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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be dreading the grand national on Saturday?

292 replies

annabanana84 · 03/04/2013 15:41

once again the grand national has come around, and to say I despise it is an understatement. The fact that people race these poor horses for entertainment and money really defies belief. The way those poor horses get whipped, exhausted and there is not a year goes by that we hear of deaths or the animals having to be put to sleep because of them breaking their necks, backs, or other injuries. I so dread it. You can't even get away from hearing about the deaths because it's broadcast on every news programme.

OP posts:
LadyBeagleEyes · 03/04/2013 17:45

Used to lay the odd bet just with family and cheer our horses along, but I won't watch it any more.
No sport is worth having horsed dying.

UmBongo · 03/04/2013 17:46

They are, as others have said, race-horses. If they weren't bred to run then they wouldn't exist at all. Same as all the fluffy cutie lambies wouldn't be in the fields if people didn't eat sheep. The horses get excited as they know they are about to race and the rules on whip use are very strict.

They are generally much better looked after than a lot of private riding ponies.

Lovelygoldboots · 03/04/2013 17:48

The sport would not exist without betting. The tote gave a lot of their money to race courses and the jockey club. Don't know how it works since the Tote has been sold.

MandragoraWurzelstock · 03/04/2013 17:48

'The horses get excited as they know they are about to race'

Nooo they do not understand the concept of 'race'

They get anxious because there is the beginning of the stampede, it is a herd instinct, they react like there is danger and that is not a good thing for them. It's not excitement or the joy of competition - that's the jockeys and the gamblers you're thinking of there.

The horses are being exploited because they have an instinct to run when they see other horses running.

digerd · 03/04/2013 17:49

If humans want to participate in a sport that can cause injuries, that is their choice.
Horses do not not have that choice, they are forced into it by the greed of their owners.

As a family we watched it decades ago, but when accidents happened I was worried for the innocent horses, and haven't watched it for ages and will not do so in the future.

countrykitten · 03/04/2013 17:49

It's a horrible race. I am not a fan of racing in any case as it is driven by big money at the expense of everything else. Many horses die in racing every year - the GN is just the race that is the most famous and followed so it is highlighted more.

Yes they should have halved the entry numbers - it will be carnage on Saturday as usual.

And I do understand horses and have my own before any smart arse comes along to tell me that I know nothing.

And as for the 'what about Syria?' or 'what about farm animals?' comments - well I care about these issues too. Being upset by the annual national disgrace that is the GN does not mean that a person does not care about anything else - care is not a finite thing.

MandragoraWurzelstock · 03/04/2013 17:50

'rules on whip use are very strict' was it last year or the year before the winner got a ban after winning but still kept his title?

Not what I'd call strict

countrykitten · 03/04/2013 17:51

Think that was last year - and didn't the winning horse need oxygen straight after the race? Still, as long as the punters enjoyed their day out....

MandragoraWurzelstock · 03/04/2013 17:51

They have reviewed the safety after last year's carnage

They have made some small changes to Bechers and others

the field stays the same size

It's pretty transparent what the motives are

MandragoraWurzelstock · 03/04/2013 17:52

Yes to O2

that was really played down after. The horse was in a bad way.

Panzee · 03/04/2013 17:55

Horse racing isn't a sport. Can't stand it myself.

McNewPants2013 · 03/04/2013 18:06

Just looked at some of the odds, 250/1 is a huge risk.

Perhaps they should be looking at the horses that haven't got good odds at winning and pulling them out

countrykitten · 03/04/2013 18:08

Yes but I think that the 'glamour' of having a horse in the GN is a major pull for some owners/syndicates and maybe trainers feel pressurised. Some horses have no hope of making it round in one piece but they are still entered.

countrykitten · 03/04/2013 18:09

Was just looking at some pretty shocking still pis of horses coming down (some not to get up again). It's not for the faint hearted.

ComposHat · 03/04/2013 18:14

YABU the raw ingredients of a Findus Lasagne don't supply themselves.

I think the horses are very lucky. I mean last time I wanted to be straddled by an Irish dwarf in silky clothing and whipped it cost me 500 quid in one of Soho's more niche clubs.

captainbarnacle · 03/04/2013 18:14

I worry just as much for the jockeys as the horses.

zukiecat · 03/04/2013 18:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Fairydogmother · 03/04/2013 18:19

I have a horse and cannot abide racing. I think it's more the way the general public feel about it - stupid horse lost me £20 etc.

They are animals with feelings not machines. And the majority, but not all, racehorses are kept in a very unnatural way of life with limited roughage and no turnout.

Nasty business

countrykitten · 03/04/2013 18:24

zukiecat all for money. Sad

Varya · 03/04/2013 18:28

For me it is the height of cruelty in the nasty world of steeplechasing. I wont be watching and will avoid reports, pics etc like the plague. Animals have no choice in how they are treated and the GN stinks.

Naysa · 03/04/2013 18:34

These animals aren't born to race.

Yes they are bred to be faster and stronger but they are also forced to live in their stables 24/7. Fed high energy food with little proper "horse time". It's wrong.
If the jockeys want to risk their lives so be it. The horses don't choose this life. The lucky ones are the ones too bad at racing. Some of them get new homes but some go to slaughter.

All the other sports were money is passed around and animals die have been banned. So why not racing. Isn't the death toll in it's 20s already this year?

Naysa · 03/04/2013 18:36

X post with zukie 26 animals dead.

That's ten a month Angry makes me sick that people watch this "sport"

jennywren45 · 03/04/2013 18:43

Have any of you read Clare Balding's Autobiography? It's well worth a read.

I love racing, I have horses, I have friends who train racehorses and I know the sport well.

MandragoraWurzelstock · 03/04/2013 18:45

She said she wanted them to halve the field after last year.

SamuelWestsMistress · 03/04/2013 18:47

Well the good old RSPCA have ensured there have been changes made. What they haven't thought out is that the fences are lower and the course is faster because of this so far likely to cause more injury.

Equestrian sport is risky. It goes on all the time. The grand national is a lot more high profile than many others and so more people get "outraged" about it.

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