Another “ruling” from the Indiana Racing Commission:
“While driving No. 6 Luvin Affection in race 2 at Hoosier Park on June 12, Mike Oosting was found to have welted the horse. For this violation, Mr. Oosting is fined $300 (first offense of the meet). Mr. Oosting waived his right to a hearing and accepted the penalty.”
The “No. 6” is but three years old, and she was left with welts so that some men may gamble and others chase pots of gold. For shame, America.
Meanwhile, at Delaware Jun 14, Ameliorate, say the stewards, was “scratched” by the regulatory vet because she was “lame in the post parade.” Which means, unless she was injured in that “parade,” her exploiter brought her to race that day already lame. The 3-year-old was coming off her first race (May 15) for breeder/owner/trainer Ney Pessanha.
The next day, the stewards report, the “claim” (sale) of Brother Conway was voided because the 5-year-old had been “vanned off after being unsaddled – lame.”
This, too, is horseracing.
I think many of us have an immediate reaction of wanting to do something like that, Marina, but assaulting a human is taken more seriously by law than assaulting horses or other animals. Assaulting another human being is absolutely an arrestable offense whereas assaulting a horse…???
What law on the books, in any given state in the USA, allows a witness to an ongoing act of a human being committing an egregious act of physical assault on a horse to call the police about it and have at least one Law Enforcement Officer show up to at least ask questions about what actually happened???
Good for you for practicing restraint. If I saw some “women” whipping a horse like that I would wait for them in the parking lot and see how they like to be beaten.
There is no ethical reason for whipping a horse in the face or hitting their eyes. It’s unethical to say the least.
The word “unethical” appears to be the favored choice of words in the article I just read about the new rules for the United States Equestrian Federation regarding abuse of horses covered under their jurisdiction, not only at USEF events/ shows/ competitions, but also away from these events to include training and handling by USEF registered human participants anywhere other than the competitive events as well.
Abuse of horses is rampant among so-called horsemen & “horsewomen” and it’s about time a group of people “with some degree of authority” begin to take steps to address the abuse and the abusers, both at the event property and anywhere else.
I have given up on some prospective women riding friends because of the way they would whip a Thoroughbred horse as hard as they could in the face with their whip in the morning gallops! What ever a rider does to a horse is a fairly good indicator of the treatment you may receive as a person down the road. That same horse, Last Peak, & I later attained the fastest workout of the day with no carrying of a whip or buzzers much to the surprise of the other horse people. He was barefoot behind at the time as well.
Welts turn into bruises. Since horses have hair covering their skin, the bruises would not be readily seen. A $300 fine is not enough to stop a die-hard sadist from doing the same thing over and over again.
It’s a crime that the racing commissioners do not protect horses from the mistreatment of being whipped so hard by the driver that the whipping causes welts, but forcing horses to RUN FAST every time they are taken out of their stalls is abuse in itself. Horses used for racing are forced to suffer in so many ways.
It’s wrong to think that this kind of abuse of horses is no big deal because it is a big deal.
If these so-called horsemen had to be whipped everyday and run so fast and long that they couldn’t catch their breath AND suffer the pain from the whipping, it would be a BIG DEAL TO THEM.
#HorseracingIsAnimalCruelty
#EndHorseracingNOW