If horses really do want to race and want to win, why bother with the jockey at all?

Question

I have a curiosity about horse racing and the whole deal because on the one hand horses are revered by humans and treated almost royally by a lot of people out there. On the other hand these are animals that are mostly born and raised to be spectacles and money makers, and are a lot of the times end up hurt in "sports" like Eventing. Is the love of the animals a response to the abuse or is it just an inexplicable cultural dichotomy?

Answer 1

It's simple.  There's a relationship between the two.  Note what happens when a jockey or driver change occurs.  Horses like routines and regular events for them to be in.  Horses get very unhappy when they have nothing to do for a long while.  

Horses like having something to do.  Not all of them want to win, but most that are young do like very much to run.

Answer 2

you kno nothing about horses races....

Answer 3

Have you see a loose horse running around on the racetrack?  It's unsafe for everyone involved.  The car analogy is good, but the jockey is also like the captain or coach of a team...really a player/coach.  

Answer 4

Because the jockey guides the horse around the track. It's kinda like driving a car.  

Answer 5

Come on now Accidents happen in every sport

Boxing where a human dies

Or race cars where many humans die

E.T.C

How about rescue dogs or police dogs that die in the line of duty

Please do not single out Race horses

If a horse does not want to run He won't,

Answer 6

to see how closely we can follow the rules of horse-racing without breaking them.  If there is no rider, we will have less information on how the horse ran.  :)

Answer 7

i once saw a horse who threw his jockey in the starting gate and still ran the whole race...but he got last....when horses have a jockey up on them they know that its time to run...otherwise they just follow the last horse...and it would be dangerous without a jockey telling them where to go

Answer 8

If you ever have seen a horse race where the horse throws the jockey off and he continues to run you will see that they will cut in front of horses go side to side and en up hurting themselves along with hurting the other horses, they eventually end up going off course, so they jockey is there to motivate the horse in a way and to kinda point the horse in the right direction. If it wasn't for the jockey we would see a lot of horses getting hurt. The horses are not abused, trainers train horses bc of the passion and love they have towards the sport, a few yr ago horse racing had a lot of controversy (more than today) and when animal protection viewed the sport very carefully they realized that there is nothing wrong with the sport. These horses are much happier, healthy and have a much higher life expectancy than the horses in the wild. I strongly believe that if horse racing was considered abusive then they would have gotten ride of the sport a long time ago. I Hope I Helped You!!

Answer 9

those horses are bread to race and the jockey only helps and stears

  

Answer 10

someone has to guide the horse around the track....

Answer 11

The horse will run, but will do it's own thing. Horses run on their own in the British 'Steeplechase' when the jockey gets thrown off, but it's like a car without a driver.