Thinking of betting on the Grand National?

[Charlie]

I believe good information usually leads to good decisions. So before putting that wager in the upcoming Grand National which Channel 4 are so proud to broadcast after the BBC decided it was too cruel an event to air, or indeed betting on any other horse race, here are a few things to consider:

Approximately 12,000 foals are born into the British and Irish racing industries each year, yet only around 50 per cent go on to become racers. Those horses who do not make the grade may be slaughtered for meat or repeatedly change hands in a downward spiral of neglect. Of those horses who do go on to race, around 420 are raced to death every year.

The Grand National is a deliberately hazardous race. Since 2000, 22 horses have died on the Grand National course and, over the course of the three-day meeting, 38 horses have been killed at the three-day in that.

Horses are prey animals. They run in races out of fear. Not joy.

Horses are the only animals who may be beaten in public for entertainment.

An enormous number of horses are trained too young and suffer heart attacks.

This is the truth beneath the glamour.

More truth:



If you want to enjoy horses. Go talk to them, feed them, love them. They are sensitive and beautiful animals. Please don't support cruelty. Thank you.

[Colin]

They make great hamburgers though.

[Charlie]

Meat's meat. If you're happy eating a cow, why not a horse or a dog or a cat. I've probably eaten horse. I probably enjoyed it too.

[nakamura]

Horses are treated like ****, people are treated like ****. Horses have kept me in a job for the last 13 years, I can deal with it.

Plenty of alterations to the Grand National course over the years, more so in recent times to make it safer to prevent casualties. A hell of a lot of horses are also treated like absolute royalty and certainly not raced to death, not within the British Horseracing circuit anyway. Of course the ones that do not make the grade, well anything can happen to them.

The BBC dropped horse racing just like they dropped pretty much everything else, they can't afford it. Simple.

[Kieran76]

The number of casualties has hasn't decreased since any of the so called safety measures were introduced.
As for the rights and wrong of eating horse and dog I personally see it as a betrayal of trust. We invited dogs into our lives, domesticated them, bred them to our liking and to then turn round and kill and eat them seems morally wrong. I know others have different opinions, but it just seems callous to me.

[Charlie]

Killing any animal is wrong in my opinion, that's why I went veggie, but that's another story.

Nakamura, you should read the Guradian article in the link I posted, a lot of horses, even very 'successful' horses, suffer an indignant death after they have grown old, when they are unable to make money for their owners through racing or breeding. They may be treated well in some ways - fed well, brushed, washed, kept in dry warm buildings, but they are trained too hard, raced too hard, and, ultimately, exploited.

Would we race people to death? No.

[Prototype]

How do you know they run out of fear? Do you sit there and talk to them? Maybe some of them enjoy it.

Anyway rarely bet, but I only would do it on Football or Tennis. Can't stand this or Cheltenham.

[Charlie]

Well... I'm not a horse, so I can't know for certain, but I have never seen wild or domesticated horses line up in large numbers and race themselves, jumping over fences and hedges. They generally run in packs when frightened, and I imagine if they genuinely enjoyed racing eachother in packs they'd do it themselves, without people on their back whipping them.

I think horses do enjoy running though. There is a mare I feed daily and she sometimes gallops towards me at full pelt only to turn and avoid me at the last minute then circle round and repeat the exercise several times, I've not trained or encouraged her to do that, she does it of her own accord, presumably because she enjoys it.

At the end of the day I think horses know what horses like best. Like any animal, they wan't to be happy and do the things they enjoy. Why force them to do anything for our own amusement?

[speedlolita]

You should have named this thread differently.

[fuse]

[charlesr]

Would we race people to death? No.

Actually we race ourselves to death, thus making us less intelligent than horses:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_cyclists_who_died_during_a_race

[gunrock]

Like any animal, they wan't to be happy and do the things they enjoy. Why force them to do anything for our own amusement?

I agree.

It's kind of how I feel for a split-second about my kids when I think of the way we funnel them through nursery, school, college, university and into "a career"... Then I realise you can't buck the system and carry-on perpetuating the cycle.

[QualityChimp]

Horses are the only animals who may be beaten in public for entertainment.

Tell me about it!

Last time I spanked my monkey in the park I got arrested...

[Colin]

Tell me about it!

Last time I spanked my monkey in the park I got arrested...

But were you entertained?

[eastyy]

i dont gamble and i bet ?20 i never will