Aussie jockeys strike over new whip rules

[MDeering]

http://racing.scmp.com/freeservice/news/news20090916b.asp

This piece typifies Alan Aitken’s deliciously witty style of writing.

Wonderful.

[Anonymous]

There’s no hard evidence in the stream of anecdotes about how this or that race was lost through use of the whip. On the contrary, its obvious that over time infinitely more races are won by subtle whip use to keep horses straight, than are lost by horses veering across the track when hit. That is part of the art of good jockeyship.

I’d urge any genuine racing supporter who has been bamboozled into appeasing the demands for a whip ban, to reflect on what they are doing. Namely, getting into bed with groups of angry people whose sole motive is to destroy the sport and get it banned completely.

Now that

is

a fact.

[Zorro]

Let jockeys use their own judgement as to how many times they hit them, particularly if they’re now using powder puffs instead of whips. Trainers will soon dump them if they’re doing more harm than good.

At the end of long distance jump races belabouring a beaten horse probably is cruel. But the whole issue’s silly PC nonsense now the Aussies have more or less dumped the jumps.

Still… satisfies those who want to be seen to be more caring than anyone else I suppose – although the argument does racing’s image harm because it implies acceptance of the premise that professionals’ indifference to the horse’s welfare needs to be curbed.

And I thought Australia was an oasis on sanity on this subject.

[wordfromthewise]

There’s no hard evidence in the stream of anecdotes about how this or that race was lost through use of the whip. On the contrary, its obvious that over time infinitely more races are won by subtle whip use to keep horses straight, than are lost by horses veering across the track when hit. That is part of the art of good jockeyship.

I’d urge any genuine racing supporter who has been bamboozled into appeasing the demands for a whip ban, to reflect on what they are doing. Namely, getting into bed with groups of angry people whose sole motive is to destroy the sport and get it banned completely.

Now that

is

a fact.

100% disagree that finding beating horses with sticks unacceptable and unnecessary is siding with the ban racing lobby just as I 100% disagree with the idea of banning racing.

Whipping horses particularly in the name of sport is an act that needs to be justified, as things stand it is authorised cruelty that we could do without in my opinion.

Races can still be run and won and whips can be waved to encourage or keep horses straight but beating them to go faster if you think it through is something that belongs to a less enlightened age.

[Anonymous]

Races can still be run and won and whips can be waved to encourage or keep horses straight but beating them to go faster if you think it through is something that belongs to a less enlightened age.

What evidence do you present to suggest that our age is more

enlightened

than, say, Edwardian England? In some ways we’ve lost ground. A longer life does not mean a happier or better one. A noisier and hotter one with globally poisoned air is not an improvement, either for us or the horses. Based on the research findings relative to the reading ages of popular newspapers then and now, our working vocabulary has dwindled over the last hundred years to infantile proportions. So how is all this

more enlightened

?

I’m picking out a few plums for effect, sure; but the notion that our ideas are

ipso facto

superior to those of our ancestors (or indeed the contrary opinions of our contemporaries in non-Westernised parts of the world) is a curious one.

I

have

thought the matter through, and find the line between a sadistic beating and a handful of stinging smacks to be obvious – at least before emotive language from a handful of anthropomorphic puritans who want to ban the whole thing comes in to cloud the issue.

The notion that simply

waving

a whip in its line of sight will "encourage" a horse or keep it straight is something I can’t comment on, but on the face of it this sounds equally curious.

I’m open to

(ahem)

correction, though.

[wordfromthewise]

………….sticking to what we are actually talking about ( you’ll get no notions of western or any other superiority from me BTW), I meant (as I suspect you know) ……….we are in more enlightened times now than in times when protecting animals from cruelty wasn’t considered important and even it was it didn’t get as far as banning or even having a trial ( which was my original suggestion) of horseracing without whips.

You haven’t thought it through if you think hitting animals with sticks is not at the very least worthy of scrutiny to see if it is justifiable……..which in my opinion it isn’t………35 years of following this sport has desensitised me to it somewhat but when I stop and think it just can’t be right…….(ahem)……..IMO of course.

[rory]

Use of the whip while riding isn’t necessarily the same as "beating horses with sticks", Bob, although constant use of that phrase is bound to ingrain the concept of cruelty, whether true or not.

[wordfromthewise]

Use of the whip while riding isn’t necessarily the same as "beating horses with sticks", Bob, although constant use of that phrase is bound to ingrain the concept of cruelty, whether true or not.

Agreed about the emotive language but can we at least try racing without whips used in a way which appears cruel?

[Zorro]

Bob, I believe there are parts of Scandinavia in which the whip has been banned and everything’s hands and heels only.
Heard much about Scandinavian racing lately?

[wordfromthewise]

Bob, I believe there are parts of Scandinavia in which the whip has been banned and everything’s hands and heels only.
Heard much about Scandinavian racing lately?

………..So Scandinavian racing is small time because it has banned whips is it?…………………if there is a more odd piece of logic anywhere in this forum I would be very surprised.

[Venusian]

I think you are referring to the Norwegian part.

[GhostofTheFellow]

Well i do know what im talking about it!!!

I was a work rider in various Jump yards when i was younger(and lighter!!)

I think the whip should only be carried and used if a horse veers off a straight line etc etc.

There are a few jockeys out there who are tagged as ”the greatest” ”the best” etc etc etc but how good would they be without the whip?

Graeme Lee ,Timmy Murphy,Jamie Spencer, and Richard Hughes would would be unaffected they are very good horsemen.

Another angle…if you were driving passed a field and there were a group of people on horses flogging them with whips …would you phone the RSPCA?????

[Katy]

If I whacked you across the arse with an air cushioned whip you would probably feel nothing, now take an average horse who weighs around 500kg, a heck of a lot more than a person and do you really think its going to hurt. Now if i were passing a field where a horse was being flogged by 1 person with a whip for less than 30 seconds (how long does the last 2 furlongs of a race last) nah, I don’t think the RSPCA would be bothered. There is a huge difference between a "whip" and an air cushioned jockey whip, please don’t get them confused

[Zorro]

Doesn’t seem irrational to me, Bob. On your logic surely the removal of the whip would have made the fan base grow.
Agree completely, Katy.

[Pompete]

If I whacked you across the [expletive] with an air cushioned whip you would probably feel nothing, now take an average horse who weighs around 500kg, a heck of a lot more than a person and do you really think its going to hurt.

So, your agreeing there is no point in using them.

[wit]

So, your agreeing there is no point in using them.

not so, according to the logic of one plant-abuser / dog-botherer ("why can’t she leave them alone to be just…plants and dogs"):

http://animalrights.change.org/blog/vie … _racetrack

best regards

wit

[Pompete]

Fair enough Wit. It all seems a bit strange to me, if as is implied the air-cushioned whip can’t hurt a horse (cause it pain) why all this about how many times a horse can be hit and when….

[Author]

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