To wonder why people still bet on the grand national

[Springtime336]

-2 horses have already died at ladies day

• approx 200-250 horses die every year in the uk in horse racing

Really sad

My personal viewpoint is that I find it hypocritical that people slag off horse racing because it is so 'cruel' while tucking into their steak, sipping their latte.

Hmm. Maybe you should take that up with someone else then.

Sorry @breadzeb if you are not that right person. But the OP is 'sticking her ore in' by saying horse racing should be banned!

But the OP is 'sticking her ore in' by saying horse racing should be banned!

The reason the halo-wearing sanctimonious posters on here want to ban the Grand National - and probably all horse racing - is because at root they’re bossy puritans.

One of them posted a comment upthread about the harms of betting. That’s it in a nutshell really: what the ‘animal lovers’ really can’t stand is animals being associated with people having fun on a day out, dressing up, drinking and betting.

It’s a sure sign of a pseudo-religion of the worst sort. They assume the moral high ground then tell you what is and isn’t acceptable, with a special hatred for things that give pleasure, then try to control how you live your life.

I don’t know but it’s all over my Facebook feed tonight. People crowing about backing the winner. A Horse died at the first fence . I don’t give a fuck they won money, it wasn’t worth it.

The footage is horrific. They may have made the fences easier but there are far too many Horses. It is unsafe. I feel the same way about Cross Country events so it’s not a bossy Puritan streak.

Kissing "what the ‘animal lovers’ really can’t stand is animals being associated with people having fun on a day out, dressing up, drinking and betting."

Wrong. What I really can't stand is seeing a horse writhe in pain with a broken leg or back, especially having been forced to jump an extremely high fence in a large crowd of other horses and riders meaning it can't select its own pace or position, in the name of entertainment.

Darknight those horses wouldn't exist without horse racing though. None of them would. There is a ton of stuff that humans do which is totally barbaric, dog fighting, badger baiting, don't even start me on zoos and dolphins/whales kept in captivity to perform year after bloody year of their pitiful existence. Far, far crueller - wonder how many posters have been to SeaWorld without a second thought though? Pining so much angst on one horse, whilst understandable, is just so totally out of proportion imo.

...in the name of entertainment.

There we go.

No one has yet answered my question - would you rather not be born than risk being killed in an accident?

@KissingInTheRain I totally agree with you, I'm an ex fox hunter (probably not going to help my case here!) but I think people just see this image and get the wrong end of the stick about how people who actually do it think / feel?

@MoonStarsSun you can't force a horse to do anything

No, because I see a difference in animals dying for entertainment and animals dying as part of the food chain.

Firstly we don't need to eat meat so it's not necessity for animals to be killed for meat.
Secondly lots of meat is wasted or eaten through greed rather than need.
Thirdly, farmed animals are treated terribly and many animals die before they even make it to slaughter age.

I'd rather be a race horse than a slaughter pig any day.

ima nobody is answering your question because it's so unrelatable to this topic on so many levels.

Flora basically you are posing the question of "would you rather be" between two very different but equally unfair existences.

Personally I'd rather be neither.

Firstly we don't need to eat meat so it's not necessity for animals to be killed for meat.

Correct.

Secondly lots of meat is wasted or eaten through greed rather than need.

Also correct.

Thirdly, farmed animals are treated terribly and many animals die before they even make it to slaughter age

Again, correct.

None of those things bear any relevance on horses being raced though. It's not one v the other. I don't know why you think it is?

Totally agree with @trekkingbeyond.

Tiger Roll is an amazing horse. I’m so sorry about Up For Review and had to turn off after seeing that fall.

I've always had a flutter on the national, but passively and have never really watched it. I watched it today and I'll not be betting on horse racing ever again - I've felt sick since and can't believe how ignorant I've been until now. That poor horse

Because they're ignorant arseholes.

None of those things bear any relevance on horses being raced though. It's not one v the other. I don't know why you think it is?

I'm not. I'm saying you can't condem horse racing but eat meat farmed through modern/industrial farming which is much cruller and more barbaric. Others are saying you can because you need to eat meat and that pigs don't matter like horses do - even though they suffer worse and due needlessly.

I think I must be reading a different thread

@MoonStarsSun why is it? Fair enough for the GN in particular but horse racing?

87 horses have died this year, picking numbers out of the air here but say 5k National hunt horses in training, none of which would exist if it wasn't for the racing industry

ima Horses don't have consciousness of the notion of "I'm lucky I'm a horse at all rather than non-existent horse".

As for you can't force a horse to do anything.. not usually no, but the races we are talking about here are where the horses are running in a packed crowd of other horses, sensing the high nervous energy and anticipation of the other riders and racers, and the noise of thousands in the crowds beyond. So they have don't have the luxury of having the usual time, space and calm of making a choice over the jump. They can't stop to refuse the jump at the sheer speed they are going at and there's horses in front and/or to the side and/or behind.

I think racing them hones in on their innate sense of fleeing with the herd. I've galloped in groups with others and there's no way I could have stopped my horse from taking off, they get so excited by it. I rode Arab horses for many years (Thoroughbreds are derived from Arabs) and they LOVE to race flat out.

Trekking The racing flat out they might like (sometimes, when they feel like it) but throw in 30 high fences which they have no vision or space to prepare for whilst racing at top speed... that's very different scenario, I think.

I mean eating meat/ going to sea world is obviously just as bad, whataboutery doesn’t prove any point.

@imamearcat I would rather not be born than be bred, used and killed as a commodity. But that’s really not the point. We’re talking about making a decision before breeding the animal, when there is no animal in existence yet to decide if it would rather be born or not. It’s not always better to breed animals, so they get a chance to exist, than not to, which effectively is what your argument suggests.