That the Grand National should end

[LlynTegid]

The cruellest horse race, at least on these shores. Hope no horse is injured or killed before it is stopped for good.

@IncessantNameChanger that's horrendous it makes my blood boil I know what I'd like to do to that evil owner of that poor horse
How can people be so cruel

Banning it would be a good start. It's not just the horses that die on the day the day that suffer. I can't see much entertainment value.

This has happened every single year I have been here. Its not going to happen, too much money involved.

I haven't read the full thread, as I morbidly fixate on stories of animal cruelty for months. It's awful, but it's best for my mental health if I don't read.
But anyway, I would agree that such races should be banned.

Don’t worry OP. I give it two to three years at most.

The Irish trainers have colonised the race by entering multiple horses per trainer ( perfectly legally ). Gordon Elliott has eight in a field of thirty four, several owned by the same person ( who also owns an airline). At the last minute ,he has taken the top rated horse out so all the weights are skewed; 🙄.

Of course all the horses trained in the same stable are run on their own merits, no possibility of any of them getting in the way of the top horse from another stable so it loses ground.😉

It is becoming boring, and not attracting the same betting turnover, so it will wither.

Well that's heartening tbh. Fingers crossed.

It’s a shame PETA don’t do petitions regarding the 10x that number of horses that die every year due to being owned by people who cannot afford to keep them in anything more than squalor and can’t afford to pay for any medical attention so leave them suffering from painful conditions that they are “treating themselves”. There’s plenty of people out there who think owning a horse is some sort of right, not a privilege, and are totally ignorant to their suffering on a daily basis/ can’t actually do anything about it due to no knowledge and no funds.

But I suppose that’s a little less headline grabbing…..

@FestiveAuntFanny

"Why don't we ban sports that harm humans too? "

Because adult humans can make their own informed decisions as to the risks they take whether that be base jumping, caving or juggling chainsaws.

The horses in the Grand National are not able to make their own decision as to whether they participate in the Grand National or not.

Of course I understand that it is entertaining for many, but like bull fighting this comes at the cost of animal's lives.

Whoever has the shotgun I’d say.

Humans choose to participate.

There's a pretty clear difference between a human and an animal, obviously.

Although the labour issues are another question, sweat shops of course not acceptable.

Do they make royalty jump over things and shoot them if they break their leg?

Apparently so. Comes up on every single thread dealing with any aspect of animal suffering. ‘Oh? You don’t wear mink and enjoy badger baiting? Well, you’d better be vegan or you have no right to have an opinion.’

My view: better to do what you can than nothing at all.

The whataboutery is so weird to me. I have horsey family members and horsey acquaintances. None have ever spoken about horses the way anybody does about other pets. Dog people and cat people would never accept the risks that horse people do with their animals, including horse people who own other pets. The disconnect is so strange.

There’s no comparison to rugby players either. They choose to enter that sport. Horses don’t.

I’m not a vegan (because I know that will come up) but I’m not ok with animals being used as entertainment. If humans want to be entertainment then that’s fine but leave animals out of it if their deaths aren’t necessary.

You do understand that almost every horse that breaks a leg - from million pound racehorse to child’s pony in a field - will need to be humanely destroyed?

It’s not something exclusive to racing as some people try to claim “They shoot them because they can’t make money anymore”.

The basic biology of a horse means leg fractures, unless they are very small, are incredibly difficult and almost impossible to fix. You can’t stick a horse’s leg in a cast and tell it not to move for 6 weeks. Even if the original fracture heals, the additional stress placed on the other three limbs during recovery means they often develop complications like laminitis (where the structures inside the hoof start to come apart).

Look up the case of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro- he suffered a leg fracture and no expense was spared by his owners on multiple surgeries and treatments, but within months of the injury he had to be put down because of the inevitable complications. Arguably it would have been kinder to put him down at the time of the injury rather than put him through the surgeries and doubtless pain.

Hundreds of thousands of people every year, year in year out.

My whole family place bets, my partners family, most of our friends even place bets on the GN when they don’t bet any other time of year.

It is appalling. I can't believe it is still going.
We are a country that does not treat animals with cruelty but still accept this as 'sport'

The scummiest “sport” going.

Millions of people actually. Racing is the second most attended spectator sport in the country with nearly 5 million people going to the races in 2023.

https://racecourseassociation.co.uk/annual-racecourse-attendance-figures-hold-firm-with-4-83m-racegoers/

Millions of people doing something doesn’t make it okay.

Fair enough dogs are generally not put into particularly risky situations, but how many cats are left to wander and get killed or injured on roads everyday? Right or wrong people will take whatever risk they seem acceptable with their animals, it's not exclusive to horses.

Because humans have a choice to take part in sport and horses do t?

The rationale that some horses get injured and have to be euthanized anyway therefore it’s fine to subject them to the additional risk of racing, is pretty ridiculous.

By that logic you might as well bring back dog fighting because some dogs fight anyway.

@montysma1
kids in Bangladeshi sweat shops making footballs.
Not a choice! FFS

Anyway - I love a horse but can't get het up about all this when thousands of people are dying in wars, from starvation and famine etc. Sorry OP to derail your thread.

It's absolutely grotesque

Nah, too much money in it

I think it will be made safer though - fewer horses, safer jumps, which is good