I have to admit, when the 2003 movie Seabiscuit came out, I was thoroughly entranced by the story of this magnificent horse. The movie portrayed the story of this horse from the viewpoint of almost like the little engine that could. While he came from good thoroughbred, champion stock, that is from the blood-line of Hard-Tack (son of Man of War), Seabiscuit was the runt of the litter. He was gotten rid of by his owner, and bounced back and forth between other trainers. Yet, as in the movie, he caught the attention of Tom Smith, who was the trainer and worked for Charles S. Howard. The rest is history. Despite all the odds, Seabiscuit became a champion race horse and even won a race against the mighty War Admiral, who was considered the best racing horse alive at that time. The movie continues to relate the story, of how Seabiscuit's rider, Red Pollard, who was also considered a "misfit" suffered a terrible accident, which could have ended his career as a rider, and then even later on, Seabiscuit himself, endured a horrific injury in which it was thought that he had to be put down. However, despite all the odds, both Red Pollard and Seabiscuit recovered, and continued to race and win every time. This was a "magical" horse and he won the hearts of everyone in America.
Well the movie is a charming story, yes, but what is the reality with horse racing to begin with? The movie glamourizes horse racing when the truth is so much more horrible, and can be considered as animal cruelty and abuse.
Horse racing is perhaps one of the most ancient of sports, having its beginnings with prehistoric tribesmen in Central Asia and continued in popularity throughout the centuries. It wasn't until the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14), however, that horse racing, not only became a highly competitive sport, but a sport where spectators who followed this "sport" could make bets for that winning horse. One would think that times have changed over the centuries, that we have become more sophisticated and are more aware of animal abuse practices in general, but this isn't the case. The horrendous practices to breed, raise and train horses for thoroughbred still continues to this day.
Here are some of the facts, which I quote from the article, entitled, "Horse Racing - the Horror Behind the Glamour" on the CHAI website:
....."FACTS: The horse racing industry causes thousands of horses to be born only to be slaughtered or abandoned to an existence of neglect, starvation, and suffering. There are three reasons for this:
1. Very large numbers must be produced annually to generate a few fast ones to be selected to compete. Of the many thousands bred to race, very few make the grade. The rest must be disposed of.
2. During training or racing, injuries are common. Injured horses are also euthanized or sold from one owner to another into increasingly worse conditions.
3. When race horses have finished their career - usually at a very early age, before they are fully mature - they, too, must be disposed of. Their numbers exceed by far the number of humane retirement facilities.
The above has been found to be true of every country where this issue has been studied, including England, Germany, Japan, and the U.S. In the small country of Macau, for example, approximately 300 horses are imported per year, the same number as are retired. Most of those retired are euthanized. Some who do not make the grade, but who can still race, are exported to race and/or to an unknown fate in China or Vietnam. A local Macau newspaper published photos of healthy horses (some as young as 4 years old) who were no longer fast enough to win races, being lined up and shot, their bodies dumped at a local landfill. The horses were shot because shooting is a cheaper, though much less humane method of euthanasia than lethal injection. In the U.S., around 5,000 leave racing every year, the same number who enter it. As in Macau and in every other country where horse racing exists, many end up euthanized or sent into a downward spiral of abuse....."(1)
Now if you remember from the movie, Seabiscuit, was bounced back and forth between owners and trainers until he became owned by Charles Howard. He was thought as undesirable and wouldn't amount to anything in the monetary sense...in other words he had no potential as ever becoming a race horse and creating monetary revenue for his owner. But such an example is far from the truth and reality of what really goes on in the horse racing business. As you can see by the quote above, young horses that would have been similar to Seabiscuit would have been immediately eliminated, put down, destroyed, solely due to the fact that they weren't considered worthy to live. Who knows, however, maybe these horses are the "lucky" ones, for the horses that are deemed worthy for training for thoroughbred racing must endure pain and suffering for the rest of their lives.
Once a horse is considered acceptable for training, the horse is trained at an age long before it's skeletal system has matured, usually when it is only one and a half years old. This is to prepare the horse for its debut as a race horse in which the prime age is only two or three years of age . Such early training makes the horse susceptible to chronic injuries involving "fractures, pulled ligaments, and strained tendons" that remain with the horse for its entire life. In other words the thoroughbred horse endures pain and suffering until its dying day. Is it any wonder, therefore, that such thoroughbred horses do not live long lives? The life-span of horses not trained for racing can be well over twenty-five years of age as opposed to race horses that usually do not live for more than five.
Then of course, there is the "training" itself, in which less than ideal practices are ensued, and are also enforced for the life-span of the race horse, and again I quote from the article:
..."Overuse of whips and spurs in races and the use of batteries and electric goads on training tracks are all illegal but they all still occur. In the wild, or when playing with pasture mates, horses run fast only for short sprints. In order to make them race over the longer distances at race tracks, a jockey must push them on, to encourage greater bursts of speed. According to a survey conducted by the British non-profit organization, Animal Aid, jockeys in England whip their horses as many as 30 times during one race. The whip is used even on young horses, during their first race. Horses in a state of total exhaustion and already out of contention were also beaten. The whip was used on the neck and shoulders, as well as the hind quarters...." (2)
The worse fact, however, is that quite often race horses are forced to race even while injured, never being allowed to heal properly. This is where drugging the horse comes into play, for it is common practice to drug the horse with powerful painkillers so it won't feel the pain as it races, but of course, this can only lead to further injury to the horse.
Finally there is the sad fate of the race horse, who at its young age of about only five years old, and no longer considered "useful". Most uninformed people think that once a racing horse's days are over, get to live out its life peacefully on some idyllic ranch, and maybe are put to stud to breed even more future race horses. The fact is, almost as soon as the horse is considered worthless, is shot immediately, or the majority are sent to slaugtherhouses where they are "processed" for people who eat horsemeat or used in the manufacturing of the "meat by products" found in pet foods.
All this is the far cry from the "delightful" image we saw in the movie Seabiscuit. Yes, their may be race horse owners, trainers, and jockeys who do genuinely care for their race horses. I'm not saying there aren't such people, but the vast majority of race horse owners fall under the statistics of what has been described here. The sadder fact, is that those people who continue to be the spectator and placing bets on race horses, and who may be totally ignorant or unaware of just what is going on in the world of the thoroughbred are in effect supporting the whole race horse industry and business and its abusive practices.
I'm hoping that by this article, more people will become aware of the behind the scenes reality of horse racing, and that all is not well there, and that these magnificent, majestic, beautiful animals, don't have a fairy tale ending that Seabiscuit had.
SOURCES USED FOR THIS ARTICLE:
Chai-online
(1), (2) http://www.chai-online.org/racing.htm
Also refer to these sources:
Mr Mike
http://www.mrmike.com/explore/hrhist.htm
All-Creatures
www.all-creatures.org/adow/cam-hr-20050114.html
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