Living in the Saratoga region, I can tell you that yesterday at 1:15, when the 1st race went off at Saratoga Race Course, it was oppressively hot – temps at 90+. In fact, the Equibase charts admit as much. Little surprise, then, that we got notes like these:
“Holey Moley got attended to on the main track in the backstretch for heat.”
“Corruption [after ‘winning’] was pulled up in heat-distress after being brought back in front of the grandstand [presumably for ‘Winner’s Circle’ pics].”
“Dillinger got attended to on track with heat distress.” Dillinger, by the way, finished last, 27 lengths back. But because Saratoga enjoys taxpayer subsidies, his “connections” walked away with $561.
In addition, two other horses – Sa’ad and Dolomite – had to be ambulanced off the track.
When thinking about the (extra) cruelty of whip-racing horses in that type of heat, consider what an expert, Dr. Robert Cook, had to say about bits when commenting on photos taken at Saratoga three years ago (full post with all those photos here).
“All of these racehorses will run their forthcoming race in pain from the bit. A recognized principle of saddle-fitting is that the saddle should not apply direct pressure on the bone of the spine. The same principle is overlooked in relation to bit use, the declared purpose of which is to apply pressure on the bars of the mouth, the jawbone. Imagine how we would feel if we were ‘trained’ by the repeated pressure of one or more metal rods against both our shins? A horse’s mouth is much more sensitive.
“The horse is a nose-breathing animal and cannot mouth-breathe. In the wild it runs with a closed mouth, sealed lips, and a negative atmospheric pressure in the oral cavity. Suction pressure locks the soft palate onto the root of an immobile tongue to maintain an open airway. A bit breaks the lip seal, admits air into the mouth, and unlocks the soft palate, which now obstructs the airway. But this is not all.
“A law of physics governing airflow in tubes explains why airway obstruction at the level of the throat will cause pressure damage (barotrauma) to the lungs and why all these horses will ‘bleed.’ As their lungs are repeatedly bruised and quickly waterlogged, at a rate of twice a second or more at each obstructed breath, some horses may experience severe chest pain and a frightening sensation of drowning. Any one of them could die from so-called ‘exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.’
“In a word, all of these horses will experience varying degrees of suffocation, aggravated by the extent to which each horse is rated by bit-induced poll flexion. I see that at least six of them are harnessed with two bits, a snaffle and a ring bit. A ring bit is especially severe and one horse is encumbered with this and a tongue-tie. The physical and emotional enormity of bit usage would be difficult to overstate. Its self-evident purpose to cause pain is bad enough, but its unintended consequence of asphyxiation brings to mind the method’s similarity to that of waterboarding.
“In my opinion, a bitted rein is a whip by another name; an unrecognized lung-damaging device that, during extreme physical exercise, inevitably causes pain, suffocation and premature exhaustion.”
To say that “in the wild horses do not care about the heat”, which is one of the most nonsensical and idiotic statements of all time, has no truth in it whatsoever.
Such a ridiculous statement suggests that horses that are bred for racing and gambling do care about the heat.
Your statement is truly twisted, Mishka. Excessive heat is excessive heat to all horses.
Mishka, re: your “in the wild these majestic creatures would not care about temperatures”, that’s right – b/c they have no greedy humans demanding they run as fast as they are physically able in such heat – THEY would do what my horses do – STAND quietly.
Corruption’s greedy connections found an “interesting” way on social media to address their horse’s heat exhaustion – their words, “he encountered a bout of heat exhaustion”. In other words, the poor horse (given LASIX before the race, as well – WHAT human runners dehydrate themselves before running a race? – and in oppressive heat, no less?) merely had a chance meeting with the 90 degree-plus weather.
Mishka, I don’t have a mayor in my town, so I am not sure to whom you’re referring to, so that is a moot point for me.
My horses “were bred for a specific purpose” of racing, and when it was in the 90s here the last few days, they never even trotted around, much less ran. They were sweating just meandering around. In the wild, in the hot temps, you will see wild horses standing in lakes or under shade trees, not running, unless forced to.
“I guess you all can afford to actually afford to SURVIVE without the extra money coming into the town and surrounding counties.” Irrelevant, or should be irrelevant, in issues of morality. If you believe it is wrong to abuse and kill horses for $2 bets, then money has no place in the conversation. Full stop.
As for the homeless, if you are so moved, by all means advocate (and it sounds like you already do). For us, speaking for suffering, voiceless animals is, and will ever be, our priority.
I guess you all can afford to actually afford to SURVIVE without the extra money coming into the town and surrounding counties. These are animals bred for one specific purpose. In the wild, these majestic creatures would not care about temperatures. But hey…let’s be more concerned about these animals as opposed the the Mayor’s corrupted politics to arrest people voicing concerns about said mayor’s push through to fine and/or arrest homeless people during a public hearing. Yup. Showing priorities right there.
Thank you Mary…for being honest. It’s pure evil scums**t (horseracing) these scumbags involved in this EVIL need to quit being a bottom dweller of society (I’m speaking of you scumbag trainers too) go get a REAL job!
Teresa, I agree with your view of the different equestrian disciplines also known as “sports”. Over time, the fashions and trends change in the equine world and not always for the better.
I suppose the industry that manufactures metal bits and spurs would lobby for the use of bits and spurs as much as the racing industry lobbies for subsidies to horseracing.
It is so ironic that the horseracing industry is bleeding money and yet the claim is made that horseracing adds so many millions of dollars (and jobs) to the economy when they are screaming for subsidies to keep this glorified animal abuse afloat.
Animal abusers definitely do not deserve admiration or respect. It is a worse than sad commentary when some of the worst offenders are put on a pedestal and hailed as “a hero”.
I was first introduced to Dr Cook’s bitless bridle years ago. His research and teaching about what bits do to a horse’s mouth is second to none. It astounds me that it is against the rules (at least last I heard) to use a bitless bridle in dressage or jumping competition. Can’t figure out why, but that’s horse “sports” for you. I don’t have respect for any of them any more.
Lisa Lazarus should be, at the very least, embarrassed to death for her extreme stupidity and dereliction of duty to keep horses safe from the greedy people in this industry who put horses’ lives at risk even more so by running them in extreme heat. But, of course, we know that for the money she is being paid, she is one of the greediest people in the horse racing industry.
I watched yesterday as Corruption suffered severe heat stroke after his race. He could barely stand, and fell to the ground several times. I will never attend another race where horses are made to race in such extreme heat. Too cruel!!!
We use a Dr. Cooks bit-less bridle on our farms Seattle Slew line horse. He actually goes better without a bit. Always hated the use of ring bits & tongue ties when we rode at the track! All that unneeded metal in a horses mouth. In our state to pass a race trainers exam, one must demonstrate the use & tying of tongue tie! The link to additional info is useful. All equine events should be halted when temp.s are above 80f & humidity is > 50 or 60% in our opinion especially when there is no cooling winds.