na116135
The sound of hooves pounding grows louder; you put your binoculars to your eyes. The horses are rounding the bend; you jump to your feet as you see that the horse you bet on is in the lead! The jockey’s whip falls on the horse’s sweat covered hide. The horse starts to go faster but stumbles and falls. The horses behind can’t stop! In just a couple of minutes you see a pile of injured horses and people on the track. The paramedics and vets rush to the scene. You slump back into your seat.
Horse racing as many will agree is a fun sport to watch, but do they see the danger in it? A small stumble, that would be not any danger while normally riding, could be fatal to the horse and its rider while racing. A jockey that may fall off is lucky to survive trampling hooves that are coming from behind. While in the starting gate or riding close to another jockey and his horse the horse may be spooked because of being in a tight squeeze and try to break away by bucking or turning around. This could cause the horse and its jockey to be trampled by the on coming horses. The jockeys could race their horses to much or start being raced at young age. Some jockeys feed steroids to their horses. Horse racing is a dangerous sport that can cause fatal injuries to the horse and jockey.
As was stated in the previous paragraph a stumble can be fatal to the horse and rider. The horse you are riding could trip over a little rock and down you both go. If that doesn’t hurt you or you horse, as your trying to get both of you up other horses pounding down the track. If they are less than two or three yards away before the try to stop, you better hope they swerve or you or your horse are out. The trampling of horses can cause anything that’s everything in you body to break. Imagine a group of at least five other horses weighing about 2,000 pounds each rushing toured you unable to stop and you and your horse unable to move. There heavy metal covered hooves stomping on your feeble little body. Not a pleasant picture, is it?
Most horses hate to be in tight squeezes or small quarters. The horse may also stop or try to turn around when it becomes spooked by now much of a tight squeeze it is in between two other racers. You could also be trampled if this happened. If you were in the starting gate, also a very small space, your horse may try to buck and kick and somehow you could end up on the ground under its feet.
A horse is at a far larger risk of being injured or dying than a rider. Recent studies say that for every 1,000 horses that start a race 1.5 of them collapse and die in a race. The speed at which the horse is racing can also injure the horse. The stress this causes on their bones eventually causes them to become weak. This is especially dangerous when horses are ridden to young because their bones aren’t fully developed yet. This could cause serious irreversible damage. If a horse is injured so much that its racing career is over, even if it didn’t have a life threatening injury, they are almost always put down because there aren’t enough homes for retired race horses to go to.
Jockeys may give their horses steroids because it makes their coats shinier, their appetite increases, and they train better. Though some steroids are prescribed by the vet to give to a horse because of injury, jockeys use it because it causes them to race better so the jockey can win more money. These have bad effects on the horses. If they are fed steroids regularly and then are taken off of it they can become sluggish and brittle because their bodies become so independent on this drug that they can’t live without it. . It can also cause temporary breeding problems. Side effects that it has on the endocrine system include hyperglycemia, osteoporosis, and increased coagulation of the blood stream, depression, electrolyte imbalance, and death.
As you can now probably see, there are many problems with horse racing. They are just tampering with the well being of the horses’ lives just to win money. The horses’ welfare doesn’t seem to be considered. There are risks for the jockeys too. They could be thrown off and trampled. I feel horse racing is an injustice to horses and it can cause fatal injuries to both the jokey and the horse
Horse racing as many will agree is a fun sport to watch, but do they see the danger in it? A small stumble, that would be not any danger while normally riding, could be fatal to the horse and its rider while racing. A jockey that may fall off is lucky to survive trampling hooves that are coming from behind. While in the starting gate or riding close to another jockey and his horse the horse may be spooked because of being in a tight squeeze and try to break away by bucking or turning around. This could cause the horse and its jockey to be trampled by the on coming horses. The jockeys could race their horses to much or start being raced at young age. Some jockeys feed steroids to their horses. Horse racing is a dangerous sport that can cause fatal injuries to the horse and jockey.
As was stated in the previous paragraph a stumble can be fatal to the horse and rider. The horse you are riding could trip over a little rock and down you both go. If that doesn’t hurt you or you horse, as your trying to get both of you up other horses pounding down the track. If they are less than two or three yards away before the try to stop, you better hope they swerve or you or your horse are out. The trampling of horses can cause anything that’s everything in you body to break. Imagine a group of at least five other horses weighing about 2,000 pounds each rushing toured you unable to stop and you and your horse unable to move. There heavy metal covered hooves stomping on your feeble little body. Not a pleasant picture, is it?
Most horses hate to be in tight squeezes or small quarters. The horse may also stop or try to turn around when it becomes spooked by now much of a tight squeeze it is in between two other racers. You could also be trampled if this happened. If you were in the starting gate, also a very small space, your horse may try to buck and kick and somehow you could end up on the ground under its feet.
A horse is at a far larger risk of being injured or dying than a rider. Recent studies say that for every 1,000 horses that start a race 1.5 of them collapse and die in a race. The speed at which the horse is racing can also injure the horse. The stress this causes on their bones eventually causes them to become weak. This is especially dangerous when horses are ridden to young because their bones aren’t fully developed yet. This could cause serious irreversible damage. If a horse is injured so much that its racing career is over, even if it didn’t have a life threatening injury, they are almost always put down because there aren’t enough homes for retired race horses to go to.
Jockeys may give their horses steroids because it makes their coats shinier, their appetite increases, and they train better. Though some steroids are prescribed by the vet to give to a horse because of injury, jockeys use it because it causes them to race better so the jockey can win more money. These have bad effects on the horses. If they are fed steroids regularly and then are taken off of it they can become sluggish and brittle because their bodies become so independent on this drug that they can’t live without it. . It can also cause temporary breeding problems. Side effects that it has on the endocrine system include hyperglycemia, osteoporosis, and increased coagulation of the blood stream, depression, electrolyte imbalance, and death.
As you can now probably see, there are many problems with horse racing. They are just tampering with the well being of the horses’ lives just to win money. The horses’ welfare doesn’t seem to be considered. There are risks for the jockeys too. They could be thrown off and trampled. I feel horse racing is an injustice to horses and it can cause fatal injuries to both the jokey and the horse