Hmmm, not going to argue Garrick. I am a hardened bunny hugger who grew up in a racing family. I've ranted and raved all my life against the cruelty of racing.
Unfortunately ranting and raving doesn't get you anywhere - people just decide you're a crack pot and start avoiding you. So I decided I can either sit on my butt and whinge, or I can do something to try and change things.
If you look long and hard enough, you will find people out there who are doing things a little differently and having success with it.
Monty Roberts is obviously the first one who springs to mind. His studies have found that (apart from it being unpleasant for the recipient) horses actually run more SLOWLY if they're smacked.
Staggering.
So he is currently campaigning to get whips banned in racing. Can you imagine racing horses with no whips ?! What a crazy idea ! BUT, think about it for a minute. You still end up with a first, second and third, but they may just be the horses who are naturally competitive and want to run. And imagine sending those to stud ? We'd actually be breeding horses that want to run, rather than ones that have to be beaten over the line !
Subversive stuff indeed.
And while we're discussing breeding, how about our practice of separating fillies and colts at weaning, so that they never get to socialise with the opposite sex again until they're in the breeding barn ? At which point the poor filly is trussed up like a chicken and forcibly raped by a stallion she usually doesn't even get a chance to see. And it's not just the filly one has to feel sorry for. Have you ever been to a covering? The mare has usually traveled some distance to get there, the stallion has a full book and is on a schedule, it's the middle of breeding season, so the stud staff are under pressure and in a hurry. The poor stallion is not allowed any hellos or niceties, just jerked and smacked till he jumps the mare (I mean good grief guys - it only takes about a minute anyway) and then hauled off, washed and dumped back in his stable / paddock - usually out of sight or earshot of another living thing.
And then we shake our heads and wonder why our conception rates are so low and our horses are so crazy.
Don't even get me started on some of the weaning practices. And then having grown up in a nice big field, baby is suddenly locked up in a stable, stuffed with food, groomed to within an inch of its life and packed off onto a truck to some mad sales ring. Only to be half starved afterwards to get rid of all that sales fat, broken in and sent off to training.
You're not going to convince anyone to change unless you can provide an alternative that WORKS, but there are a few folks out there trying new things.
Have a look at Horses First Racing (
www.horsesfirstracing.co.uk
). I was lucky enough to visit and what a lovely place. The horses get turned out (shock horror, race horses OUTSIDE ??? In ENGLAND ??). Guess what, they do just fine - they don't all go crazy and run themselves into the ground or try and kill each other. The barns are big and airy, horses can all see each other and some of the stables are bigger than my bedroom. Some of their horses even run BAREFOOT !! They have an arena and school their horses (obviously English horses are dumb - ours apparently walk out of the womb knowing everything, so we don't need to teach them anything, just klap them when they're being 'stupid').
A gentleman called Brian Tracy said "Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles, and the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well."
Yes, obviously we have logistical problems here. Space is a premium. Our training centres are small and over-crowded, our grooms are largely unskilled and woefully underpaid, we have some crazy training, feeding and management practices. The horses that stay sound and see some success on the track are not necessarily the best ones, simply the ones who are most able to adjust and cope with the crazy conditions we create for them.
But it's not just the equipment, it's the hands that hold it. There are people who manage to work around and even with these obstacles. People who don't insist on running 2 year olds. Look at Des McLachlan who has managed to keep Hear The Drums going (and winning!) at his age. You don't see that every day (the subject of another whole debate). Surely he must be doing something that others aren't ?
We as owners, breeders, etc are essentially customers and we vote with our hard earned rands. We can vote how our horses should be treated simply by choosing who looks after them for us.
It can be done better, but it will only happen when we demand it.
And racing is unfortunately not the only cruel horse sport. There are plenty of people in all other spheres of the horse world who employ abusive methods, equipment and training practices.
At least race horses have a job and are (usually) handled by people with the requisite skills and experience. The amount of times some bleeding heart 'adopts' a retired racehorse for their kid because they think they're doing it a kindness just makes my blood boil (trust me, I've been there and have the bumps and scars to prove it !!). People have fiddled about with breeding and genetics to breed a super athlete - these are not horses for novices and they need to be handled by people who know what they are doing.
I don't have all the answers. All I know is that I do the best I can by the horses I have. I study and spend time with people whose methods and ideas I like. I experiment and see what works for my horses. I currently have two 2 YO entires at a local livery. They are in their own paddock, yes, but they are in the middle of all the goings on on the farm. They are not isolated or given special treatment simply because they have balls. There are other stallions, mares, geldings and youngsters on the property and a mix of breeds and ages. My boys are not crazy and trying to cover everything with a pulse. You can talk to them in the paddock without being attacked, you can walk into their stables and fiddle with them without fear of being kicked or bitten. I love showing people how scary my THB colts aren't.
I started my racehorse filly using Monty Roberts' Join-Up methods (after studying with Kelly Marks - not just reading the book and watching the DVD). She went into training as a 3 YO and is just ready for her first race having turned 4. Her legs are clean and she is (touch wood) perfectly sound. She loads, she travels, she goes into starting stalls without a problem. She has nice manners and she does not bite or kick, so there will never be a reason for her to be mistreated by her grooms.
Will she run ? No idea. But if she doesn't, she's pretty enough and sound enough to graduate to being a riding horse.
I guess it depends on your idea of success though. To some, that's money and success. To me, I've achieved success if my horses come out of training with the same sunny temperament they had when they went in and are still fit and sound for another 10,000 km's.
What I do know, is that if I don't give a damn, no one is going to do it for me.
Change starts here.
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