To be so sad at grand national

[bellalou1234]

Im so sad to hear a horse has died today. Apparently it was inexperianced on the jumps and the third horse the trainers/owners have lost!

I saw someone share this page the other day. You can see a list of the deaths of horses by race course. It’s a very sobering read

www.horsedeathwatch.com

DH and I have agreed never to bet on the Grand National again. It was my first and last bet! That poor, poor horse

It was mine in the sweep. I won't bet again.

It's akwars been obvious to me that horse racing is very cruel. I can't believe how many people see it as a bit if fun.

I hope the horse's death won't be in vain, as it's about the only one I can remember recently that the distress of the horse was in full view of the TV cameras. Hope it makes some people think.

@ncagain ask anyone who has been around horses for any length of time. People who have been around dogs a good deal know what they like and don’t like. Horses the same. More than once I’ve seen an unattended horse in a field with some practice jumps and they are jumping over them themselves. Plus, I’ve ridden more than one pony/horse that couldn’t wait to get round some jumps, given half a chance. I agree racing is nothing like showjumping and I dislike horse-racing for similar reasons to why I dislike bull-fighting. Not that I’m comparing them in any particular way, before anyone jumps on me from a great height.

I don't understand why people only get upset at the Grand National when until today there hadn't been a fatality for a while. I never see people up in arms when there is a loss at Badminton, SJ etc. I presume they are OK with everyone?

There are way way fewer deaths at XC and SJ events and when they do happen, or there's a serious injury to horse or rider, the whole community rallies round and feels it. In racing, it's given a courtesy mention but nobody (other than grooms, trainer, owner directly linked to that horse seem to give a shit)

From a personal point of view my issue is that racing is a buisness and purely for the fun of people betting on it. And I don't feel other equestrian sports are the same.

@Helmlover1 Sadly, many horses die in the Grand National every year,

You don't help your argument by making up rubbish. They don't, this was the first since 2012. If you're going to argue against it, there's plenty of true stuff to argue with.

Lifecraft- sorry I’ll correct my original post- many horses die as a result of racing in Great Britain every year eg. In 2018 the death toll was 202 horses. Either way, I’m sure you would argue that even 1 death is too many.

When there is a death on the course the race should be stopped, immediately.

Instead all the news is about the winner! Oh and as an afterthought, a horse died!!

No, the fatality shouldn't take away the achievement of the horse that won. Tiger Roll deserves the spotlight .
All those horses would have trained to the nth degree . Sometimes a horse will stumble with exhaustion. There have been limbs broken because of this .
Should the jockeys be made to retire them if they feel the horse cannot go on?
Should the trainers be prosecuted if they race a horse that isn't ready for the GN?
Should the numbers be cut to stop those horrible pile ups?

I'm not a fan of racing at all .
There will be an investigation into this . So many other horses made it home , so don't take the glory from them.

The glory isn’t on the horses - the horses don’t give a shit that they’ve won. Only their idiot riders and people who have profited from their use and abuse.

I can't stand horse racing, especially the hype surrounding the GN. I've never bet on it, I never will, and I don't even watch the thing. I know many horses die over the year due to sport, which is horrific, but the GN shines a light on it because the race itself is so famous.

I just had a read through the Animal Aid website . There is an article about the fences .
They really should be altered.
Fences at an angle
Landing that needs a 90 degree turn on landing
Drops that are higher than take-offs
Ditches

All designed to catch them out . With the distance involved why not have straight forward fences where the horse can see the base line , the top line and no ditches or drops,

And the horses do reap the rewards if they suceed . They will go to stud or breeding eventually and have quite a nice life.
Its the ones who don't make it who will end up in sales, maybe homes where the new owner doesn't know enough, or slaughter . .

A race should never be celebrated where there's a death, its totally gross!

The death of an animal absolutely should invalidate a race as showing the course to be unsafe. Its just shocking that any find it acceptable to continue any event where an animal has to be destroyed in agony.

No animal should be asked to die in the pursuit of peoples gambling.

I can't agree that the few experiencing the nice life of stud etc is worth the risk to the many,or the shit life of the remainders