Sitemaps

Who feels sad about Barbro2007-11-24 21:22:57

There have been other positive developments which have happened as well. We now have a surgeon who can perform complicated, life-saving operations to repair fractures in horses with a reasonable chance of success, and where Dr. Richardson leads, others will follow. One day in the not too distant future, there will be someone like him at every track and horse facility in the country, and perhaps even in the entire world. I also believe that the day is coming when we will see the construction and development of more facilities like New Bolton- and we desparately NEED them. There should be a facility like that in every state where racing exists in this country, and we should export the idea for such places to other countries, so that they can build their own facilities and save their horses. The British, who are acknowledged by everyone to have been the founders of modern Thoroughbred racing, have no such facility of their own right now- and as a result, when horses break down in races there, they are normally euthanized immediately. ( This actually happened in the English Derby last year- there was a horse which broke down on course, and was euthanized on the spot. Imagine what might have transpired had a facility like New Bolton been available to that horse and its owners.)

As for the question of whether or not racing is cruel, I won't get into that here, other than to say that yes, I am aware of the sport's dark side, and yes, I also believe that the sport can and should be made safer for everyone involved. Raising the minimum age for racing to 4 for the baby races and 5 for the stakes races would go a long, long way towards improving the safety of the sport and would save the lives of thousands- and possibly millions- of horses, but I don't see this happening anytime soon because of the huge economic pressures which the breeders and owners of such horses face. Polytrack surfaces will help as well, since they are much easier on the animals' legs than traditional dirt or turf courses. There are other ways in addition to this- too many to mention here. Yes, I am saddened by Barbaro's death- but he didn't die in vain- there is a lot of good that has come from his passing, and because of the research into the disease that killed him, ALL horses will be better off.

---

I know =( he was great. Im also really sad about Le samurai, especially the fact that they are trying to accuse Amy tryon of animal abuse-- thats ridiculous.

---

This will sound really harsh but...