More horses die at Cheltenham Festival

[Carlie97]

This brings the total to four. How on earth is this allowed to happen? It's disgusting these gentle beings die for human entertainment. Humans are absolute bastards.

It's the same every bloody year, and at Aintree.

I wish they'd ban national hunt altogether.

Bookies making money is more important than horses.

It's a shocking state of affairs.

It's another good reason to ban gambling

We are locals and never go to the races and never will do, every year horses die, makes me sick! 😡

And all the coverage of everyone getting drunk and the slebs and what they're wearing is just making it worse

Animals are dying and there is no respect or recognition about how cruel this all is

I would just put all horses down and then all the cruelty issues would go away -not just racing but under nourished, under exercised, left unattended for months etcetc

We were invited into a box and met people with horses racing and this is a huge part of their life. They seemed like such lovely people at odds with any kind of cruelty. I will never be going again, sickened.

And the drunken brawls, and the strip club that opens every March to keep the men happy 🤮

Millions of animals are subjected to cruelty every day for human entertainment and pleasure.

Zoos, battery farms for cheap eggs, awful conditions for cheap meat, the innumerable pets kept in poor conditions, backyard breeding so people can have some overbred fashionable accessory...

I've never really understood why it is that horseracing is the focus for so many when comparatively it is a drop in the ocean.

Maybe the true scale of it is too hard to comprehend. Maybe people are prepared to turn a blind eye when they're the ones benefitting from their McDonald's and cute little Frenchie who can't bloody breathe.

If we don’t have horse racing we have absolutely no need for horses. The vast majority would have to be killed, we have no other purpose for them

Yeah. Right

Plenty of people enjoy riding without racing them

4 horses dying for entertainment is barbaric.

Yes some people enjoy riding but the vast majority are race horses that we have no other need for. Who would pay for them to be kept if they couldn’t be raced?

So the answer is to keep breeding them?

There are about 20k racing horses in the UK, a total horse population of about a million. So 2% engaged in racing

Not the vast majority at all

Is this all you've got to defend the barbarism? Made up facts and misinformation?

Horses die. Mine was galloping in his field and dropped down dead. It's awful and tragic and sad but it happens and doesn't mean the horse was overworked or mistreated.

You bet they die

That’s bonkers, plenty of people keep horses that aren’t for racing.

I have horses of my own and I don't like racing. There's a lot that goes on in the management of racehorses that is just so cruel, no turnout, ridden at 2, pumped full of high energy feed. So many race horses come out of the system absolutely broken mental and physically. You could do a lot to improve their lives and that would also reduce deaths, but they wouldn't be as fast so it will never happen 😭

They do, but I also think the whole racing industry perpetuates misery for horses. I had an off track TB and poor thing was so damaged, by the training, having a saddle on their backs at 1 year is no good for them, the stress they put growing horses through during their training, and the fact they never really behave like horses, they don’t get turned out and live on massive hard feeds instead of natural forage. They’re herd animals who spend their lives in stables or on the gallops. It’s not right. And don’t get me started on how the breeding has left so many horses with terrible guts, terrible feet and terrible confirmation.

It's just an awful industry and I wish people would understand what awful lives these horses lead. When I see all these people dressed up going to watch animals being exploited and abused it just makes me sick. If you want to get dressed up and go on the piss, just do that and leave the poor animals alone.

3123 horses in 19 years:

https://www.horsedeathwatch.com/

That's a ludicrous argument and you know it.

Horses die easily because they are very fragile. It’s not just the races where they end up having to be PTS.

Sadly, if a horse breaks its leg it will often need to be put down even in the context of a normal every day yard.

Hundreds of race horses die each year so I always think its odd that people only say anything during one or two high profile races.

What about all the others year round who die?

As with everything, it’s all about money

I have family that are very involved and just to portray a counter argument their horses are so well treated, have totally dedicated grooms and are very well rested between races. They get a lot of time in big paddocks off season and are happy and healthy animals. Please don’t tar everyone involved with the same brush.