The 7th at Keeneland yesterday for 4-year-old Hidden Scroll, as relayed by Equibase: “HIDDEN SCROLL was irritable early…settled along the turn, was in the five path into the lane and empty down the lane, bled.”
I don’t know, but do you think it’s possible that this poor animal was “irritable” because his lungs were about to bleed from being forced to run at a breakneck speed by a perched, whip-wielding human? Vile.
It’s evident that the racing industry people don’t want to cater to any horse that becomes irritable. The horse is more important to the owners, trainers, racetrack wagering handle owners and operators as an object from which to gain financially.
The fact that a horse is a sentient being is secondary. The horse can be forced to run and if the horse breaks down in any way, the horse can be treated by a veterinarian or euthanized and replaced with another horse. These people in horseracing act as though they are the epitome of narcissism. Narcissists are said to be incapable of loving their children. They use their children for what their children can do for them. That is referring to their human children. If you’re a four-legged child of a narcissist, you may have your photo taken while being fed a “treat” such as a carrot or a mint. This is a narcissistic way of showing the public that they “love their horses as though the horses were their children” but narcissists don’t have the capacity to genuinely love human children.
So what chance does any racehorse have to just be a happy sentient being? Zero chance.
Horse racing is a killing business that is co-dependent on gambling addicts.
Gambling addicts are no different than a junkie sticking a needle in their arm – no difference.
Gambling addicts are more dangerous than a drug addict for a couple of reasons: 1. gambling is socially acceptable much more than a drug addict. 2. you can’t see any physical tell-tale signs in a gambling addict like you would in a drug addict although studies of late claim that there are physical signs only they are much more covert, insidious, and take a long time to actually be apparent.
Addicts are narcissists 1. lack of empathy 2. difficulty with attachment 3. put themselves first.
Their addiction is their priority not their personal relationships not even with their children.
Like any addict, at some point, they make a conscious decision to either become an addict and/or choose their addiction at the expense of their personal relationships.
A gambling addict has no empathy for any racehorse they gamble on.
To them it’s just another “fix” another “high,” and they would prefer to watch a racehorse get the crap beaten out of it to pay-off their gambling bets instead of have feelings for a sore/tired racehorse that need to slow down.
In fact, you can watch and hear people yelling to beat a racehorse faster when it’s coming down the stretch.
A huge part of watching horse racing is watching a voiceless victim getting beaten.
Anybody that bets on a racehorse, not necessarily an addict, usually does the same thing and many, in fact, are happy when a horse snaps a leg-off if it means that the broken down horse cashed in a bet for them.
No empathy, no attachment and places their bets first and it’s the poor racehorses that pay the price for this antiquated, unnecessary gambling business that has no place in a civilized society.
All the horse betting heroes get a little touchy when they’re accused of celebrating breakdowns. They insist they don’t WANT to see a horse go down, but if IT does, and ITS demise means an extra couple bucks in their own pocket, so much the better.
I’ve actually had one of ’em patiently explain to me how a particularly heinous horse fall was a POSITIVE thing for him (and others, presumably.) His fine-tuned sense of empathy and compassion had allowed him to see that I was visibly shaken by the horror that had just occurred. So, he asked me what was wrong, and I made the mistake of telling him. His idea to comfort me and soothe my obvious distress was to reassure me that IF that poor animal had not crashed to the ground, he himself couldn’t have collected his windfall of, like, 13 dollars. (Okay, I really don’t know how much his ticket paid. But horse betting heroes tend to attach life-or-death significance to every single one of their wagers, so $13 sounds about right. But it just as easily been $6.)
Point is, it seems to me it would be simple for any horseplayer to provide indisputable PROOF that they’re saddened and horrified by all the killing in their favorite addiction: Just have ’em produce an uncashed ticket, of any amount, from a breakdown race. Anyone with a soul — and NOT addicted to the blood money from the forced suffering and death of thousands of thoroughbreds — would have refused to collect on the carnage.
But don’t hold your breath while you’re waiting; I’ve yet to see a single one.
I’ve seen way too many tweets from the gamblers when a horse breaks down – the callousness of their remarks is so sick and so inhumane that I can’t scroll by them fast enough.
Yes, but they’re starting to become wiser to life in the 21st century, so I doubt you’re even seeing anything close to the worst of it on social media. It’s quite a sight to behold when you’re surrounded by literally hundreds of bettors, and many have the added confusion of not immediately knowing WHICH horse(s) went down. So they immediately look at their forms, then ask whoever’s closest which one ruined (or salvaged) their day — by number, of course: “Was that the 2?”
Because they gotta know that for sure, in order to understand whether they should cheer and celebrate, or be really, really pissed off. Ah, good times in the Sport of Kings.
Reblogged this on Armory of the Revolution.
Unable to communicate in any other way, a horse’s “irritation” can be a huge red flag as far as his health is concerned. But any horse that dares to act up and disrupt the placid stream of exploitation gets punched in the head, kicked in the belly, has his ears twisted or his tail wrenched over in his back, or, in one instance I will never forget, a jockey smashed his horse in the face with the handle of his whip because the horse was “acting out” by refusing to go near the starting gate and holding up the start of the race.
These are just a few examples of the love lavished on the celebrated athletes of horse racing. As we all know, racehorses love to run and compete, but sometimes just need that little gentle reminder in the form of a whip handle to the face or a kick to the belly.
It is time to stop horse racing!
What is a “HIDDEN SCROLL”? A horse that is “irritable” before his lungs burst and bleed is “IRRITABLE”?