The grand national is cruel to horses

[McHappyPants2012]

Alot of the horses will be injured and whipped into going faster, it's also a long race course.

I can't believe people would bet on this event

I wouldn't bother, Sparkling tbh.

Chub, there are plenty of deprived areas in the UK, some much more so than Liverpool. The rest of them don't rely on animal cruelty for their economic welfare so that's a crap excuse.

Declared winner!

My horses were family pets but I still rode them in cross country events - admittedly nowhere near as risky as National Hunt racing. The horses enjoyed the events as much as I did.

I had one much-loved horse that hit a solid fence then 3 days later her leg shattered - a 'star' fracture caused by the impact.

You could argue that I shouldn't have ridden her in these events - but that was the whole point of having her and she had a great time and without human foresight could not have felt worried that she was at risk.

Because she was a member of the family we sent her for surgery to mend the fracture - we couldn't face having her put down and wanted to save her life. She endured 4.5 hours of surgery then 4 months confined to a stable. Even this was only possible because she had broken a small bone (her pastern which is the part just above the hoof.)

Horses' bones don't heal anything like as well as ours do which is one of the reasons that animals with broken legs are usually put down.

When my horse was eventually turned out in a field for the first time she bucked, leaped and galloped for nearly half an hour till she was soaked with sweat and exhausted. She was so exuberant - she just wanted to run and run after being cooped up for so long.

With the benefit of hindsight I'm not sure that I did the right thing. She did enjoy 15 years of retirement, but was very bored out in the field. Every time I took her out she was so excited. During those 4 months confined in a 12 foot square prison she must have been going mad.

She wasn't a Thoroughbred so could be retired to a paddock with shelter at night. You can't leave racehorses out in fields 24/7 over winter.

There are many cold people out there.who go well its only s race horse, but I once overheard someone getting told just after their horse was put down, by someone to claim on the insurance, their reply and sorry for the language, but they said best to my memory, "its not the fucking money, I had that horse since he was s foal, he wasn't am animal, bit s life long friend, no amount of money cab replace that." And so true, and its not the owners of these race horses that suffer but those who work with then daily, the stable girls that care for them. If you notice at the end of a race its the stable girl/boy the horse really wants.

Ridiculous argument re cats and dogs.

To compare a dog not being able to roam the countryside and a racehorse being destroyed or dying during a dangerous horse race in terms of their level of animal cruelty is just. ... Rather dim. Stupid in fact.

Why do we not then reintroduce a nice bit of cock fighting and bear baiting since people are already cruel and have indoor cats or poor poor urban dwelling dogs.

You are justifying one type of cruelty on the basis that in your opinion farmed livestock and cats and urban dogs have it bad too. It just makes you sound thick.

There were 16 finishers today. How about a field of 20, not 40? And that would be the 20 horses provenly the most fit for the race; not horses with weeping family members in the paddock before the race, or horses that have just fallen down.

That, as a start?

Because if this doesn't change, then there will be louder voices for banning altogether; as there are here.

Today's race is proof that this is a cruel sport. To me it almost looked like a 'last man standing' match. Or should I say horse.
I can't believe how many horses went down. That isn't right. More than half?

People saying that these animals are loved: how can you love something then put its life in danger like that?

And anyone who overused the whip, like the winner, should be disqualified. But of course then there would be uproar because people won't get their money. And this is what it all seems to be about.

It isn't a sport. It's a money making machine. You don't see odds at the Olympics do you?

Pooka, you are ignoring the fact that we keep pets and other animals for our enjoyment, whether that is really suiting the animal or not.

You obviously have little idea of the countryside and how many of our animals are treated.

You are being naive, concentrating on the sad loss of some horses over the general use of animals to further human needs.

It's a human need for there to be "thrilling" horse races? Why did no one tell me this before? I had no idea...

Pooka I supppose the argument re: cock fighting/bear baiting is that its intended purpose is to harm the animal. Whereas the intended aim of entering a horse in a race is that it will gallop round safely and win.

Boxing will be banned long before horse racing.

I agree with LineRunner that there should be no more than 20 in the race and the entrance criteria should be stricter.

