To think that equestrian events are ridiculous

@Salanda these animals travel in absolute luxury, with vets and grooms. Far better than you could ever imagine

I get your point completely but nothing to do with the olympics. There is a lot of work going on to retrain racehorses and to make racehorse owners responsible for these animals in their life after racing. There will always be people who buy horses without any real idea how to ride, exercise and look after them-this crowd end up having accidents, slate everyone on social media and justifying their lack of skill with inventing excuses for the horses or blaming previous owners.

I can't stand football or golf and don't see the point of BMX but accept the huge skill that it takes. The British riders were incredible, it takes years of training, supreme fitness and exceptional skill to do what they did this week. So many medals and the best in the world. If you don't like it , don't watch it.

Athlete? You commented that just as much goes into this sport, as does any other sport, nothing sporty about it.

and you're calling the person that sits on the horse an athlete?? That is the most unathletic thing I've ever seen done in a sport Period

@Topseyt if you read the thread fully, specifically my post on Tuesday at 18:19, you will know that I’m fully aware that they are different sports. I was responding to the comments of other posters who dragged racing into the discussion, citing the recent Panorama programme.

[quote CaveMum]Thought some people might find this an interesting article, discussing practices within horse racing and the response from many in the industry to the Panorama programme: www.racingpost.com/news/insight/im-surprised-anyone-would-allow-their-horse-to-be-slaughtered-in-an-abattoir/504330[/quote]
Irrelevant. They are totally different sports.

At least make sure that you are talking about the same subject.

Some grinning pillock upthread put some terrible anthropomorphic bollocks along the lines of 'Have you ever tried to make a horse do something it didn't want to do?' as if the balance of power in a horse/rider relationship is somehow equal. Well, here's the answer. Some people obviously do make horses do things they don't want to. Violently.
The key word here is 'tried'. As we all know, the athlete in question more than anyone, she did not and could not make the horse do the thing it didn't want to do.
It is not 'anthropomorphic bollocks' to say so.

Your argument that the point is 'that the abuse shouldn't be happening in the first place' is separate and different from to your first argument about whether or not the horse was successfully made to do the thing it didn't want to do.

I’m aware of that @Bryonyshcmyony, but others have dragged racing into the discussion by saying how terrible they think it is and how failed racehorses are all shot, citing the recent Panorama programme. I’m just putting forward part of racing’s response to those accusations.

[quote CaveMum]Thought some people might find this an interesting article, discussing practices within horse racing and the response from many in the industry to the Panorama programme: www.racingpost.com/news/insight/im-surprised-anyone-would-allow-their-horse-to-be-slaughtered-in-an-abattoir/504330[/quote]
Horse racing and dressage/eventing are not the same sport

Thought some people might find this an interesting article, discussing practices within horse racing and the response from many in the industry to the Panorama programme: www.racingpost.com/news/insight/im-surprised-anyone-would-allow-their-horse-to-be-slaughtered-in-an-abattoir/504330

So all in all, there's more likelihood of any horse, from any discipline, being sold/rehomed than PTS because they don't make the grade in whatever sphere.

Yes that's the reality. The one that many with limited knowledge would refute. Horses are generally pts only if they have life limiting illness or injury. This can happen through any sort of ridden work and even more commonly being free in the field. The people you know who struggled with the ex racers would probably have struggled even more with a well schooled dressage or show jumper as they need far more accurate riding or will just end up totally confused as to what the rider is asking of them. Such people should stick with riding schools or buy only with instructors on hand to help them progress.

But as I posted before @Iquitit so many are euthanised, and it seems in unethical ways. This report shows the huge numbers that are being sent to abattoirs and being shot at a distance, possibly not even stunned before hand and in front of other horses. So it’s definitely happening on a large scale. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/19/thousands-of-ex-racehorses-being-sent-to-abattoirs-bbc-investigation-claims

I'm glad to learn that many can be retrained to do something else successfully, and I hope that the vast majority are - as I said about horses from other disciplines - surely if they are more versatile than I thought they were - it makes more financial sense (if nothing else) to retrain and sell on than putting them down.
So all in all, there's more likelihood of any horse, from any discipline, being sold/rehomed than PTS because they don't make the grade in whatever sphere.

