Kayla Jordan
A Block
February 4, 2013
Notes on: http://www.horseracingkills.com/features/racehorses-life/
The Stud
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Foals are born as close to August 1 (date that the age of a racehorse is determined by) as
possible rather than naturally over the summer months- allowing maximum time for
training
 Achieved through:
- Adjusting temperatures
- Lengthening days through lighting
- Injecting drugs (prostaglandins) into the mare
 Mares are immediately (few weeks) put back in front of a stallion and pregnant again
o Amount of foals that usually make it?
o Famous foals?
o Breeding Farms?
Separation:
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Foals are separated from mothers at 6 months old
Immediately given a high protein diet to be in good condition to sell
Foal will be “broken”: foals obey due to fear or/and pain
If the horse challenges they are discarded of
Mares are pregnant for more than 90% of their life
Mares that produce a big time star are sent to the slaughter house so that another can not
be produced
o Are horses affected in any ways by being separated at a young age?
o What happened if a mare gets injured/ill while pregnant?
Yearling Sales:
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Most money is made through breeding
Mares/stallions who produce a winner becomes extremely valuable
Foals with the right attributes are treated extremely well
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Minor deformities can mean death for a foal- some cosmetic problems can be operated n
but with a risk of further injury
 Regime Diet- high protein diet for the foals to make them look more attractive to buyers
 Prices can range from a few hundred dollars (slaughter houses) to millions (racehorse
owners)
o How much does Mexico and Canada pay for these horses?
o Do people support these slaughter houses?
o What is the good that comes out?
Training
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Less than 2% of owners receive a profit from their racehorse
Training regime- places enormous amount of stress of body frame and breaks down the
bones and an earlier age. This causes lower limb aliments, fractures, pulled ligaments,
and strained tendons
Many horses show resistance to training methods- pain and fear are the result (forcing the
horse)
Racehorses are in a stall for 22 hours a day- causing bad stall habits ( wind sucking,
weaving) and illnesses (stomach ulcers, respiratory diseases)
The Whip
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Reason for many people to discourage horse racing
England place rules on how many times a horse can be whipped during one race
Norway has banned whips from racing
This has caused some jockeys to threaten to go on strike
Controversy continues
“the Committee, (however) cannot condone the use of the whip to inflict pain on a horse
for no other purpose than to make the horse run faster in what is essentially a sporting
event. Competent riding of a horse using only hands and heels to urge the horse on
should provide just as an exciting race and may also encourage more emphasis on
improving horsemanship. The Committee would like to see the use of whips as a means
of making a horse run faster eliminated from horse racing”. -Senate Select Committee
into Animal Welfare
Prevention Cruelty to Animals Act
Section 9 of Victoria’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act defines Cruelty as:
(1) A person who(a) wounds, mutilates, tortures, overrides, overdrives, overworks, abuses, beats, worries,
torments or terrifies an animal; commits an act of cruelty.”
‘Monty Roberts, world-renowned ‘horse whisperer’ who advises the Queen on horse
matters, spoke out against what he described as the “felonious abuse” of racehorses with
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the whip. Roberts spoke to Victoria’s apprentice jockeys in August 2006 before the
Spring Racing Carnival. He said it was a “myth” that whips made horses run faster and
stated: “It is a fact that whips have been involved in 86% of racing accidents”. (1)
Roberts pleaded for the end of the whip and to relegate it to “a museum with a list of all
the races lost with them.”’
‘Paul McGreevy, Associate Professor, Faculty of Veterinary Science at Sydney
University stated “If flogging a dead horse is futile, flogging a tired horse is worse still
since such animals feel the pain while unable to respond”’
‘Dr. Paul McGreevy and Dr. David Evans in January 2011 found that whipping a horse in
the final stages of a race does not make the horse run faster than he would if he wasn’t
whipped.’
August 2009 the padded whip was introduced- padded instead of a strip of leather.
Doesn’t make much of a difference it’s the force behind the hit that makes the difference
Whip rules have relaxed since 2009 due to the argument of “jockeys needed to use the
whip to control the horse.”
Rules are not strictly in forced
“The purpose of the whip is to make the horse run faster when fatigued, while not having
any net benefit to the horse, jockey, trainer or owner.”
Wastage
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Chances of being successful are slim: 300/1000 will ever race
40% earn no money
2% earn their keep (Dr. Paul O’Callahan, Chief Veterinary Steward of the Victorian
Racing Club)
Breeding:
- Since 2000 number of breeding mares has decreased 12%
- Stallions has increased 30%
Riding Schools, Private Ownership:
- Abuse and neglect is common
- Few people have the expertise to care for a racehorse properly, understand how much
they eat, and how expensive they are
- Many horses were bought as “pasture ornaments” and left to starve to death
- Horses sold to riding schools can be placed into a lesson program that they get
worked too hard in, improper care, and insufficient feed
- Few lucky horses go to good homes- rate very low
The Doggers and Abattoirs
- Vital to discard a horse after it is no longer able to perform
- Trainers have close relationships with transport contractors
- Picked up at discreet times
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Younger horses are killed for human consumption
Older horses end up as dog meat
Young Racing
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Racing competitively starts at 2 years old
Horses are not skeletally mature until 5 years old
High risk for young horses
85% of 2- 3 year old racehorses suffer at least one illness or injury
“The benefit of racing two-year-olds is simply economic. It means that owners can
hopefully see a return on their investment twelve months earlier, therefore making it
cheaper to prepare a horse for its first race.”
