Do you think people are working their horses too hard at the races?

Question

wat i mean is there are a lot of accidents like barboro and 8 bells

Answer 1

Your question is too general in that there are thousands of Trainers at the tracks and each of them has his or her own style of training.  For instance there was an Irish trainer who used to train his horse by running them up hills, while the Japanesse trainer of Casino Drive walks his horse for 45 minutes before he takes him out for an easy jog.  Some trainers enter thier horses into races they know they will not win in order to run them into fitness, others work them off the track until they are ready to win races.  Each Trainer is completely different!

Answer 2

I don't understand your question.

When a horse goes to the races it is there to try and win.  In Great Britain any jockey or trainer that is found to have not tried sufficietly to have won or placed in a race can be fined and banned for up to 28 days.  This is called the "non-triers" rule.

If you are reffering to whip use then perhaps I can see your point.  I don't know the rules in the USA, but I know that in Europe there are very strict rules regarding whip use.  A jockey can not hit a horse hard enough to leave a mark and he must give the horse time to respond to the whip - ie not to hit the horse several times in a matter of strides.

Some pople argue that the whip has little use in a finish, and while this may be true, the whip is a vital aid particularly when steering the horse.  Simply changing the hand the whip is in can stop a horse drifting into the path of another and therefore avoid an accident.

Quite often when it appears the jockey is hitting the horse, he may simply be "showing" the whip to the horse.  This can be as effective as actually using the whip.

Edit - Again, I say no.  Accidents do happen, but they are just that - accidents.  No one is to blame and these things cannot be predicted.  It can just as easily happen when the horse is working at home.  It has been shown that regular work from a young age helps to build bone density in a horse and therefore makes breakdowns less likely.

Answer 3

Most of the time, no. Horses must be conditioned just like people. You wouldn't just jump off the couch and run a 2 mile race well they can't either. A throughbred with good lines is not cheap so people try to avoid injuries as much as possible