The following photo was taken right before the start of the 1914 Kentucky Derby. Please note the “bullwhip” being applied to one of that year’s entrants:
Now, let’s turn our attention to this video of trainer Dale Hiteman beating his tethered, terrified, physically-compromised (preexisting, permanent neck injury) two-year-old, Princess Laa, last year (our full post here):
The above belies either argument the apologists are wont to make: racing was better, more pure back then; welfare is paramount today. It’s not rocket science, folks. When you mix animals with commerce, the animals lose – always have, always will.
You bet your life that`s why we quit! Completely disgusted how the horses & the grooms were treated by those wealthy owners. It seemed like many times those of us doing the actual work were treated more like slaves than horse caretakers.
Many trainers have done things that indicate that they are very stupid. But exploiting horses as disposable, expendable gambling objects for ego trips and money is what horse racing is all about even though it is morally depraved animal cruelty.
Fredjoan,
You are, of course, a rare example of someone involved in horse racing with extremely high morals and indisputable ethics. My guess is that’s why you left.
-Joe
Joe, it seems as though you missed the question — the question is/was “DO these morally depraved people care” that horses are suffering from the effects of being forced to gallop under saddle carrying a WHIP-WIELDING RIDER? To which I said the short answer is “No.” I know that you know that there is rampant doping and/or drugging of the horses (by these morally depraved people) with legal drugs, illegal drugs, AND illegal use of legal drugs including UNTRACEABLE DRUGS.
Joe,in many cases the horses are just used for a tax deductions against other outside income such as retirement incomes from well off individuals We have seen that for ourselves. Some trainers we rode for did not even shoe their horses when being trained on the track in am. Others would allow the shoes to get so bad that the paddock judge would have to call the tracks shoer to come & reset / repair the shoes in the paddock before race so the horse could run. Of course at the tracks expense not the owner or trainer. The legalization of race med.s certainly made racing much worse despite having more sensitive testing available. Many states such as my state of Oregon go with the LOWEST contracted bid for services such as race drug testing. Not always the best methods used in such circumstances. When ever I took a horse to the test barn I ALWAYS requested a split sample to protect myself against any questions that might arise to the best of my ability.
Wanda,
You completely misunderstand my post.
I thought it was rather obvious that when I say “Show up”, I mean it’s the trainer who enters an infirm horse knowing full well his charge has no shot at winning, but enters him ANYWAY, because he knows that he picks up a check. The trainer. It’s also rather obvious that the horse has no clue as to what nefarious shenanigans the trainer is up to.
Years ago, a trainer would have to wait until he found a race in the condition book where the horse was competitive enough close in on the finish to earn his keep. Oh, and owners DO hate to lose. They WANT their picture in the winner’s circle. In the case of billionaires like Mike Repole, the money is often secondary. Not to the trainer, though. Otherwise he loses his job.
And you’re dead wrong about “no” is the short answer because horse racing IS much worse today than it ever was, because, consider:
– Racing was once self sufficient. Now, it can’t survive at all without backroom deals, government handouts, and “racino” income.
– Trainers and owners could only collect a check if they ran “in the money” – unlike today. AS such, there’s less of a need for a trainer to properly condition his horse knowing he could run it anywhere, finish dead last, and STILL make money.
Mr. Battuello often cites numerous examples in his posts about how these miscreant individuals will do so gladly, regardless of the horse’s condition. Trainers are not stupid; they know that every horse, no matter how well- or poorly- treated only has so many races in him before his untimely end. But today, there is less concern about the horse’s condition knowing that the first-to-last payoff works in their favor – certainly not the horse’s. Owners are not innocent in this game either, who will gladly give a trainer the green light to ‘dump’ a poor under-performing horse.
Also:
– Drug use is rampant and worse than ever. Do you know that even Lasix was once banned at all NYRA tracks?
– Cheating, while always a factor, is now almost given a full pass by officials who are desperately afraid to shed more light on the horror that goes on every day at the race tracks, knowing full well that type of (truthful) information will hasten horse racing’s demise..
Lastly, sometimes I think you seem to forget that we’re all on the same side here. When I was active in wagering on the races, I considered all you animal activists to be completely, off-the wall nut cases that needed to get a life when I’d see you protesting at the tracks.
Now, I will be the first one to admit that I was 100% DEAD WRONG about both your cause for animal mistreatment, and what truly goes on with animal entertainment – how cruel it really is – and how it needs to be shut down. Which is one of the reasons why I haven’t bet on the races in over two years. Yes, my eyes were opened, and, as a logical person, I can’t deny truth and facts.
But these aforementioned facts tell me that racing IS worse, and it will get even worse before it gets better. The silver lining? The end of horse racing, like grey hound racing, is in sight, and they all know it.
-Joe
Anytime a horse “shows up” for a race with pre-existing internal injuries that can’t be seen with the naked eye, they must “perform” in order to be in that race at all. Just because they aren’t competitive doesn’t mean these horses don’t have to exert themselves to fullest of their capacity.
If you were a horse with ulcers and arthritis, but you had no choice but to “show up” in a race anyway just to financially benefit some greedy people, that would be the equivalent of a “performance” in that moment.
These claiming races for horses are in some ways the equivalent of a demolition derby for automobiles in that they are on their “last legs”. The horses don’t have a choice but to do what their creepy owners and trainers demand of them. The horses are forced to suffer untold misery.
Even very young and underdeveloped fillies and colts are being forced to train and race with degenerative joint disease and do these morally depraved people care? “No” is the short answer.
It seems that Princess Laa’s name has been completely bleached from the records of the U.S. Trotting Association’s files. How convenient. As if she never existed.
While I would certainly agree that racing was not “better” in the proverbial “good old days”, I would have to say that I believe it is much worse today. But by worse, I mean that racing’s treatment of the animals involved in the ‘sport’ has gone from BAD to WORSE.
It was never ‘good’.
While the trainers, handlers, owners and vets were not exactly as pure as the driven snow back then, a loosening of the rules, such as payouts from first to last, the influx of pre-race administered drugs, both legal and otherwise, crooked vets, and the spate of government handouts to prop it up all points to a very frightened industry that knows it’s on its last legs.
Desperate men will do desperate things.
All of which indicates that today, for the most part, horses really don’t have to perform, just show up and run around the track to collect a paycheck. And with shortened fields, such as those with four & five entries, it makes it a lot easier for unscrupulous trainers to enter infirm animals who can clunk up for second or third, usually resulting in somewhat heftier payday.
When you actually had to COMPETE to win a portion of the purse money, trainers realized that they actually had to keep their charges at least SOMEWHAT sound to earn the purse money.
Today? Not so much.
No, it’s unquestionably worse today. It’s horrible. But it was never good. Even us (former) hard-core bettors knew the game was never the most pure, uncorrupted and morally ethical business in the world.
-Joe
Thanks for sharing the reality of what actually happens to horses in real life in the past and the present.
Do we know what happened to Princess after this cruelty?