Harness rulings last week…
Springfield, Oct 10: “Mr. Jerome Daniels, driver of Rockin Legal, is hereby fined the amount of $500 for excessive and indiscriminate urging.” One person’s “urging” is another’s beating.
Batavia, Oct 23: “Kyle Swift was observed hitting his horse more than three times in the stretch.” Fined $250, suspended three days. By the way, in a March HarnessLink profile on the 18-year-old Swift, he said: “When I got my groom’s license at the age of 14, and got into it more, I learned a lot and really fell in love with the animal. There is nothing better than the horses.” Yup, nothing shows love like hitting.
Shenandoah, Oct 27: “Carlo Poliseno is fined $100 for excessive use of the whip in the stretch while driving Glide Along.”
Dayton, Oct 31: “While driving Racing Rebel during the stretch, Marc St Louis did whip the horse excessively…. Mr. St Louis is driving on a probationary license in Ohio so his penalty is a $1,000 fine and a 10-day driving suspension, or a $1,000 fine if not appealed.” Why the probation? Well, just 15 days prior St Louis was busted for “kicking a horse.” Speaking of which, Alan Davis was fined $200 for doing just that in Delaware. For some perspective, Thomas Tharps was fined $100 in Ohio for “smoking,” and Cameron Capone was fined $250 in New Jersey for “using profane language with a racing official.”
At my old track Portland Meadows a huge group of the horse people smoked. They would have run out of paper fining all the violators! Some even smoked as they galloped their horses in the am. Stupid idiots most of the riders & so called trainers. I have started many breeds of horses under saddle or actually bareback as I prefer to feel the horse under me & hows the horse is reacting. I have NEVER used whips, spurs or even a heavy stock saddle to teach a horse to be ridden. Always climb aboard bare back after the horse & I have an established a relationship of trust with each other. Some horses take longer than others to build that trust which can be so easily ruined without taking great care.
It’s common that the racing industry uses such misleading language, isn’t it?!
To say “urging” instead of whipping, beating and abusing the horse is definitely misleading.
Who would call physically assaulting a human being “urging” rather than the violence that it is…???