At Ruidoso last evening, two horses “bled” and were “vanned off” in the same race. Nolans Moon (who “won”) and Max Talker are each but two years old, equine babies. The former was under the whip for the very first time; the latter, for just the second. A reminder: “bled” is “exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage” – i.e., they bled from their lungs. And yes, both were on Lasix – so much for that.
Pushed way too hard, much too young. This must damage their lungs going forward as these equine infants are still growing and developing. Despicable “sport”.
im surprised every horse doesnt bleed with the mercenary attitude of these owners. surpised they dont all die. its getting very bad. we need to stop all horseracing. it needs to be done. we are getting there with dog racing.this is our next need.
Jean, approximately 95% of racehorses bleed to varying degrees during a race. Some bleed in trackwork training and that is usually kept quiet.
Some suffer serious bi-lateral bleeds (nose/mouth) which are visible. Some suffer serious internal bleeds, collapse and die. A retired group 1 winning jockey friend of mine once told me that the ones who suffered a bi-lateral were the lucky ones because they were given respite i.e. 3 months banned from racing and if bleed again banned from racing for life (Australian racing rule). He said he could actually smell blood coming from the horses’ noses (non-visible bleeds) in the violent frenzy to the finish line. He was a hands and heels rider, carried the whip and rarely used it. He laments ever being part of horseracing and refuses to step on a racetrack ever again.
Animal abuse clear and simple.