Have a look at what's going on in jumps racing. It's cruel and an exploitation of horses that we don't have the right to do. If the horses knew they could be killed by making a bad jump I bet they wouldn't jump.

In fact I'll go one step further. The number of racehorses being killed each year by being sent to the knackeries is a blight on humanity. We do not have the right to exploit animals for our own selfish ends and then kill them as if they are discardable pieces of trash.

Any racehorse purchased should be purchased for life. That means the owner has a legal responsibility to take good care of the horse after its racing days are finished and by taking good care I DO NOT mean sending it to the knackery. The owner has a responsibility to look after the horse after its racing days are over or alternatively to find a good home for it.

Exploiting animals then prematurely ending their lives is a disgrace.

Mister Horse,

I see and respect your point of view.

However, where do you draw the line?
How many jumps horses will be and would otherwise be sent to the knackery.
Horses are killed in flat racing.
Horses are even killed in pony club and dressage, olympic jumping etc.

Then there is the matter of unemployment if jumps racing is banned.

The onus is on all racing authorities to make jumps racing as safe as possible. Unfortunately they were pressured by the extremists and it ended up becoming less safe.
That is what happens when extremists are allowed to run rampant, they cause more damage than the initial situation.

What has actually happened is that the authorities have done the exact reverse of what should have been done.

An analogy is thus, train a mouse to run through a small hole in a cage to collect food.

Now run that same mouse on a wheel until it's starting to dramatically tire.
Place mouse in front of hole, and watch him headbutt the sides and miss the hole.
The mouse knows there is an easy way through, but misjudges.

Jumps with collapsible bases and false tops promote falls.
They just don't understand the science of why.
Because they don't understand horses.

The fact is most horses far prefer to jump than to flat race.
Efficient would probably not have won a Melbourne Cup without a jumps hitout.
Many trainers jump their horses to keep them sharp and interested.

I agree with all the latter half of your posting entirely.

No horse should be sent to the knackery, even if it's a rogue, it deserves to be looked after.

__________________
RaceCensus - powerful system testing software.
Now with over 409,000 Metropolitan, Provincial and Country races!
http://www.propun.com.au/horse_raci...ng_systems.html
*RaceCensus now updated to 31/10/2024
Video overview of RaceCensus here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W821YP_b0Pg

Mr Horse,

I can sympathize with some of your sentiments regarding jumps racing, but not with your quick expansion to include all racing and then all animals: "Exploiting animals then prematurely ending their lives is a disgrace". To be consistent, you are obviously not a meat eater [nothing wrong with that], but more importantly as this is a punting forum, you have nothing to do with punting and I'm sure you personally have no interest in financially contributing to a horse retirement fund or an adopt a retired racehorse plan either [?].

The cost of being legally obliged as race horse owners [who rarely live on a farm] to pay the cost of maintaining retired horses until they die a natural death, would be enormous. The racing industry would quickly run out of would-be owners and the horses would run out of places to retire too [there are 25,000 fouls born into the racing industry every year]. The obvious result would soon end racing and everyone in the industry would lose their job.

From a profit viewpoint they are bookmaker benefit races.
darky.

Using the number of horses born each year as a justification for prematurely taking away their lives after finishing exploiting them doesn't hold water with me.

And while we're about it let's ensure horses are not given anything which may push them beyond their limits.

Let's ban the use of whips.

Let's ensure racing tracks are softer to protect vulnerable horses' bones and joints.

Let's ban the racing of young horses before their legs are fully formed and strengthened.

Let's ban shipping thoroughbreds overseas, where most end up in dog and cat food cans.

Mr Horse,
Nobody here likes to be preached too, so perhaps it's time you went back to your animal rights forum? If you have a cat or dog, what do you feed it, vegetables or perhaps even road-kill? Maybe we should ban cars and trucks too?

I don't believe that either of these assumptions have been proven in real time.
In fact, the opposite has proven to happen in both cases.

__________________
RaceCensus - powerful system testing software.
Now with over 409,000 Metropolitan, Provincial and Country races!
http://www.propun.com.au/horse_raci...ng_systems.html
*RaceCensus now updated to 31/10/2024
Video overview of RaceCensus here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W821YP_b0Pg