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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Horse racing - they killed the horse

184 replies

ludothedog · 20/08/2018 16:58

On Saturday I attended a day at the races. Great day but... one of the horses and rider fell. The horse was hurt. They killed it. There and then. On the race course. No trip to the vet to see if it could be saved, no second chance.

WTF!

I had no idea it was so ruthless. Everyone carried on with their day out like it was no big deal, like it happens all the time. It just felt so wrong but it seems like no one else was bothered.

Any horse owners out there - is this normal?

OP posts:
serbska · 20/08/2018 17:12

YABU for going to see the horse racing without having any idea how cruel it is!

Slartybartfast · 20/08/2018 17:12

what a shockingly awful thing to happen Sad

meadowmeow · 20/08/2018 17:13

It would have been a Vet who PTS. If a horse can be saved it will be, this one obviously couldn't. They do what is best for the animal.

It's really common.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 20/08/2018 17:14

Toad No sanctuary would take a horse with a broken leg if a vert had decided that it couldn't be save, they too would call a vet and have the horse PTS, see my previous post for an explanation of the physiology of the horse. Your post is illogical!

Original poster
ludothedog · 20/08/2018 17:16

YABU for going to see the horse racing without having any idea how cruel it is! - I agree. It was certainly an eye opener and now I know I won't be back.

and no I'm not vegan but I do eat as little meat as possible.

OP posts:
LittleKitty1985 · 20/08/2018 17:16

@AlphaBravo I had the same thought. If she doesn't want a horse to die for her entertainment then I hope she's not hypocritical enough to allow a pig to die for her tastebuds!

AsAProfessionalFekko · 20/08/2018 17:20

One of my sisters horses did recover from a broken leg - but he wasn't a spider-legged racing beauty.

I suppose the vet checks how bad the break is and how likely the horse is to recover. I guess the owners also have the equine equivalent of a DNR on their horses.

Myimaginarycathasfleas · 20/08/2018 17:21

I do eat as little meat as possible

That's no meat then.

Andtheresaw · 20/08/2018 17:22

A really successful racehorse is worth more at stud than it can reasonably make during its racing life.
The fact that even a top racehorse with a thigh break would still be put down for humanitarian reasons is pretty telling actually that it isn't all about the money: the horses aren't put down because they are no longer capable of racing so much as they are in agony and don't have a good chance of normal pain free function again.
It is very sad when this happens but no horse races who doesn't want to race and no horse suffers if they have a significant injury they are pts asap.

AsAProfessionalFekko · 20/08/2018 17:22

I dont eat meat but I have eaten horse in the past. It's not nice.

Fireworks91 · 20/08/2018 17:22

Yup, this is why so many people get irate around the time of the grand national.

SideOrderofSprouts · 20/08/2018 17:23

When horses break a bone it is very hard to recover from
You can’t plaster cast them. There is a lot of weight on those legs.

the most humane thing to do is pts. And horse owners accept this.

JacquesHammer · 20/08/2018 17:24

Yup, this is why so many people get irate around the time of the grand national

Mainly erroneously. Changes to the procedures/course of the GN have made it much safer in recent years compared to other festivals where there are way more fatalities. It is all a bit of band wagon jumping come April.

AsAProfessionalFekko · 20/08/2018 17:25

I guess it depends on the break. But these animals are business to their owners.

Twistella · 20/08/2018 17:25

One of my beloved horses broke its leg in a random field accident. The vet put him down then and there.

daffodillament · 20/08/2018 17:26

Op are you that naive ? Of course this is what happens all the time ! It's barbaric. So upsetting.

S0upertrooper · 20/08/2018 17:26

Sadly this is the norm. The main reason I would never watch horse racing or bet on the horses. Grand National sickens me.

JacquesHammer · 20/08/2018 17:27

@Twistella Flowers

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 20/08/2018 17:29

And that is why I don’t support horse racing 😞

Twistella · 20/08/2018 17:29

It's not the norm. It's not nice I agree.

Horses have lots of bones in their legs, it's very hard to heal them. My horse was in agony and trying desperately to get up. I was relieved when it was over for him. He didn't deserve it Sad

SlothSlothSloth · 20/08/2018 17:29

I honestly don’t know how you couldnt have known this? You must be goading? Even without witnessing the shooting, is it really possible to have so little capacity for critical thought that you could think any form of animal racing was humane?

SlothSlothSloth · 20/08/2018 17:29

Killing sorry, not shooting. You didn’t specify the method

Idontbelieveinthemoon · 20/08/2018 17:30

I had a beautiful horse when I was around 11/12 who broke his leg in an incident with a car down a quiet country lane. I broke my whole heart when the vet put him down there at the site but there was nothing to be done for him. The vet assured me that horses simply don't recover from broken limbs the way other animals might. I've never forgotten the guilt I felt that day.

I go to the races and enjoy it, but accept that the crueller side of it exists.

Original poster
ludothedog · 20/08/2018 17:30

I'm sorry Twistella. Flowers

OP posts:
TERFMcDuck · 20/08/2018 17:31

Fekko Was it a splint bone break? They're the only really survivable leg break in horses.

Agree with a pp that PTS is the kindest option, what Barbaro was put through was inhumane.