Eight Belles, Kentucky Derby?

Question

First, I will confess, I know nothing about horse racing, breeding or riding. But it just seems very odd to me that a horse dies doing what it is supposed to do. Horses inherently run, yes? Whether in the wild or with a man on their back, they run. So when a horse breaks both legs or ankles or whatever while running, what does that mean? To the untrained eye (me), when a horse is injured doing what it is supposed to do, that means one of several things. Either they are breeding improperly, training improperly or riding/racing the horse improperly. Again, I know nothing about horses, but i have heard that thoroughbreds are bred to be as muscular as possible with bones that are as light and small as possible. If this is true, this seems to be a problem. Im my view, there should be very strict controls on breeding and racing horses. No horse should break 2 legs running, doing what it is naturally supposed to do.

Answer 1

This beautiful horse's painful injury and death was due to racing as a 3 year old.

Young horses like her are simply not physically mature enough for their young bodies to handle the pounding and intensity that this long race requires. This fact and the the fact that the Kentucky Derby is a long race for such young horses has been known to the horse racing world for years yet nothing has been done to solve the problem.

If the horse racing association would simply change the age requirement to 4, this simple act would save horses from early injury.

To simply say nothing could have been done to save this horse is completely false.

The racing association could change the rule to 4 year olds.

To use common sense, to see the pattern of too young horses being raced and then getting injured, and destroyed should be enough to get the racing industry to change.

One reason that the "controversy "of raising the age limit to race just one more year remains a hidden debate and is not mentioned in all today's articles on the filly's death is....greed.  The racing association and the media sponsers for the Derby do not want the public to suddenly realize that the racing world has known all this time that the Derby is a dangerous race for a young horse. A public who just saw a horse die on TV should be outraged that this horse is a victim of the racing association not being self governed enough to change to fix a problem. These horses are pushed beyond their physical maturity at 3 so these owners can get started on earning money.

How short sighted can humans be?

If they would simply just change the rules and make the age requirement 4 years old instead of 3, these horses would be much more likely to be healthy longer, and have a longer racing career.

Answer 2

I sobbed like a baby when I watched that this afternoon, I think horse racing is barbaric. Yes, horses can run, but historically and genetically they are supposed to run only to outrun predators. When forced to run for human entertainment, it crosses a line of decency. Let's say I was forced against my will to run a marathon and "broke down" at the finish line. OMG, the news would be all over that and the practice would be banned

Answer 3

Do you people actually believe the c**p you're writing. The horses that have talent lead better lives than most people. It's the horses that don't make the track you should be concerned with.

These horses aren't over worked or over trained. They get the best of everything. If a horse proves to be a winner the real money comes later, as a breeder or a stud. It wasn't the jockey, the trainer, or the owner, it was a freak accident.

The person who said these horses are bred for speed and not stamina should lay off the crack pipe. They are bred for the best genes. The result is some have early speed and die off, some have speed but are better closers (stamina) and some have both. My friend got a 100K horse for nothing because it couldn't make it on a track. It didn't make it as a polo pony either and now will spend it's life riding trails with some little girl. " Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."

Answer 4

You're right... it's not something that should happen.  It doesn't happen too often.  Horses get hurt running just like you or I could get hurt running and jumping and doing our normal activities (I can't tell you the number of times my mom has fallen down and sprained ankles just when she was walking).  And for a horse to break both ankles at once is a rarity that I have never seen before and the Churchill vet had never seen before either.  I think thoroughbreds are getting weaker... we are breeding horses to make them faster so we're taking out some of their durability.  Horses in the first half of the 20th century would run a couple times a week.  There were years that the Kentucky Derby and Preakness were run only a couple days apart.  Horses used to do a lot more than what they do now.  And I think a big problem with the industry is that we save a lot of these horses who in previous years would have been put down on the track.  Don't get me wrong... I love that we're able to save the horses... we should keep doing advancements so we can continue saving the horses... whenever possible, we should save the horses.  However, it is weakening the breeding.  By saving these horses and letting them breed, we're breeding horses that have more brittle bones.  Ruffian's sire broke his leg every year... be broke his leg twice and returned to racing each time, then broke his leg again before finally being retired.  Then Ruffian got a minor fracture her 2 year old season, came back for her 3 year old year, then broke down in the match race with Foolish Pleasure.  The same thing is happening in the quarter horse world with navicular disease... they keep breeding the horses despite the fact that they have navicular, and now the majority of quarter horses have navicular.  It does seem stupid that we keep breeding like this... we're just making weaker horses.

Answer 5

It's just sick that people here want Eight Belles to suffer for life and give up hope like the owners of Barbaro did.  Horses cannot recover from leg injuries like humans do, and horse racing has been around since before all of the people here were born, so they cannot be called "experts" on animal cruelty.

The so-called "animal lovers" are here just to light fires and cause trouble like PETA does when they throw animal blood and red paint at people that wear fur and leather clothing.

It's just how things are when horses are put down.  There are thousands of horses put down every day all over the world by farmers and owners when their legs break or suffer irrepairable damage to their legs.  People just don't see it happen and think they do, especially the delusional leftist liberal extremists living in urban areas, that pretend to be animal lovers.

Answer 6

It is incredibly sad and sure to get the public to take another look. First Barbaro, now Eight Belles.

Answer 7

This makes me have a new respect for life and the life of my animals.

Answer 8

Horseracing is very hard on the horse.  Yes, horses naturally run, but not at this great speed, and the derby is a very long race by racing standards.  Also, horses race very often.  Probably too often.

Answer 9

Just my thoughts:  I felt EXTREMELY bad (sorrow) for that horse when i seen and heard what had happened. I love horse-racing and greyhound racing, but when you/they have to kill a completely innocent animal over something so insignificant, it DOES kinda make you think...............RIP8

Answer 10

First off, I am a horse owner and rider.  The problem with young horses like she was is that she had small ankles. You can see in the video that she was running HARD and when the first ankle broke she tried to transfer all her weight at a run onto the other which broke it too.  It is a FREAK accident, but the mixture of her age, the speed, and the angle her feet were at the poor girl didnt have a chance. It breaks my heart, but there is nothing they could have done.

Answer 11

This was very sad.

Answer 12

Well, not all horses are meant for running. She was absolutley too young, all of them. None of them are really 3. ALL thoroughbreds have their Birthdays on Jan 1, no matter what. And ya both her front ankles were brusied from intense trraining, and never healed, before the race. There you go. I am extremely upset about her and angry at her owners.

Answer 13

People just sit with their money and their stupid fluffy hats with bouncing sh*t coming out of the top and dont realize what the horses are being put through! I didnt make it to the television in time but when i found out this morning i was heartbroken. Its so sad how people put young horses in like that for MONEY. Its really depressing. I would be so mordified if my favorite horse on this planet was put into a big shindig like that and had to be put down for breaking to ankles.

I'll pray for Eight Bells, Barbaro, all the horses of the past and future...