GRAND NATIONAL

[PIPSUE]

AIBU to think that a £400 fine for excessive use of a whip by a jockey is not enough. In this case, the jockey was the winner and received £560000. I think he should lose his place to the second finisher, and still pay the £400 fine, otherwise it isn't fair on the other jockeys in the face.

@EyePeeEh

So the Grand National shouldn't be top of the list of things to ban for the sake of animal welfare. Agreed, this is why we should never do anything about anything, or even bother holding opinions.

If you can’t right all of the world’s wrongs simultaneously, what’s the point in doing anything?

Nothing wrong with holding opinions - that's why I offered mine.

Absolutely no basis whatsoever.
Like I said, I have no knowledge of horse racing. But, the amount of news stories I hear about horses being put down for a broken leg etc makes me feel they could be healed if money wasn’t the driving factor.
I may be totally wrong (and probably am). But, I don’t think it is a justifiable reason to put an animal down.

A horse, any horse, will not recover from a broken leg.

Racehorses are treated exceptionally well. Rather better than boxers and cage fighters.

I watched the race and to me it looked like both the 1st and 2nd place jockeys used their whips equally excessively. Didn't know he'd been fined, they both should have been imo.

Well it's just one of a long list of reasons why this awful event shouldn't continue.

The whips should be completely banned.
Excess kicking should mean a disqualification and a large fine.

The entire thing should be banned but too many people make money off it.

@toastfiend

This is categorically untrue.

Really ?

Warning - distressing content

Racehorses are treated exceptionally well. Rather better than boxers and cage fighters.

You can’t compare the two.

Boxers and cage fighters are humans.
They have voices, opinions and free will.
The horses don’t.

Nothing wrong with holding opinions - that's why I offered mine.
Barely. It’s impossible to glean from your posts anything resembling an opinion of substance on the topic, other than that you think that there are worse things. It’s about as insightful as posting ‘well, genocide is worse’ in any thread about a moral issue.

@LeggyLinda

Absolutely no basis whatsoever. Like I said, I have no knowledge of horse racing. But, the amount of news stories I hear about horses being put down for a broken leg etc makes me feel they could be healed if money wasn’t the driving factor. I may be totally wrong (and probably am). But, I don’t think it is a justifiable reason to put an animal down.

I don’t support the grand national or horse racing at all. It’s just cruelty.

But a broken leg in a horse is an extremely serious injury and money isn’t always the driving factor in putting it down. It’s the recuperation and long term welfare for the horse- even if the break was corrected, it can’t weightbear on it for a long period of time and will be in extreme pain. You can’t take a racehorse that’s been trained to run and make it stay in a stable for months without weightbearing or getting any sort of exercise. Also, the mechanism of injury is usually important too- the bone shatters into tiny fragments quite often and it’s sometimes impossible to recover from. The legs don’t have the same supportive structures that humans do.

Ah well national hunt season finishes soon so you can stop crying for a few months, unless you want to start moaning at point to point.

@LeggyLinda

Absolutely no basis whatsoever. Like I said, I have no knowledge of horse racing. But, the amount of news stories I hear about horses being put down for a broken leg etc makes me feel they could be healed if money wasn’t the driving factor. I may be totally wrong (and probably am). But, I don’t think it is a justifiable reason to put an animal down.

You are wrong.

You might not think it's justifiable, but it is. There are many fates worse for a horse than a quick death. Horses are heavy. Healing a broken leg for them means taking the weight off that leg. Can't put them on crutches so that means a sling. Imagine how that would feel for a flight animal? Being suspended by a sling and unable to move at will? Can't go outside if you're in a sling, either, so that's being suspended in a sling, potentially for many months, looking at the same 4 walls. Too dangerous to allow them to interact with other horses when in a sling, too, so that's off the table, not great for a herd animal. They're bloody heavy, too, and if they can't move independently they'll be subject to all the same stressors and discomforts as a bed bound human, just magnified because they're bigger and heavier. So pressure sores, fluid building up on lungs etc. Now please tell me again why a quick death isn't better than those months of mental and physical torture?

[quote Thesefeetaremadeforwalking]@toastfiend

This is categorically untrue.

Really ?

Warning - distressing content

[/quote] I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I'm saying it's untrue that it happens to the majority of horses except those fewthat go to sanctuaries, which is what you stated.

If you need to use a whip on a horse you’re a poor rider and not worthy of winning anything. Rather than a financial penalty for excessive whip use, I’d impose a lifetime ban on them riding again. However my first choice would be that the Grand National didn’t take place - pointless and cruel event.

@toastfiend you are talking utter, utter horseshit. Spend 5 minutes in the rescue industry around horse racing and you would know that! Put a horse down for a broken leg? Yes, of course, it is often insurmountable for a horse. But WHY put them in that position to begin with? It’s a bullshit sport, these horses are abused and abandoned every single day.

[quote Buildingthefuture]@toastfiend you are talking utter, utter horseshit. Spend 5 minutes in the rescue industry around horse racing and you would know that! Put a horse down for a broken leg? Yes, of course, it is often insurmountable for a horse. But WHY put them in that position to begin with? It’s a bullshit sport, these horses are abused and abandoned every single day.[/quote]
I'm not. We obviously fundamentally disagree on the subject of being pro or anti racing, but what I'm saying isn't "horse shit".

I have rescued horses off the track BTW.

The GN has been transformed over the last few years. The long vertical drops on the fences are gone, the fences themselves are made from springy cores which are less likely to cause injuries to horses who misjudge jumps. The number of fatalities has vastly reduced and the GN now is no more dangerous than any other race. Object to it if you wish, but then you need to object to all racing - there’s no logic to singling it out, and actually the industry should be commended for the proactive stance it has taken. It listened to opinion on the race and acted on it.

Racing is not really any more dangerous than other horsey activities. Horses can and do break their legs larking around in the field and have to be put down. Racehorses themselves live lives of luxury and then most are retired and retrained. It’s not a bad life at all and probably better than a lot of riding school ponies who have to put up with beginners sawing away at their mouths every week.

That being said, I do not condone at all excessive use of the whip and IMO a winning jockey guilty of this should forfeit their win.

When they were chatting to the race goers on Friday BBC1 news there was a woman trilling on about the great day out , the fun and the win:win.

2 horses paid with their lives to give this and other vacuous punters their Great Day Out .

My palm fucking itched I tell you

@DentonsFringeArnottsWaistcoat

You think excessive use of the whip is unfair on the other jockeys?

A whip is not used to hit the horse but is waved to keep it in eyesight which encourages going forward as the horse thinks something is coming up behind. Honestly a little knowledge goes a long way

I'm a horse owner and lover and wouldn't watch the GN if you paid me. It's vile abuse and should be banned.

A whip is not used to hit the horse but is waved to keep it in eyesight which encourages going forward as the horse thinks something is coming up behind. Honestly a little knowledge goes a long way

Why is 'excessive use' a thing then? If the whip is simply being waved about?

@EdgyNeonAnt

Well it's just one of a long list of reasons why this awful event shouldn't continue.

This…should be banned

Oh and as for the 'little bit of knowledge' I would suggest you get yourself some - the whip is 100% used on the horse.

www.britishhorseracing.com/regulation/the-whip/

@PIPSUE

I stand corrected. Like I said, I know little of the sport and horses in general. But it still doesn’t sit right with me. In my little brain, if you’re going to force an animal to risk their health for human enjoyment then extra effort should be made to protect them.

Would we all be cheering on a human race where 1 in 20 of the competitors die? That's the death rate for this year's Grand National. Oh, hang on, people are making pots of money out of it.....