Well put, fortyplus

linerunner I think a smaller field is one of the things they have to consider for next year. It certainly seems to make sense.

Such a tragegy and our hearts go out to all the connections of Synchronised and According to Pete. According to Pete was running and jumping well but you could see on the BBC review that he was brought down and that is when his leg went.

Good to know the other two injured horses are going to be OK.

Pleased for John Hales who tragically lost his great horse One Man at Aintree (over the normal fences) a few years ago. This was his first running in the National and now, with nothing left to prove, he's retired him and he will hopefully have a happy life - expect his daughter will do some show jumping on him.

Good to hear that the RSPCA are going saying they are not calling for a ban on the National but will wait a couple of weeks to do a further review and see if any further lessons can be learned.

Particularly good that horses were able to by pass one of the fences - that wouldn't have been allowed a few years ago and a very good initative well carried out.

Thanks Line (wrt Overton Window) I have heard of it, I just don't remember the name.

RSPCA response to the fatalities today. They feel the level of fatalities are unacceptable.

There is also an interesting site called Racehorse Death Watch for anyone looking at figures.

Derpette- there are odds on everything including the olympics.

I agree that there should be less horses racing (40 horses running the same race is too many), the jumps should be smaller and the race should be shorter (i think if you only ran 20 horses around the course how it is now chances are there would only be one or two finishers).

I don't think it should be got rid of, it just needs to be made safer. The fact that the ground is no longer as soft in April also makes it more likely that horses will die as landing badly on harder ground causes a lot more damage.

I'm sure there will be many sad people from todays losses including people who were there watching and betting.

It's a human need to want to keep a beautiful cat to admire, a dog for a companion to offset loneliness, a horse to ride through the countryside.

Surely in all these cases the animals rights come second to the human wish. Dogs and horses are pack animals so don't want to live on their own. The humans might become their pack but that's not guaranteed.

Animals kept for food have a sad life when, for example, the calf is taken from the cow, the lamb from the sheep, the lowing from the cow looking for its calf is v sad. Do all the animals you see in the countryside have a supply of fresh water - often not, though the law says they should.

I just think we need to be honest about animal care and not live in an extremist world that such and such is cruel, but the rest is fine.

Just one a couple of points above - the entrance criteria is already strong. Horses have to be 7+ and finished placed in a chase of 3 miles plus. Because it is a handicap only the best horses get to race and this year's was probably the highest class renewal. If anything the fact they are better horses, travelling faster than the plodders of yesteryear, may be one of the current problems.

There is betting on the Olympics and many hundreds of thousands will be bet.

Good to hear that Frankel isn't retired yet but will be given another scan next week. If there is any problem he'll be immediately retired to stud.

I see your point forty plus, in terms of intention.

Would still be glad to see it banned.

(no concerns about boxing being banned either, but personally feel that at least in boxing the participants have made a conscious decision to take part, unlike the racehorses gee'ed on over dangerous fences. Yes they can refuse, but that seems part of the problem- being ploughed into by followers. People can argue that the horses love to run, love it, but there's a huge difference between gallops and the grand national in terms of the size of the field, the speed and the fences.)

Then it is too long or too many horses at the start. Some of the fences aren't that wide and there is a lot of crowding that leads to some of the falls. There is a horrific picture on the DM's site of one horse landing on top of another already fallen horse, fortunately neither of them are on the list of fatalities or injured which is more luck than anything.

No one has said dont keep animals.

Just dont exploit, torture and kill for financial gain.

Just plain wrong!

I rescued all my pets from a shit life.

I would never consider exploiting any of them for my entertainment or financial gain. that is immoral.

What gives you the right to make these animals suffer for your enjoyment?

Sick SIck Sick.

I've been trying to catch the race again, to look to the use of the whip. They all lay off in the last part of the home straight.

It's the use before the final fence and after the final fence up until and just after 'the elbow' that is worrying from at least two of the 'placed' jockeys.

I'd be amazed if they hadn't breached the rules.

We can debate this all day but the reality is that just a few hours ago two beautiful race horses were groomed and cosseted in their stable and now lie dead in the back of a lorry.

Horse racing is grand isn't it?