Death Records Now

Two years ago in May 2005, Barbaro, a 3 year old Thoroughbred racehorse won the Kentucky Derby. Two weeks later he shattered his leg in the Preakness race. The next day he underwent surgery for his injuries . In July 2005, he developed laminitis in his left rear leg , a very painful disease in the hoof caused by a failure of the hoof bone to connect to the hoof wall. He had an additional five surgeries, and his prognosis varied as he remained for an extraordinarily long period of time in the equine Intensive Care Unit at the University of Pennsylvania. While his right leg eventually healed, a final risky surgery on it proved futile because the colt soon developed further laminitis in both front legs. His veterinarians and owners then concluded that he could not be saved, and Barbaro was euthanized on January 29, 2007. Barbaro broke his right hind leg in more than 20 places: a broken cannon bone above the ankle, a broken sesamoid bone behind the ankle and a broken long pastern bone below the ankle. The fetlock joint was dislocated. If Barbaro had not ridden in that race, he might still be alive today.

The Dangers and evils of horse racing
I’m going to present to you the dangers and evils of professional horse racing. Every year hundreds of race horses are raced to death, and many more are injured. If they aren’t winning, then they are frequently neglected and abused. Something needs to be done to stop the abuse and help these horses.
Injuries
There are many dangers in horse racing. A horse can slip and fall, or step on its leg wrong and break it. Another famous racehorse, Ruffian, the unbeatable thoroughbred filly was running in a match race against the Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure. Half way through the race she stepped wrong and completely snapped her leg. She had a successful surgery, but when she woke up from it she accidentally broke her other leg. She was put down eight hours after the accident.

In the 2005 racing year, 320 racehorse deaths were reported in California alone, a number believed to be an all-time high. It was a 32 percent increase from the previous year, with 154 of the deaths coming during races, up 34 percent from the previous year. And horse racing doesn’t just take a toll on the horses. Surprisingly, horse racing is the most dangerous sport for people. For every 100,000 fatalities nationwide, about 128 are caused by horse racing.

Animal Aid, a British animal rights organization. Founded in 1977, Initiated a Race Horse Death Watch was launched during the 2007 Cheltenham Festival in England. Its purpose is to expose and record every on-course Thoroughbred fatality in Britain. Their research indicated that an average of 375 horses is raced to death every year. One-third of them die on racecourses, while the others are destroyed as a result of training injuries, or are killed because they are no longer commercially viable.
From Winner to Dinner
In 2002 the Kentucky Derby 1986 Winner Ferdinand was slaughtered in a Japanese slaughter house. Though Americans were outraged, not much was done to stop slaughter until 2006 when an Anti Slaughter bill was put into the senate. The bill passed but it only protects horses going to slaughter in America. It does not protect horses being shipped out of the country and into Mexico and Canada. More than 90% of horses going to Slaughter are healthy horses, and nearly half of those horses are racehorses. In slaughter houses the horses are neglected, abused and poorly fed, if fed at all. They are given just enough nourishment to keep them alive until they can be slaughtered.
Overworking
Overworking is another danger. Many good horses are ruined because they are raced too much when they are still too young. The official thoroughbred birthday is January 1st when they can officially start racing, so none of the horses are actually a year old. Some are younger than others, thus a 5 months old horse could be racing an 8 month old horse. Since the horses are raced when they are so young and still growing, it causes bone problems. They can develop Arthritis at early ages. The bones can chip and create bumps on their legs, and their joints are often ruined resulting in lifetime lameness. Being raced or trained every day is very hard on a horse, especially a young, growing horse. If trained at the right age (3 or 4) a Thoroughbred can be raced up to the age of 10. But in America, the average retiring age is 4 or 5.
No place to call home
Many people think that racehorses ‘live the good life’. They get nice grain and fresh hay every day. They live in heated barns and have nice comfortable stalls with grooms that go in and clean up for them every 5 minutes. The problem is that they are not living as horses should, they live in a box stall, are expected to be explosively athletic at the drop of a hat, are given a bit of a cool out, and put back in their stalls. They are fed well, but are often handled by people who don’t care who they are as an animal but rather how they translate into a paycheck, or who don’t have the time to work with them individually because they have a whole barn of 20 horses to care for. A horse needs play time; time to just be a horse. It needs time in a pasture to run around and release pent up energy. These racehorses are so expensive that they can’t be let outside for fear of being hurt. They have no real place to call home. These Racehorses are still just horses. They still need interaction with other horses. The jockeys that ride them see them as a money maker, and they don’t actually ride the horse until the race. They have different riders all through training.
Think about it
Horse Racing is seen as a prestigious sport. Millions of spectators flock to the races, bet on a horse they think looks fast, and sit and cheer that horse on. Yet few ever consider the well being of the horse. They must run at top speed anywhere from a quarter mile to three miles. If they don’t win they are cooled off quickly and put back in their stall while their owners go on to race the next horse in the stock. If they do win they are taken right to the winners circle. An odd spooky blanket of flowers is thrown onto their back and lights start flashing from cameras and they are paraded off to their stall with a crowd of people following. Next time you go to a horse race or even see it on TV, think about the horses. I hope this speech has prompted you to look at it differently. Thank you.
honestly, thank you very much, but I spent WEEKS researching that. I know what happens. What happened to Barbaro wasnt a freak accident. It happens to race horses every year. I myself ride at a top class jumper barn. The horses there are treated just as well as racehorses and they arent breaking legs every year. They get time to rest and they are put out to pasture when they are tired. So plz, dont tell me i dont know wat im talking about.

honestly while you do make some very valid points I think it’s crap & you need to do a little more research on racing and maybe even experience the whole management aspect of it personally. What happened to Barbaro was a FREAK ACCIDENT, Had he not raced in the Preakness he probably would have broken it in his paddock or in the belmont, there is no way we will ever know. Throughbreds are born to run, some have stronger bone structure than others it’s just the luck of the draw. I can tell you this much you are gonna hack off a lot of avid racing fans and people who work with the animals by posting this. Those racehorses get treated better than my own horses do and they are taken pretty damn good care of. Hell they are probably proivded for better than most children. I suggest you delve further into the sport instead of concentrating on the "evils" of horse racing. If you look at it logically, look at the accidents that happen in any horse related sport, they abound everywhere not just racing. So if you are gonna say racing is evil b/c of the accidents that happen in it, maybe you should just go ahead and say all us horse owners are cruel for putting an our horses through unnatural things. Go ahead and thumb me down i dont care but God you know nothings kill me when it comes to racing. You se eone thing and label the whole sport and everything surrounding it as evil. Sorry if i hurt you feelings or hacked you off but YOU asked

also honey Barbaro won in 2006 get your years straight

if you ride at a "top class jumper barn" then you should know about the hazzards of jumping to horses, ever see a horse hit the ground wrong after landing a jump and completely shatter his leg, and I mean to the point where bone splinters out of leg? I have seen it in person and this horse was about a 65,000 horse that was very very well taken care of and had plenty of rest between shows…… you may know when it comes to jumpers but it is obvious you don’t know jack when it comes to race horses