In the grand scheme of things, it is a minor deception. I mean compared to “The Big Lie” – horseracing as sport – this hardly registers. But it merits mention nonetheless. Sealy Hill was a hugely successful racehorse – over $1.7 million “earnings,” one-time “Horse of the Year,” “Hall of Famer” – and later, a lucrative breeding machine. She died Tuesday from what industry mouthpiece BloodHorse is calling “infirmities as she advanced in age.” The Paulick Report was less subtle: “euthanized due to the infirmities of old age.” So exactly how old was this poor animal? All of 16. That’s 16 – or what should be the prime of equine life. Vile.
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But yet the uneducated masses will believe it.
I heard about this a few days ago,and IMMEDIATELY thought “what a crock of s**t”. Thank you Patrick for bringing this up. She was in the PRIME of her life.
Old age for a horse would be from approximately 28ish to as old as 40 years old. I have heard of horses being as old as 40 or even 40+ years old, however I’m not sure if they were Thoroughbreds. I don’t know what breed they were. It is not very common that horses get to be 40 and older. To be in their late 30s is old age for a horse.
The horseracing industry kills off so many horses before they have even reached the age of maturity, which is considered to be six-years-old!!!! Being basically exploited to death at the age of 16 (sixteen), or 15, as a broodmare is a crime, as far as I am concerned!!!! It’s not true horsemanship for these people to do what they do to these horses!!!! It is exploiting them to DEATH!!!! THE EXPLOITATION OF THOROUGHBRED MARES FOR RACING AND BREEDING, PRODUCING FOALS EVERY YEAR (after becoming a broodmare), IS NOT TRUE HORSEMANSHIP!!!! IT IS ABUSE!!! These demented people demand that the mares produce a foal every year!!! These demented people could not care less how much it takes out of a live female to produce a baby. Thoroughbred mares exploited by greedy, demented people (not true horsemen or true horsewomen) are so used and abused in their racing careers and then in their so-called “careers” as broodmares that they most likely age more than a year in one 12-month period of time. It is an absolute lie to say, or even remotely suggest, that a sixteen-year-old broodmare died of old age!!! If they said that this sixteen-year-old Thoroughbred broodmare was coldly and callously EXPLOITED TO DEATH by her demented owners, that would be closer to the truth.
The horrors and abuses of the track age horses so fast that even though this poor mare was only sixteen, her joints and muscles were probably equal to that of a 30-year-old horse, to say nothing of the mental and emotional destruction caused by a (short) lifetime of slavery.
And yet the only reason Sealy Hill made it to the ripe ol’ age of 16 is that her parasitic keepers were able to keep wringing money out of her after the track as a foal machine, not that she was given a well-deserved retirement as a loved and treasured companion.
Absolutely. Disgusting.
That’s RIGHT, Rebecca. These people just see them as a uterus. Disgusting. And, evil.
We have a 25 year old retired race / broodmare & she still acts like a young horse running & doing her airs above ground. !6 is not an old age!
This is disgusting!
Charlestown race 2 Tiz Johnnie pulled up just now
Who knew those backwoods horse-killers even HAD a van? I figured they just kill ’em right there wherever they are, because, to them, only 3-4 dead per racing week is still considered super safe:(
Turfway Park running on a cold hard track with, evidently, pavement chunks on top of the track.
it didn’t take long for those pavement chunks to cause MISS EAU DE VIE to twist her ankle at breaking speeds snapping off the lower part of her limb.
It’s clear as day as this video shows:
Compliments of PETA who has demanded an investigation be conducted by the KHRC.
They have agreed to conduct an investigation one which will probably lead to absolutely nothing and we know that no changes, no reforms will ever come about and racehorses will continue to die.
Miss Eau De Vie was 3 years old.
SEALY HILL – was she “in foal?”
They breed them at any age for this business to the point where their reproductive system bleeds out.
Wonder if this was the case here and what farm and where was Sealy Hill at the time of her death?
Anybody know?
“Euthanized due to the infirmities of old age”. What a ridiculous claim. The horse was 16 yrs. old!!!
No, the horse was euthanized due to the infirmities of abuse. Period.
Absolutely, Rose.
I echo the sentiment: Great point, Pat and great ‘proof’ via replies. Non-horse people should have an accurate idea of the average lifespan of an equine. I only wish my lil’ pony was sixteen again! She’s pushing 30, and I still can’t keep up with her. Do we euthanize people in their early 40’s because they’re infirm…infirm, my a**, more like inconvenient, and owners too cheap, taking the equicidal/easy way out. Creeps.
Kate,
According to the WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA in 1960/1961 the “average” life span of horses is/was 20 (twenty) years old. (There are so many different factors that determine how long a horse can live.)
Turns out they couldn’t get her into foal the last 2 years.
So it was her “time to go” according to Bonne Chance Farm in Kentucky.
It seems clear that, like most farm operations in horse racing, they didn’t want to financially support a horse that is not producing, flipping a buck, in some way, shape or form.
They probably hated the idea of her sitting in a paddock not fulfilling her sole purpose as a breeding machine.
After all, she produced foals that averaged $600,000 at the sales auctions in Kentucky.
We know that there is no amount of money that a racehorse can make for these parasites that protects them from malicious harm and death.
They claim this: “basically she told us this morning it was time to go.”
It’s time for this putrid, rotten, evil, killing business to go because that’s what they did to this champion racehorse, just shoved a needle into her to get rid of something they had to financially support.
This is the more likely scenario.
Gina,
Your statement bears repeating:
“We know that there is no amount of money that a racehorse can make for these parasites that protects them from malicious harm and death.”
SEALY HILL died of malicious harm perpetrated by her owners, not of old age!!!!
“Her time to go” just because there was nothing more that could be exploited from her. Really makes me suspicious of what condition she was in when her “old age” caught up with her, since we all know these parasites hate spending a nickel more than is absolutely necessary to keep a horse on his/her feet and lining their wallets.
It sounds like “Let’s make room for the next money making venture “
Exactly, Rebecca – her condition must have been damn dire for her to be euthanized before reaching her 17th birthday. And Rose said it perfectly because WE KNOW (as does anyone who knows horses) her “infirmities” weren’t due to “old age” – since she wasn’t old! Rather, her infirmities were due to the abuse of racing and the exploitation of broodmare “duty”. That poor mare.
Stop the abuse and resulting death of horses!
HEARTBREAKING — it continues and continues — the suffering, the torment — so many turning a blind eye — and the SPECTATORS, the MARKET — what will it take for them to STOP? — to STOP PARTICIPATING in this sadistic, evil, depravedly cruel Industry — how much TRUTH do we need? — The HORSES continue to suffer, day-in-day-out, and then die — HEARTBREAKING.