Tuesday Oct 16, 2018
#39 “There Is Something About The Outside Of A Horse That Is Good For The Inside Of A Man.” - Winston Churchill The World Needs To Open Up With Kimberly Terrana
“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”
― Winston S. Churchill“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.” – Dr. Paul Farm
How old are horses on average when they retire?
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Some of the greatest Thoroughbred racehorses, including Seabiscuit and Man O' War, raced for only two years before retiring. Others, like 16-consecutive race winner Cigar, continued racing as a 5-year-old, but for the most part a horse's racing life will last perhaps three or four years.
How many horses die on racetracks because they’ve been drugged to perform past their limits?
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The New York Times found that 24 horses a week died at American tracks, a rate much greater than in countries where drug use for hoses is severely restricted.
How many bred Thoroughbreds make it to a race?
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Thousands of Thoroughbreds are bred for racing every year. Depending on the country, only 5% to 10% ever see a racecourse. What happens to the others? Unless they are lucky enough to find another career, they are disposed of, typically at a slaughterhouse (the USA ships horses to Canada for slaughter).
What can happen to a Thoroughbred after they retire?
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Champion racehorses are often retired early, becoming what’s known as a “stud horse.” When a former racehorse begins a second career as a stud horse, it means his owner gets paid for the horse to breed with mares, the goal being to potentially produce new race-winning foals. This can be extremely demanding for the stallion, who may need to perform multiple times a day, but can be very lucrative for the horse’s owners, who can earn thousands of dollars for just one visit.
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Some retired racehorses are lucky enough to be picked up by trainers or rescuers who put a lot of time and training into them to give them a new career. But most are not so lucky. Many will end up at auctions while some are sold directly to kill buyers or dealers. These horses will ship directly to slaughter with a very slim chance of being saved.
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In the United States, where horse slaughter was outlawed in 2007, an estimated 120,000 horses (Thoroughbreds and others) were exported to Canada for slaughter in 2009. In 2017, the number dropped to 78,857 horses slaughtered per year.
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In total, an estimated two-thirds of all Thoroughbred race horses are euthanized, slaughtered or abandoned once they're retired from racing.
What are some of the malpractices in the industry?
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Drugging:
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There are many drugs that are given to horses against their will (since they don’t have a voice to make decisions or fight back) in order to mask their pain and keep them racing longer, even though it leads to faster, more traumatizing injuries - which when they surface will end the horse’s career and send them to the auction/slaughterhouse for their meat.
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Former Thoroughbred veterinarians say that the medications most often abused are pain-killers, anti-bleeding medications and anti-inflammatory drugs, including cortical steroids injected directly into joints
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The indiscriminate use of legal therapeutic drugs often “masks” injuries and can lead to fatal breakdowns during training or racing.
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Horses have been known to have as many as 750x the legal limit for painkillers in their legs.
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Trained too young:
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Horses don’t stop growing until they are six years old. The Kentucky Derby races three-year olds. Horses need about a year of training and then a year in which they are raced so they can qualify for the Derby. Do the math - this means they they are ridden at less than a year old!
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Yearlings are horribly juvenile, both in the mind and body. Training these horses much, much too early puts an undue amount of stress on their legs and ankles, which leads to breakdowns when they are young, and early lameness when they are older.
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The biggest issue is that the breeders don’t care. As long as the horse is fast for a short amount of time, they will continue to breed horses with physical defects and breeders will continue to race horses without any consideration for the horses’ welfare.
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Nurse Mare Foals:
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In this horrible, unconscionable practice, an expensive mare’s foal is taken from her and given to a “nurse mare” so she can be bred again immediately. For a mare to take a nurse foal, she must be bred so she will give milk. Her biological foal is then taken from her at approximately a week old, sometimes killed immediately, sometimes slowly starved to death so his hide can be used for leather.
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In this practice:
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Two foals are being taken from their mothers within days of their births
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One foal is brutally, needlessly killed.
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The other foal is raised by a surrogate mother, who is constantly bred and has to go through the emotional pain of having her foal taken from her, year after year after year.
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The more “expensive” mare is bred over and over as well, which is very difficult on her physically. She also goes through the emotional turmoil of having her babies taken from her every single year.
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Using drugs to make sure they are born early in the year:
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Every Thoroughbred horse in the Northern Hemisphere has the same birthday. No matter what month a Thoroughbred is born, its birthday falls on January 1. (The universal birthday is August 1 in the Southern Hemisphere.)
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This makes it easier to keep track of Thoroughbred horses' bloodlines; the rule was created by the organizations dedicated to regulating the Thoroughbred breed. It also makes it easier for racing purposes. Thoroughbred races aren't open to colts (male horses under age 5) and fillies (females under age 5) until age 2, and some races, like the famed Kentucky Derby, are only open to 3-year-olds.
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But this presents some problems. This means that a foal -- a newborn or nursing horse -- born on December 31 will turn one the following day. A 1-day-old 1-year-old won't have as much training and maturity and therefore won't compete as well against older horses that are considered the same age. As a result, horse buyers tend to shy away from horses born late in the year, which in turn means that horse breeders do everything they can to ensure their foals are born in the first half of the year. This has led to interventions like drugs and the use of artificial light to keep the reins tight over Thoroughbred reproduction.
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Whipped and isolated:
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The horses are constantly whipped to keep them moving, and when not training/racing are kept confined and isolated up to 23 hours each day.
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For 2-year-olds that haven’t even run yet be euthanized in a dirt pit at the back of the racetrack because somebody trained them too hard, medicated them too much, pushed them too far.”
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How can you personally help?
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Do not support the horse racing industry in any way, shape or form. Educate yourself and others about the treatment of horses used for entertainment purposes. Support your local rescues and sanctuaries. If you are in the position, attend an auction and help save the unwanted horses before they end up in the hands of a kill buyer and ultimately on the trailer heading to slaughter.
What else can we do about it?
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Separate the Jockey Club from the Thoroughbred Registry
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Require Medical Records to Follow the Horse
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Right now, a horse can be diagnosed with a devastating injury but the owners can sell the horse to a new owner without disclosing any information. The horse can be raced or made to compete with an injury that can cause permanent lameness.
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This situation is horrible for the horse and for the new owners who now have a lame horse. The horse often ends up at auction, which is the slaughter pipeline.
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Drug Test Every Horse, Every Race
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Register Every Horse
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End the Practice of Nurse Mare Foals
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