That the Grand National should end

Whoever has the shotgun I’d say.

@FestiveAuntFanny

"Why don't we ban sports that harm humans too? "

Because adult humans can make their own informed decisions as to the risks they take whether that be base jumping, caving or juggling chainsaws.

The horses in the Grand National are not able to make their own decision as to whether they participate in the Grand National or not.

Of course I understand that it is entertaining for many, but like bull fighting this comes at the cost of animal's lives.

It’s a shame PETA don’t do petitions regarding the 10x that number of horses that die every year due to being owned by people who cannot afford to keep them in anything more than squalor and can’t afford to pay for any medical attention so leave them suffering from painful conditions that they are “treating themselves”. There’s plenty of people out there who think owning a horse is some sort of right, not a privilege, and are totally ignorant to their suffering on a daily basis/ can’t actually do anything about it due to no knowledge and no funds.

But I suppose that’s a little less headline grabbing…..

Well that's heartening tbh. Fingers crossed.

Don’t worry OP. I give it two to three years at most.

The Irish trainers have colonised the race by entering multiple horses per trainer ( perfectly legally ). Gordon Elliott has eight in a field of thirty four, several owned by the same person ( who also owns an airline). At the last minute ,he has taken the top rated horse out so all the weights are skewed; 🙄.

Of course all the horses trained in the same stable are run on their own merits, no possibility of any of them getting in the way of the top horse from another stable so it loses ground.😉

It is becoming boring, and not attracting the same betting turnover, so it will wither.

I haven't read the full thread, as I morbidly fixate on stories of animal cruelty for months. It's awful, but it's best for my mental health if I don't read.
But anyway, I would agree that such races should be banned.

This has happened every single year I have been here. Its not going to happen, too much money involved.

Banning it would be a good start. It's not just the horses that die on the day the day that suffer. I can't see much entertainment value.

@IncessantNameChanger that's horrendous it makes my blood boil I know what I'd like to do to that evil owner of that poor horse
How can people be so cruel

I'm not into any horse racing, for this reason 🙁
So unnecessary

I think this is one of the things that's changing- I'm a horsey person, have been all my life, but even some horsey people are changing their minds about racing.

I think horses have quite sad lives. They change hands many times over a lifetime. But I also know nothing about horses. I don't really want to comment on things I don't understand. I do see incredible cruelty of horses pulling traps up our A road with the owner punching it but nothing is ever done and no one feels safe to confront the owners. That's a shit life for certainty. Being tethered on roundabouts in hosing estates and the owners insistent they are happy. If they ARE happy then why not race horses? For every person who says all this cruel there's someone saying it's not

Yeah, all those horses are definitely entering the grand national in the full knowledge that mistiming a jump can result in them getting shot.

Ffs.

I honestly think that time is running out for equestrian sports.

There has been lots of discussion about cruel riding and training methods from several top riders (I'm talking about dressage here).

The showjumping has already been removed from the modern pentathlon event in the olympics following the abuse of a horse by one of the competitors.

People aren't liking what they are seeing a lot of the time and I'm not sure it will continue as it is for any of the disciplines including racing.

For what it's worth I know that racehorses are treated well day to day. But is it any longer acceptable to use any living animal for our own gains? Or if there is prize money etc at stake will the animal always be pushed maybe too far, too fast etc as winning becomes the aim?

I do love this argument! Have you ever tried to force a horse to do anything it doesn’t want to?! Most racehorses are around 500kg and your average Flat jockey weighs about 8 stone - guess who is going to win in a battle of wills…

Humans have a choice to participate.

Hth.

Honestly. Having been around racers since the age of 3, I would say categorically that the horses are treated like royalty. Think heated barns, massages every day, strict diet and exercise programme. Lots of love from trainers and groomspeople.
Would you stop wagon racing?
Horses and carriages pulling for weddings/Funerals?
Racing will never stop, it is the sport of kings after all.
And there is SO much money in it.

Here we go. Same ill-informed nonsense every year.

A bunch of clueless non-horsey people who don’t understand that horses can, and do, seriously injure themselves in the field at home every single day. And that many of those injuries sadly are not treatable. They also don’t understand that racehorses have fantastic lives & get pampered with the very best of everything, unlike the scruffy neglected ponies you see in muddy paddocks up & down the country. But never mind all that & carry on with your ignorant virtue signalling. 🙄

I’ll leave this here for those who want to read the accurate statistics around racing in Britain.

https://horsepwr.co.uk/

I think Racehorse rescue would disagree with most of the pro horse racing comments on here.

There are other races yes, but it would be a good start precisely because it's such a famous race.

Humans take part in the sports knowing full well what the risks are. I'm sure if you said to a rugby player that if s/he breaks their leg then they'll be shot they'll think twice about playing. Horses have no idea that it's game over if they fall.

It also focuses the attention of a lot of people who spend the whole year caring about animal welfare.

''Lets carry on because we don't know how to stop.''

Really?

They'll nearly all get shot in the end anyway. So yes, lets stop breeding for racing, shoot or retire them all, and stop the circus.

What happens to race horses now when they are no longer used for racing?

Because according to the British Horseracing Authority they all go on to happy lives......so I assume that would happen if horseracing was ended tomorrow.