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

Only one horse fell at the first fence:

Fence 1: Viking Blond (fell)

Fence 2: West End Rocker (fell), Junior (fell)

Fence 5: State Of Play (unseated), Rare Bob (brought down), Chicago Grey (brought down)

Fence 6: Synchronised (fell)

Fence 7: Alfa Beat (fell)

Fence 8: Black Apalachi (fell), Organisedconfusion (unseated), Becauseicouldntsee (unseated), Tatenen (unseated), Killyglen (unseated)

Fence 10: Treacle (fell), Arbor Supreme (unseated)

Fence 11: Giles Cross (pulled up)

Fence 15: Always Right (unseated)

Fence 17: Quiscover Fontaine (fell)

Fence 19: Deep Purple (pulled up), Vic Venturi (refused)

Fence 22: On His Own (fell), According To Pete (brought down), Mon Mome (pulled up), Postmaster (pulled up)

Fence 27: Weird Al (fell)

As a totally ignorant racing person, why can't the course just be safe? I appreciate that there may be a freak accident once in a while.

Most fractures can't be repaired and in the case of National Hunt horses, with no breeding future, it would be uneconomic and pointless to attempt it, which is why they get the bullet.

That isn't actually true. Very few NH horses have a breeding future. Most are geldings.

Theo The GN course could certainly be safer (I would like it to have far fewer riders), but it could never be totally safe. All equine sports have an element of risk.

Flat racing is safer than jumps, but horses do still die on the flat.

The risks exist, they always will exist but they can and should be minimised.

For those of you that think owners don't care about their horses here is an interview with the owner of According to Pete

I saw them interviewed before the race and it was obvious they were anxious then. I have no doubt most of these horses are much loved

catgirl1976
Um... that is what Carabos was saying. What has she said that isn't true?

The unture thing is that most NH horses are put down when they fracture legs because it is not in the economic interest to do so

This is untrue because the reason horses with leg fracture are put down is because it is often difficult / impossible for them to recover (for all the reasons you already know)

awe.............my heart bleeds for them and their their crocodile tears.

They were anxious before hand because they knew the dangers. and yet they put an animal they have "loved" since it was a foal into that situation and are then "distraught" when the animal is killed.

I mean what the actual fuck.

The hypocracy is breathtaking.

If the is was a well loved pet they would not have placed it in a position of danger or distress or injury. If they consider this normal treatment of something that they "love" and value, then I shudder to think how they would treat something they consider mundane.

The truth is the animal was a commodity that they sacrified on the of chance of making some dough and to experience a bit of a vicarious adrenaline rush on the well known dangers, whilst they were safe in the owners enclosure.

I'm sure they positively the pre race anxiety. If it was real concern they would have pulled him out. There was no gun to their head.They are now enjoying the attention and the sympathy in their "bereavement". A bereavement caused by their own selfish actions.

If you notice, the regrets and the last sentence even, were all about "their pain", not the poor fucking dead horses pain.

Its all one giant ego trip. Sickening.

That's pretty heartless monty. I am sure they are devastated - as they said they have had him from a foal. I would be devastated if one of mine died.

My H is a huge racing fan, mainly of the jumps, goes to Cheltenham festival evey year etc

After watching the National yesterday he has said he will never watch it or bet on it again

Its not a 'level playing field' in his eyes- horses are trained to normal jump standard but the national fences are above and beyond what they are used to.

They need to limit the field to maybe 30 horses and regulate the fences in like with other race courses. This would not take away from the event but might stop horses like the Gold Cup Winner dying needlessly

5 horses died at Cheltenham this year.

Interested in Carabos' post.. Could any of those who have said horses cannot be rehabilitated from a fractured leg, possibly comment on that?

It sounds as though they could be rehabilitated but the owners choose not to bother as it costs too much.

In which case it would appear that these horses are no more than disposable...does the insurance pay out for treatment or just for death? Is it a bit like writing off your car?

After all you might get a new one if it's dead. If it lives you're stuck with something that will never bring in much money again.

Flightty it very much depends on the fracture. It can be done but it is very rare, often risky and stressful for the animal

It can be done, but only in a very, very small number of cases

Though from that interview linked below it would seem that ATP's owner was not consulted before the horse was put down. Which is horrible.

To clarify, most fractures are, if not impossible, very difficult to treat. Treatment and rehab are long and costly, the horses probably not insured and most would never again be fit for purpose ie racing. Therefore, treatment is not started - it would be uneconomic to invest in that when you are likely to end up with a hack at best or a field decoration.

In other disciplines there is more flexibility about a life beyond the competitive sphere and if the horse is insured, then give him a chance.

I have had three horses suffer life threatening injuries or conditions. All insured, all got a chance at no cost to me. Two made it, one didn't.

for those of you who want to know why horses with fractures to legs often are destroyed go on google and type in Barbaro.They fought so hard to save him but there were just too many complications
for a positive story type in Master Minded champion chaser. He was seriously injured in King George at Christmas won't race again probably but they managed to save him anyway

2 horses died , which is very sad.
But, each day, 2.4 MILLION animals are slaughtered in the UK just for the taste of meat.
The second point disturbs me more.

Carabos are you telling us that someone who puts a horse into the GN isn't going to have injury insurance? Sorry, I don't understand.

Flightty For my personal experience of sending my much-loved horse for surgery on a small broken bone in her leg see my post on Sat 14-Apr-12 19:11:43

I'm with Troggy on this one.

Insurers never pay out for loss of use IME - Don't know what its like at national level but I doubt its much different

I dont know enough about horse racing to really comment. Its a tough one, it saddens me when horses die but after watching the National yesterday i googled if it is possible to fix a horses leg, realistically its not. I really dont think that the jumps need to be as big as they are, a race with less risk is after all still a race and bets can still be placed.

Insurance premiums tend to be in the region of 10% of the horse's value per year basic and then they are loaded according to the risk - so entry level hacking etc is way cheaper than advanced eventing for example. I have never attempted to insure a racehorse so I don't know what it would cost, but would expect that for NH racing you're looking at silly money. Combine that with the lack of breeding prospects, unlike Flat racing, then most owners don't bother.

Though from that interview linked below it would seem that ATP's owner was not consulted before the horse was put down. Which is horrible.

Where there is a catastrophic injury sustained which is clearly non-survivable (as in ATP's case, sadly), the racecourse vets have the authority to put the horse down without consultation with owner or trainer. To keep it alive while they try to contact the owner, who in some cases might not be at the racecourse or who might be a partnership of twenty different people, would compromise its welfare. It's an implicit condition of entering your horse in a race that in the event of this type of unfortunate incident, the vet acts entirely in the best interests of the horse, not necessarily the owner.