Racing, from my understanding, is different in the respect that the horses are trained to gallop from A to B as fast as possible, and without proper and extensive reschoooling, are largely unsuitable for the average rider straight out of training, and that's where the problem occurs

Your understanding is wrong. Only flat sprinters are ever required in their races to race from a to b as fast as possible. Most racehorses need to learn how to settle and bowl along and go only when asked. They make great riding horses as at home in training they do surprisingly little fast work. Any decent trainer does a bit of schooling as a balanced and responsive racehorse is important. They are used to going out in company and trotting and cantering steadily as that's much of what they do. They are used to travelling and being in new places and being handled. As with other horses some are quirky and not great for your average rider but many are pretty straightforward, especially once off their high energy feed. Ex racers can and do make excellent eventers as they are tough, good jumpers and used to bowling along at a steady pace. They also make great pc horses for older members as they are fine going to events and being stabled away from home. I've had several and tbh would never have anything else. The most versatile horse around. There now an entire discipline dedicated to the (ROR - retraining of racehorses) which have classed country wide at every level which is refined showing - no galloping and jumping to be seen.

@ChargingBuck fortunately I’m assuming if he doesn’t do it very well you won’t shoot him.

@Hopeisallineed

Vast amounts are bred for these disciplines? Racing maybe, but not dressage/eventing/show jumping - many that are bred for it and don't make the grade go on to have homes competing at lower levels, or being pleasure horses for amatuer riders, but many are simply bred to be pleasure horses to start with - not many people breed with the express intention of producing a world beater, and even if they do, by the time the horse begins to show it's not going to make it, no one is going to shoot a perfectly good horse that can be sold to recoup some of the expenses or maybe even turn a bit of profit.

And the difference between racers and horses in those other disciplines is that they are trained completely differently, yes very few make top grade horses, but they are not just shot because they don't make the grade - apart from the obvious it would be a complete waste of the money invested in them and they all have the basics of a riding horse trained into them first, before the more specialised training can even begin.

It takes around 5 years from conception (almost a years pregnancy then at least 6 months with the dam) to knowing if a horse will 'make the grade' that's an expensive 5 years, with a lot of time effort and money invested. With the choice to sell on and make at least something back or shoot it at a dead loss, unsurprisingly most breeders/trainers choose to sell on, apart from the moral implications of putting down a perfectly good horse that's not a world beater, it makes no financial sense at all.

Racing, from my understanding, is different in the respect that the horses are trained to gallop from A to B as fast as possible, and without proper and extensive reschoooling, are largely unsuitable for the average rider straight out of training, and that's where the problem occurs.
I've seen first hand the mess that people who don't know what they're doing make of rehoming an ex racehorse, and it turns out far worse for the horse.
Increasingly owners and trainers in racing are taking more responsibility for the horses they produce to make the grade, by having reschoooling and rehoming programs on their yards.

Does more need to be done? Yes it does, because it will improve standards overall, but there really aren't hundreds of horses going to slaughter every day just because they don't win an Olympic medal.

*vast!

@Iquitit yes but a fast amount of animals are purely bred to take part in these sports. If the sport didn’t exist, they wouldn’t exist and last time I looked most pets were bred to jump over fences and then be shot if they didn’t make the grade.

@TheCrowening do only you know horses do you? You have no idea what experience most people on this thread have in the equestrian world. This kind of comment is useless and in no way adds to or furthers the discussion, it’s purile and is purely designed to look like only your view counts because you think you do know horses. That’s BS, so if you have something salient to add then great, do it but ridiculous comments ( or rudeness as in the case of others) isn’t helpful and just makes you lot look like you don’t have a very robust argument.

It's not the sports, imo that are themselves bad, it's the poor training and treatment of some horses by some people that cause the issue.
The horse world has come a long way since I first entered it, in terms of welfare, it still has a way to go in my opinion, but the answer isn't shutting down all equestrian sports, it's promoting the good and stamping out the bad.

I think I said something a few pages back about the PETA rabbit hole.

There is a massive split between animal rights and animal welfare. Animal rights says that we should never interfere with animals for our own ends in any way - even keeping a pet dog is wrong (unless it is a rescue). Animal welfare is all about looking after animals properly.

We have some animal rights types on this thread.

gosh, this sounds familiar

Don't get me wrong, I think show jumping is moronic and should be banned. At least in horseracing there is a point to it and there is a huge betting industry that lives off it, but there is no justification for show jumping

Huh?! No justification because you don't like it?

On the point about Pentathletes only having 20 minutes to bond with a horse, that's because the modern pentathlon was designed to copy the ancient pentathlon by being a test of military skills. Running, shooting, riding, swimming, swordsmanship - all things that were necessary for a soldier to excel at. The point of not using your own horse is that if you were in battle, you might need to jump on a strange horse and persuade it to jump fences and run fast to literally save your life. The fact that the pentathlon woman had her dreams wrecked is good - it shows she wasn't able to form an instant bond with the animal.

Don't get me wrong, I think show jumping is moronic and should be banned. At least in horseracing there is a point to it and there is a huge betting industry that lives off it, but there is no justification for show jumping.