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I emailed the trained re Murphy and got the following pretty instant reponse – good news……..
bumping into him in mid-air, but is unscathed and will head to either Fontwell or Leicester for his pre-Cheltenham
race.Many thanks for your concern
Have to agree re Snoopy Loopy – pulled up 5 times in 6 last outings. I too wish they’d give him an honourable retirement before it’s too late. It’s not good for the image of the sport to read of some horses being treated like old unwanted machines – remember the Hello Dandy story? Below is an extract from The Racehorse Sanctuary website, which, although a few years old, expresses it very well.
If this step were to be taken then the next step would be to make it compulsory that as and when the owner of a racehorse makes the decision to retire him or her the passport should be returned to Wetherby’s immediately and stamped whereby this horse would not be allowed to be entered in any race under rules again hence safeguarding its future. Unfortunately for those horses who’s owners are not concerned as to their future many horses that quite obviously are not going to make the grade as a racehorse will still end up going under the hammer at the sales ring for a few hundred pounds to the small trainer who believes he is the one who can squeeze a little more blood out of the stone and turn things around.Only this morning I was reading of the re-vamped classes for re-trained racehorses in Horse and Hound. With care and patience, there can be life after racing. I have an ex chaser who was found in Ireland, standing knee deep in sh** having been pretty much abandoned, when his owner died and his wife wasn’t really interested. Luckily, someone I know paid meat money to save him and now he lives a very spoilt life with my 2 showjumpers and is very happy learning not to be a racehorse.
Firstly, sorry if this has been said before, but I haven’t read every post on this thread – just the last few.
My view on this is that it’s the jockey who is responsible for "direction & pace" – i.e. they must present the horse at the fence in the place that will give it the greatest chance of making it safely to the other side. Then it’s up to the horse to actually jump the fence. Just about the worst thing you can do is go for a long "no hoper" stride and fling yourself forward at the same time as then it makes it even more difficult for the now unbalanced horse to get it’s front end off the ground, or pop in a short last stride. Most riders will usually admit when it’s their fault – as Ruby did after he clearly "missed" at the last on MM. Everyone misses occasionally and I suspect most people would have more respect for someone who admits their error – or gives the horse the benefit of the doubt. It’s the few who seem so arrogant that they can’t admit that they’ve made a mistake and always blame the horse that I find irritating. It’s interesting to watch the horses who carry on jumping without a rider – you don’t often see them "miss".There can be only one winner surely? Red Rum and Ginger for me. Still watch the videos of all 5 runs today and it never fails to make me cry!! Saw Rummy’s famous dead heat on the flat at Aintree as a child and adored him ever since. Got all the memorabilia, including one of his shoes from the 1977 win. It would be a travesty if he wasn’t in!
8th Feb Southwell.
RP comments in running just says "in rear, fell 6th, dead"
Can’t bring myself to watch the replay to see what happened. Have checked trainer’s website to see if any comments, but nothing as yet.
This whole topic is such a difficult one and so hard to come up with a black/white rule that will keep everyone happy. As I’ve said before, I’m all for carrying a whip and being able to use it for what can best be described as safety reasons – keeping a horse straight, when a bit of extra effort over a fence is needed etc – all things that may actually stop accidents. But yet again, I watched a race yesterday – can’t remember which one, but a chase in heavy going and on the run-in, the horse in second place had no chance of either catching the winner or being overtaken, and yet the jockey still hit it, hard as poss, the maximum number of times. I’d love to know why? It wasn’t going to affect the outcome and it actually just looked like he was being spiteful on purpose.
Yes, the knowledge I have is related to showjumpers, when you’ve got a lot more time to produce them than racehorses. I totally agree that young horses have to be taught to go in a straight line – they can find it surprisingly difficult without a fence or rail to "lean" on.
By leg aids, no I didn’t mean spurs. Legs, hands, voice are known as "natural aids" and spurs, whips etc as "artificial aids" which should be used as as encouragement, not punishment. When schooling horses, you teach them to move away from your leg pressure and the whip can be used to back this up. So if for example you squeeze the horse with both legs to move forward and get no response, you’d squeeze again and use your whip at the same time (not very hard) to encourage it to respond to your leg. The aim is to teach the horse to respond to the the lightest of "natural aids". They can feel when a fly lands on them, so are actually very sensitive. Spurs do not have to be cruel though – if you use the inside of your leg the spurs do not come into contact with the horse unless you choose to do so. For this reason, they should only be used by riders who have sufficient control of their legs.
Riding horses is actually way more complicated than kicking to go foward and pulling the reins to stop. This isn’t always obvious as the best riders don’t actually look like they’re doing much as they make it look so easy. People taking up riding are usually pretty surprised when it’s not that easy!I’m fairly new to these forums so apologies if this has been said before. I watched the debate on Channel 4 last week with interest. I’ve owned and ridden horses, albeit showjumpers, for 40+ years and carry a whip 99 % of the time. In particular I would never go out hacking without one, when it would be in my right hand, between me and the traffic – so if the horse spooks at something in the hedge, a quick slap on the neck can stop it wandering into the traffic. When jumping, I would use it if a horse was backing off a fence, or if I was a bit far off on take-off and needed a bit of extra effort – all to stop the horse possibly having an accident and as a back up to leg aids. I enjoy watching NH racing and am not in the "it should all be banned camp". I do not enjoy, however, the sight of jockeys repeatedly hitting an exhausted horse that has no chance of winning, at the end of a race. Personally, I would like to see whips carried and being able to be used until after the last fence or hurdle in NH and, say, the last furlong in a flat race.
[i:2t3qvtu6]Really glad to hear Charlie Tipple okay – had asked if anyone knew via the Memorials page, so good to know he did get up eventually.[/color:2t3qvtu6][/i:2t3qvtu6]
Does anyone know if Charlie Tipple was okay today after his fall? Thanks.[/color:1pb815xp]
Hear Hear – my absolute favourite horse in training – I would love to take him showjumping when he eventually retires.[/color:3axr8f1c]
This is the first post I’ve made on this website and it’s a shame it’s on such a sad topic. I came across the website while searching for info to try and find out what had happened to Kilfinnan Castle, so it’s a relief to see that he is okay. Had already read of Shamari’s demise on the Racing Post website and have to agree with all the posts condemming both the riding and the state of the horse when being led off the racecourse. I have a similar attitude to racing as I do to eating meat. I like meat, but do like the animals involved to have had the best possible life and a humane and as stress free as possible death. I have enjoyed racing ever since, as a small child, I watched Red Rum dead-heat in a flat race at Aintree. However, I do strongly feel that everyone, jockeys in particular, owe it to horses to do their absolute best for them at all times and it makes me both angry and sad when they don’t.
