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Can somebody please give some information as to horse welfare on the Irish courses? Yet again whilst watching a race at Limerick I have been disgusted to see a horse fall, commentator actually said the horse is injured, then as the camera angle changed the poor horse could be seen in the background standing with what looked to be a broken leg – there was no sign of anyone near to help nor anyone looking like they were on their way …
The point of hiding injured horses is stupid re the camera’s. If we watch horses racing we should be able to stomach that horse get injured and stop pretending this sport is not extremely dangerous.
Re the point of lazy people coming to the aid of horses i agree it is fairly lax in Ireland. I not sure if people are worried that if they get on the track they get a bollicking by the stewards who are a bunch of gangsters in Ireland.
Please: I do not want to start a debate on dangers/injuries, not watching etc … I have personally witnessed many injured horses – some very close up – yesterday and last weekend actually. My point is not about the camera but about the lack of speed of available help … there didn’t even seem to be anyone there at that particular hurdle at all … I have been at two point-to-points these last 2 weekends where horses were fatally injured and the vet and his assistants were there almost immediately … yet in Ireland there doesn’t even seem to be anybody to even wave a flag to alert the vet …
We all accept that horses get killed/injured on racetracks Rubyisgod….but what we can’t tolerate is horses waiting for unacceptable amounts of time before veterinary aid is available. It doesn’t bother me if I see it or not, I just want the horse to suffer as little as possible. This isn’t about the people watching it’s about an animal frightened and in pain.
I agree fully about not getting to the horse asap…it should be done. Not sure however if you can have a bunch of lads running around after a horse that is running away. I havent seen the race so cant comment but i have seen previous incident of poorness in Ireland
Re: "but i have seen previous incident of poorness in Ireland"
put a "S" on the end of incident …
Night Spark today, Osiera recently and Fionnegas – none of these ran away but they were not given help quickly enough …
In GB we have people at every obstacle, vets following and screens …
Quote from point-to-point racecard:
"In the unfortunate event of an accident or horse becoming hurt or distressed the vets are on hand to act swiftly and treat a horse without delay.
It is now standard practice that all point-to-points have horse ambulances so that horses an be moved and treated in more comfort.
If a horse is injured out on the course, the vets and their assistants will erect screens enabling them to work in private – the use of screens will not automatically mean the horse has been seriously injured."The screens aren’t to hide the evidence so to speak it’s to give the veterinary team a calm environment to treat the injured horse in.
The pic we saw was about 35 seconds after the horse fell – if you can show me any veterinary team that can spot that, get out of the car following the field, get the screens up etc. in that time then you know better folk than me.
Well actually I do … they were in action last weekend … the horse broke a leg right in front of the Easter crowd at the winning post on the first circuit – screens were errected, the vet ended the horse’s life by injection – and it all happened very quickly indeed. Seriously I know it was only a short time today but I could not see anyone else at the hurdle and no-one following the field … and certainly in the case of the other 2 mentioned horses they were still struggling when the field came round again …
I think it varies greatly from track to track.
Speaking as someone who was involved in a horse that sadly broke down at Thurles one day, I couldn’t speak highly enough of the course officials and the care they gave to the horse.
Surely it shouldn’t vary from course to course – surely there should be a standard of care applicable to all? Many of the points I go to are attended by Bangor-on-Dee’s horse ambulance and they are outstanding – and you don’t get much minor than Bangor (no stands!). (I hasten to add I like Bangor very much!) At points here the next race can’t run unless the horse ambulance is OK (as well of course as the human medical vehicles).
Ten Plus, I could not agree more with you. It is an absolutely sham that the vets are not attending to these animals quicker. To see a horse fall and then see if visible in pain is sickening, but then to see it still in its sorry state on the next lap round is inexcusable.
The cases of Fionnegas and Osiera which you mentioned are a great example of these atrotious situations where the vets are too slow to attend to the sticken horses.
Every hurdle/fence in the Uk has a team of people to either attend to the fences or attend to the horses or jockeys that maybe injured. In Ireland you rarely see people at every hurdle/fence. Something needs to change.
Letting one horse suffer for a second longer than necessary is one horse too many.
What happened to Osiera actually haunts me. It was mentioned on another forum by someone who said it was the worst thing they have ever witnessed on a racetrack.
Exactly – so where can we go from here? I have emailed the Irish turf club again as I never had any reply to my emails re Osiera. The vet who attended Fionnegas defended his actions … he thought the horse was just winded (falling at the first? – no horse who is not seriously injured would stay down like that) – subsequently found a major break on the side the horse was lying … No-one could say that Osiera’s injuries were not going to prove fatal … there is NO defending the lack of speedy attention to him. I have not been able to find out the fate of Night Spark but fear it will be not good news … PLEASE can the posters who are agreeing with me contact the Irish Turf Club – so I am not the only person trying to ask for improvments?
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