I received the following email Thursday. (Here are others I’ve received over the years.)
“I’ve never gone to a horse race before today and I deeply regret it. I live in New Orleans and there is a betting track here [Fair Grounds], and I went with some family members who were in town. Right after one of the races, a very healthy looking, well-bred horse collapsed and looked like it was seizing. People around immediately started putting water on her while the vet ran towards her. I had no clue what was going on, so I asked a lady standing there who had horses at home. She said that it most likely is a heart attack. They did their best to keep the view blocked, but I could tell that poor horse stopped breathing. They then loaded her up.
“They seemed to have everything ready in case something like this happened. They must have thought she overheated at first, but it was a cool day for New Orleans. That vet seemed pretty upset so I am hoping something gets investigated. All horses seemed well taken care of, but I had no idea how bad the world of horse racing was until I started doing some reading this evening. I’m disgusted I was briefly a part of this today.”
Jolene Scarlett
New Orleans
(At this point, I do not know the identity of the horse. But I will soon enough.)
Well said everyone! Keep up the fight against such abuse!
Jolene, no need to feel somehow complicit by attending. You didn’t know. Now you do. Millions of other people just like you are out there. They don’t know, but they should. If they knew, they would have the same reaction, and public outcry would end this horror. Patrick is giving his all, and you can too in your corner of the world.
In horse racing there are no winners. Everyone loses. The horses obviously lose their freedom, their health, and ultimately their brief, torturous life. Taxpayers unknowingly lose their money to government subsidies for this insolvent “industry”. Betters lose their money ultimately if they play “the game” long enough. Churchill Downs and Saratoga may build sparkling palaces of abuse and death with other peoples’ money, but theses corporate “winners” lose most of all because in their propagation of this moral depravity their hearts have departed from them. Spread the word.
Thank you, Jolene, for acknowledging the cruelty of horseracing & what seems to me, simple common sense – horses should not be made to participate in an activity known to put them at an increased risk of injury & death. To add insult to injury, horseracing exists for mere gambling entertainment and as it’s been pointed out here many times, there are so many other ways to piss away money if one must gamble.
One thing I want to add because I’ve seen it said many times over the years is regarding the (seemingly) “well taken care of” racehorses. Yes, the majority are fed…that’s only because like a race car that requires fuel, horses do, as well, to perform & earn money for their people. Their daily existence is a miserable one, void of everything that equines require for physical health and crave for mental & emotional wellbeing.
Again, I thank you. Please continue taking next step, when the opportunities present themselves, to be their voice. The horses would thank you if they could.
Jolene,
It’s good to know that there is one more person in this world who is repulsed by the fatal exploitation of horses for racing and Pari-mutuel gambling and finds it detestable, deplorable and disgusting. Thank you for sharing your experience with Horseracing Wrongs.