a tyro question... would spectators even be interested in watching horse races without jockeys? that would be cool, no? gates open! out shoot these awesome animals running like mad without a whip...? heck, dogs can run a track without being reminded of what direction to go. can't horses? maybe a mechanical carrot zipping around a track...? notwithstanding acknowledging jockeys, it'd cut costs for the owners and tracks. and a racer would still want to win.
i'd pay to see that live. portage-less horses! hmmm. how long before they started biting each other mid-race or doing other nasty tricks to win? i like this list. cheers, jason On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 12:44 PM, Mary Jo Sminkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >I believe, wholeheartedly, that "man" should not race horses before they > are > >at least 4 years old. A horse is not fully developed until the age of 4 > or > >5. > > I totally agree. This is one reason we do tend to see more injuries in > racing than other equine sports where they are not competing at such an > early age. > > > >I personally treated my horses like gold. They were better taken care of > >than I was. I took care of stables full of high class, high bred stakes > >horses cost $250,000+ and I took care of and raced $5,000 claimers. To > me, > >they all got the same care, no matter how much they were worth or how > much > >money they made. > > > And there definitely are many owners like that, who are in it not for the > money so much as the love of the sport and the animal. It's really not that > much different than breeding dogs, or many other activities with animals > that come down to money...the best breeders are those that are not in it to > make money (although typically they do, just because of the care they put > into it) while those that solely care about making money are the ones > running puppy mills and treating their animals very poorly. > > > >That is not the case for some stables though. I saw people around me that > >took short cuts, shot horses full of pain meds, blocked hooves, > administered > >"milk shakes", etc. I don't believe it is a majority, and state > regulations > >make it very hard these days to cheat the system, but on class c > racetracks > >and where people are trying to put food on their table week after week, > you > >see a lot more corners being cut. > > Yup, very much the kind of thing I saw regularly. > > > >As for being born to run? I took care of horses who got so excited, ears > up, > >tail waving, nickering, prancing, ready to get on the track and go. > > Yup, that's the drive to run and win against any challenge that the great > horses have but can be a two-edged sword when it comes to animals hurting > themselves. It's just the nature of the game when it comes to breeding > animals that will have that strong drive and desire to win, that is > necessary in a great racer. > > > >Otherwise, it's like any other activity/sport. It's great when everyone > is > >happy. Bad when there's a bad apple. > > I guess the objection with racing though is that it is an innocent animal > that gets harmed as a result. So it does become a question of if the price > is too high, since it's unlikely you can ever completely get rid of the "bad > apples". > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:259843 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
