Through a FOIA request to the California Horse Racing Board, I have obtained the following details on 2021 kills. (I will be posting in installments.)
Mark Whats Mine, Aug 12, Golden Gate S
“Horse was kicking stall walls and fractured left hind – open, comminuted, complete, displaced.” Also: “chronic ulcerative gastritis.” Mark Whats Mine was three years old.
Moonlite Promise, Aug 29, Del Mar T
“Catastrophic pelvic fracture – comminuted, complete, displaced. The observed swelling was a result of extensive hemorrhage that was caused by the displaced fracture fragment, which most likely severed an adjacent blood vessel.” Also: “gastric ulceration.” Moonlite Promise was three years old and being prepped for her first race.
Esperada, Sep 5, Golden Gate T
“[Multiple] open, comminuted, complete, displaced fractures [with] diffuse hemorrhage. Multiple small bony fragments embedded in the suspensory ligament, [with some] fragments missing.” Also: “moderate to severe dorsal metacarpal disease.” Esperada was two years old and had yet to be raced.
Honor Award, Sep 6, Del Mar R
“[Multiple] fractures, [multiple] ruptures.” Also: “gastric ulceration.” Honor Award was two years old, and this was his first race.
There are people who could stop this egregious cruelty to horses if they wanted to stop this egregious cruelty to horses; the owners of the racetracks that facilitate this EGREGIOUS CRUELTY and the wagering handle. Unfortunately, the people that are making millions of dollars in profit are not going to care about horses suffering. The greed and lack of compassion and empathy for the horses is criminal. Horses lives sacrificed for the almighty dollar; this is the Modus Operandi of horseracing people.
The people at the Blood-Horse can be real proud of their despicable actions and promote the top performing horses as the horses to watch and bet on, if the top performers don’t drop dead first.
I wish we had a way to do a controlled study. Twenty foals from racing bloodlines live natural lives, and twenty foals from the same crop and bloodlines prep for racing careers. At age two and three, we compare bone, gastric, and mental health. The results would likely be damning and convince those with legislative power that these issues aren’t normal in healthy horses.
Amy, they are ROBBED of their God given natural lives. And, I despise the a**ho**s who make this evil activity their “employment”. If they had any intelligence and ambition,rather than being LAZY, they would get a REAL job, rather than destroying,and murdering innocent equine lives. I could not hate these losers more. May they rot.
Bonnie, because you addressed this to me, I will reply. Yes, these horses are being robbed of their natural lives. It’s terrible. I understand why you are angry, and I am also angry. However, I disagree with name-calling and saying people in the horseracing industry “should rot.” I want change, but not more carnage. I want the people involved to be faced with the facts about what they are doing, so that change can happen. Some people might read the facts on this website and see the need for change, but some people more entrenched in the system might need an irrefutable scientific comparison to believe that these injuries aren’t “normal for horses.”
It’s incredibly easy for humans to justify cruelty in systems that they inherited, because it’s traumatic for humans to realize and admit to themselves they have been participating in or benefitting from cruelty. Do we use plastics that wash into the ocean and kill sea life? Do we eat meat that suffered in factory farms? Do we benefit from chemicals and pesticides and machinery that hurt the ecosystem and harm innocent creatures? Yes, yes, and yes, but you and I didn’t design these systems, and we didn’t start doing these things to be cruel. We started using plastics, eating meat, and eating chemical-laced foods because that is the system we inherited as children, and we didn’t learn any other way. It’s easy for humans to turn a blind eye to cruelty when they think there is no other way to continue their own survival. We wouldn’t appreciate someone telling us to rot because a career in horseracing was the way we learned to make a living. Everyone currently participating in horseracing was likely originally told that this was a valid way of life. They need someone to explain in clear words the damage that the system is causing, and offer solutions to change the system that won’t leave them in the lurch.
Is horseracing a problem that needs to stop immediately? Yes. But name-calling and demonizing these people has no place in any useful discussion. You can’t change minds by threatening people and insulting them. You change minds with facts and empathy.
Amy, the type of “humans” who are in this racket are not good people,they chose not to get an education (which would require actual work), instead because of their SLOTH they chose to do a racket that requires no education, skills, or any redeeming quality. They are evil people who KNOW damn well that they are killing horses. They choose not to change because of their sin of sloth. Good luck trying to “nicey,nicey” these hard core lazies in this scum industry. Good luck with THAT🙄. They are in it because they have nothing to offer society.
There is an article on the internet that is very interesting and informative. “Horses and Astronauts: The Effects of Inactivity on Bone Strength and General Well Being” by Karen E. Davison, Ph. D.
I would imagine standing 23 hours a day in a tiny box would not be good for any living creature. The poor horses live their sad torturous lives in prison,solitary confinement…..to be EXACT.
I know, right. I always say it isn’t rocket science to figure out what the outcomes (of the routine of the way horses are kept confined to stalls for 23 hours a day and forced to carry the weight of a whip-wielding rider and forced to run fast and faster especially when only 18 months to two-years-old) will be. It turns out that there is proof that racehorses and “rocket science” do have something in common. I don’t have a Ph.D. but I have enough common knowledge and common sense as many people have to know that it is inhumane treatment of horses to keep them locked up like prisoners 23 hours a day and forced to perform as though they were full-grown adult horses when they are babies. The racing industry recognizes that two-year-olds are babies and yet they are still demented enough to exploit the young, underdeveloped colts and fillies for racing and wagering.