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- Total Posts 17716
320 deaths in 691 days.
Pressgang another to be added to the list, such a horrible sport when it wants to be
Pressgang to be next?
Hope he can be saved
It is a dangerous sport, its such a shame. They just cant prevent itIts unfortunate and its horrible. Alas its innevitable that some horses will be lost, its a fact of life you cannot possibly avoid peril. Yes you could ban jump racing but then far more horses wouldn’t have a life at all.
- Total Posts 17716
Dreadfull day, I know its not preventable but its hard to watch.
Racehorses have a wonderful life and the risk of injury or death is the price they sometimes unfortunately pay.
Would rather come back as a racehorse than a "free" New Forest pony.
Would like to see barbed wire banned from any field containing horses. Far more serious cause for concern.
Mark
Value Is EverythingI’m sure your hearts are in the right place, but we are all of us aware of the risks to the animals involved, and it doesn’t need pointing out – with numbers included – in a thread. Half-wits will be only too happy to use these bare numbers as a stick with which to beat racing, and it’s better if we ‘fans’ don’t give them any ammo.
If you want to remember a particular animal that has been lost, post in the Memorials section.
It’s a discussion board, so please don’t jump on Mr Wilson for starting a discussion. I am surprised at the number, nearly one horse every 2 days.
I often have trouble reconciling my love of racing with my love of animals in general and horses in particular. Yes, I play through my mind all the positive arguments, and I have visited several stables and seen how well the horses are looked after.
I do sometimes wonder, though, if participants in old "sports" such as bear-baiting and dog-fighting also found positive arguments to justify their actions. Will people look back on horse racing in fifty years time and categorise it with these sports?
It’s a discussion board, so please don’t jump on Mr Wilson for starting a discussion.
I don’t believe I "jumped on" Mr Wilson.
I pointed out that this type of thread does more damage than good, and that there is already an area of the forum that is specifically set aside to discuss horses that have been lost.
Perhaps you can tell me exactly where this "discussion" might go, given that we are all aware that horses die as a result of racing, and are equally aware that the dangers cannot be commuted much more than they already are, without imposing some sort of ban.
Does anyone know if Killaghey Castle got up after falling at one of the railways in the last?
Didn’t look good…
I pointed out that this type of thread does more damage than good, and that there is already an area of the forum that is specifically set aside to discuss horses that have been lost.
Perhaps you can tell me exactly where this "discussion" might go, given that we are all aware that horses die as a result of racing, and are equally aware that the dangers cannot be commuted much more than they already are, without imposing some sort of ban.
Sorry, I think you are dead wrong on this point.
Just because you can’t think of any improvements yourself over the status quo other than "some sort of ban", doesn’t mean that other people can’t.
Racehorses in this country are probably much better treated in welfare terms than any other "pet animals", and the NH branch of the sport can be proud of the improvements in safety for horses and riders over recent decades, but further progress certainly can (and will) be made, for example in the construction of obstacles or schooling methods.
Sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting la-la-la very loudly every time the subject is aired isn’t going to help anybody, except perhaps the anti-racing loonies, and neither of us wants that.
Yes, lets just censor anyone who posts a statistic that
could possibly
show racing in a negative light.
If those stats are correct, I’m astonished. I’m sure everybodys doing all they can to prevent such happenings, but a fatality every other day is hard to swallow. If it were a human fatality at the same rate, the sport would…er…surely come under the spotlight.
Grass,
We don’t have to dwell too much on it, sure. But unless people within racing look at incidents / number of fatalities; then we can not learn from them. Granted most are just accidents, but sometimes there are reasons for these things.
For example, if there was a course in particular that had more fatalities than normal it should at least be looked in to.
I would urge punters to become members of the International League For The Protection Of Horses (ILPH) and their local Racehorse Rehabilitation Centre, to try and give something back to those equines that make our sport what it is.
Mark
Value Is EverythingJust because you can’t think of any improvements yourself over the status quo other than "some sort of ban", doesn’t mean that other people can’t.
Sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting la-la-la very loudly every time the subject is aired isn’t going to help anybody, except perhaps the anti-racing loonies, and neither of us wants that.
In which case, Venusian, your time would surely be better spent developing the ‘discussion’ with your particular theories in this area, rather than addressing me?
I’ll put my hands up on this one – I may have been too hasty. I do, however, feel it’s worth pointing out that no such discussion around what can/should be done to reduce fatalities was taking place, at the time I originally posted.
Hopefully the debate can go on to cover the kind of areas Venusian and Gingertipster have mentioned – I’m certainly prepared to listen.
Onthesteal, I suggest you look up the meaning of ‘censor’ before using it again.
What interests me is the amount of time courses spend watering the ground in the name of health and safety. With the winter we’ve had its clearly not quick ground that is the main cause of fatalities.
Ok its mainly flat courses that water but its a pet hate of mine so I feel the need to comment.
Just a question here (and I’m not for a moment pretending to know the answer) – How many of the fatalities are down to tiredness in very soft / heavy ground?
At a guess comparatively fewer – speed kills the most, I’d suggest.
Sandown is not a track with a notably rampant fatality rate, but on account of its markedly downhill siting one
could
argue that the fence that claimed Pressgang today possesses the greatest propensity to visit a terminal accident upon a racehorse.
Older readers may remember Pegwell Bay being killed at it in the 1992 renewal of the Royal Game Handicap Chase, in which it was the first fence of the contest.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
- Total Posts 17716
If those stats are correct, I’m astonished.
http://www.horsedeathwatch.com/
Check for your’re self OTS, every horse’s death recorded and you can search under the jockey, racecourse, ground conditions etc.
Hope he can be saved
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