding them homes), but what really upset me (and I’m not assuming that “Lady’s” owner would do this) is that the racehorses I saved from owners that I had to be friendly with went out and either bought another one, claimed another one and continued to exploit without giving me one dime towards the care of those whom I saved and re-homed.
I realize that it’s not the racehorse’s fault and that’s why I’m so mixed up about all of this because I felt that I was enabling these people to do it more.
An analogy would be a dog breeder who has to surrender some of their dogs because they can’t sell them and can’t afford to take care of them.
The animal shelter steps in and rescues them, spends their money, and finds them homes only to go back there 1 year later and do the same thing all over again.
I know now in some cases that they take away the breeders right to breed more.
Anyways, I’m sure you all undertand my mixed emotions about this.
Quite frankly, I hate it, I hate to see a racehorse suffer, but I hate it more knowing that they just keep on coming, that as long as this business exists there were be a ton of unwanted racehorses, never enough homes for them, and a multi-billion dollar industry that gives little to nothing for their aftercare.
It’s a never ending leak that flows and not even buckets can catch all the drops if you know what I mean.
It pisses me-off, but I’m happy that Lady got saved.
Gina, I understand how it feels to do what you think in the moment is the right thing to do only to discover after the fact that you may be enabling someone in their incorrigible behavior pattern. I did that with a certain person that was low income and needed transportation to a medical clinic for her doctor’s appointment. After a long wait there, the next thing is we need to stop at the pharmacy to get the prescription filled. After that, the next stop is back home to the apartment complex where we lived. There were multiple apartments close together. The next thing I know is that this person I gave a ride to at my expense is selling part of her prescription medication to another neighbor. Well, obviously, selling legal drugs to your neighbor is illegal. So I became aware by living there that the black market on illegal use of legal drugs is so rampant that I cannot explain how it makes me feel. I am totally and completely against selling and buying painkilling drugs on the black market!!!!!!!!!!!!! The law enforcement officers know how bad it is, yet it is still rampant. I don’t know how to stop it when a person risks serious retaliation in a sticky situation such as I was in at that time. I thank God I don’t have to live in that environment anymore!!!!!
I wonder the same about the illegal use of drugs in the horseracing industry, both abusing horses with drugs (in addition to the cruel nature of how racehorses are forced to be racehorses) plus the drug abuse of humans connected to the racing industry. How can the abuse of horses be stopped? One day at a time, I guess.
The racehorses are such victims.
Completely defenseless and voiceless unable to even protect themselves from all the abuse perpetrated on them such as being beaten with a whip relelentlessly.
Then the laws.
There are no laws, no neutral legal organization, no animal groups looking out for, protecting or ensuring that the laws apply to racehorses when they apply to just about any other animal in our country.
It’s such a betrayal and that’s why I cheer every time a track closes down and that’s why, if it happens in my lifetime, I will be elated when they shut these abusive parasties down and, NO, I have no sympathy for their jobs.
I had to go out and get a job after I left this business and it took me years, education, and suffering immensely along the way, but I did it and anybody can.
Using a job as an excuse to exploit and kill racehorses is no excuse at all.
There are plenty of jobs out there and if you really want one you’ll find one .
To our politicians: stop financially supporting this animal abuse with taxpayers/casino money.
Stop leaving the public out of your back room deals that gives them undeserved money that should be used in other essential community areas.
Just stop.
I am a true believer in natural treatments. I found these websites: http://www.ulcerrepulser.com and http://www.earthsongranch.com
I read about their products and they seem to work great at a fraction of the price of GastroGard. Could this be an alternative, non chemical treatment? One that people can actually afford? Of course, I am not referring to people in the racing industry since they don’t give a s**t but those who own/rescue/love horses…people like all of us here.
Andreea, Rose spoke to an equine vet (not the surgeon who treated Lady) yesterday and he said that the generics/natural treatments don’t effectively treat the ulcers if they are in the pyloris which, I believe, is between the stomach and small intestine. Perhaps Rose can provide more insight into why GastroGard is the best choice for treating ulcers.
LET US SOMEHOW JOIN FORCES AND BAN HORSE RACING ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!! WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN ASAP????