Monday, May 05, 2008

Same shit, different day

It was literally two years ago, May 2006, I wrote this excerpt in a post about Barbaro, the champion horse who broke his leg at the Preakness and had to be killed, er, sorry, put to sleep:


But, every day, to amuse man, or make him money, Barbaro, and other horses, are put at risk for the “sport” of racing. We only hear about the famous races, the Preakness, the Derby, and the like, but horse racing goes on every single day. And we have to ask what are we doing to these creatures?

When a race car driver gets behind the wheel on a track, he puts his life at risk - but he has a choice in the matter. He knows what the risks are, and he choses to do it. No one is forcing him. Race horses don't have that luxury.

I know we've had the so-called sport of kings with us for centuries, and there likely always will be horse racing, it's not getting banned any time soon. And, sure, the horses seem relatively well treated and healthy, and they no doubt have better lives than those poor horses I see attached to a carriage and pulling some fat goober from Iowa around Central Park in the middle of a sweltering Manhattan summer day. But we should still ask how much is it worth putting these race horses' lives at risk to give us pleasure?


And now with the horrible death of Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby over the weekend, it's time to ask again - why does this crap go on?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So sad. They showed a picture of her lying on the track and I was in tears:(

Anonymous said...

It's very rare though that this happens but yea it is sad to see.

Anonymous said...

Why do they have to euthanize them? isnt there science or medicine that can save them now?

Anonymous said...

racing's obv. not the worst animal treatment but it's not fun to see that.

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