“I think there’s probably a much stronger tendency to have two year old racing
nowadays than there used to be……and the lure of prize money. There’s a great incentive
to race their horses too young too immature. In the old days, you bought your yearlings,
you broke them in, you castrated them, you turned them out. You didn’t think about them
until late two year old and mostly three year olds. The big money came with three-yearold racing. The current owners want two-year-old racing and I think it’s a pity. I think
it’s a pity because it certainly does cause the breakdown of a lot of two year olds.” Percy Sykes, leading horse racing industry vet.
Drug Use
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If pain and fatigue is covered up by enhancing drugs serious energies can occur
“The general rule is that on the day of racing, all horses must be clean of any prohibited
substances though they may be used in training. As literally hundreds of different drugs
are developed each year, it is extremely difficult for them to be detected.”
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“ANABOLIC STEROIDS have been used in horseracing in the same way as they have
been used by athletes. Steroids enhance muscle development but as they are now easily
detected have fallen out of favour to other drugs.”
“ETORPHINE (elephant juice) A tranquiliser for large animals such as elephants, it can
be a most powerful stimulant if applied correctly to horses.”
“NARCOTIC ANALGESICS (pain relief) Is used for pain relief however in small doses
are a powerful stimulant.”
“CAFFEINE A noted stimulant popular for many years but now very easily detected.
“BETA BLOCKERS Are used to slow the heart rate in horses thereby manipulating the
horses performance.”
“BUTAZOLIDIN Has pain-killing and anti-inflammatory properties, which means a
horse with congenital defects or soreness due to injury will perform better.”
“BICARB In large doses can “mop up” the lactic acid that comes with muscle activity.
Commonly known as a milkshake, it allows the horse to sustain a run for longer. It is a
very common practice with as much as 600grams being administered in a single dose.
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Trainers often would administer a spoonful to a horse each day to help with their
recovery after hard work. More recently, tubing has become the norm as it ensures every
bit of the solution reaches the horse’s stomach. A bicarb (TCO2) stomach drench is
popular with many trainers as it has been found that bicarb helps buffer lactic acid. As
bicarb is naturally produced, it cannot be banned entirely. Instead, there is a threshold
level of 36 millimoles a litre plasma total carbon dioxide. Any reading over that
constitutes an offence.”
“BLUE MAGIC
is also known as propantheline bromide. It is used to help relax
muscles, which leads to increased blood flow. No traces of the drug have been found in
thoroughbred racing but several leading harness racing figures have been charged with its
use.”
Confinement
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In stall 22 hours out of the day
Digestive and behavior abnormalities
- Wood chewing, box walking, wind sucking, weaving
Unable to socialize and move freely
Stomach ulcers and respiratory diseases
Unable to express natural behavior
Health Issues
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Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage (EIPH) is a common health issue in horse
racing. THis disease encounters bleeding in the lungs and airways, which is usually a
result in burst capillaries.
- 56% of racehorses have blood airways
- 90% of racehorses have blood in their lungs
- Very difficult to diagnose because only 1% of horses show exterior bleeding
- “a condition affecting virtually all horses during intense exercise worldwide…there is
no treatment that is considered a solution, and the currently allowed treatments have
not proven to be effective in preventing EIPH.” - (Birks EK, Durando MM, McBride
S., “Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage,” Sports Medicine and Imaging,
Department of Clinical Studies, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary
Medicine, Veterinary Clin North America Equine Pract, April 2003).
- Results in early retirement
- First time caught with EIPH the horse is banned from racing or 3 months
- Second time caught with EIPH the horse is banned form racing for life
- The only way to prevent EIPH is to not push a horse to its limits. Horse racing
pushes horses to their limits and further on
Stomach Ulcers
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Acid levels are high whenever grain is fed two to three times a day without enough
hay given in between
- Exercising with gastric acid contributes to ulcer formation
- High level performance feed compromises the health of the horse
- 86% of racehorses are found to have stomach ulcers
- Horses do not show sign of being in pain, they tough it out making the ulces worse
- Continual access to hay prevents ulcers
Inflammatory Airway Disease
- “Respiratory disease is so important that it is second only to lameness as the most
common cause of decreased performance, lost training days, and premature
retirement among racehorses. Yet it is becoming apparent that racing and strenuous
exercise, the actual substance of being a racehorse, is exactly what is putting these
horses at risk.” Dorothy Ainsworth, D.V.M., Ph.D., a veterinary researcher, clinician,
and professor of large animal medicine at Cornell University (7)
- 33% of racehorses suffer from a respiratory disease without showing any signs of it
- Only solution is to allow a horse access to fresh air and graze naturally