Is horse racing more humane than dog or rooster fights?

Question

The runner-up in the Kentucky Derby was euthanized on the track after collapsing with two broken front legs. Things like this are common in racing, remember Barbaro for example. How is one sport that hurts animals for profit different than another?

Answer 1

No we aren't forcing animals to kill each other or die.  We're just racing them and honestly if a horse didn't want to race it wouldn't have to.

Answer 2

Of course horse racing is more humane than dog fights... that's a ridiculous question.  The whole point of dog fights is to hurt the animals.  Horse racing sincerely tries to do away with horse injuries.  We're installing synthetic tracks everywhere nowadays which is supposed to slow horses down and it helps their joints and legs by providing them more support than dirt.  We're making medical advancements to help prevent and cure horse injuries.  If we could stop horses from getting hurt, we'd be all over it.  If you'd like to help horses, please donate to the Barbaro Memorial Fund to find a cure for laminitis.

Answer 3

Training animals to fight and kill other animals just sounds like a bizarre practice. Racing on the other hand is one of the more noble sports and challenges man and horse alike. If you are talking about camel racing where little children are used as jockeys, that is a problem however. Euthanizing an animal to put an end to the pain is in my view more humane than letting it suffer.

Answer 4

I think that horse racing is more humane than dog fighting, but it's still really dangerous. Polo is probably more dangerous than horse racing because horses are killed during that game all the time. They die of heart attacks because the riders make them keep running even when they're exhausted.

Answer 5

I agree with Joel, race horses have it in their blood and will race on their own.  Injuries like Eight Belle's are horrible, but it's what she was born to do, not racing would've made her miserable.  Horse racing isn't a couple of horses trying to main or kill the other horse.

The difference between horse racing and dog/rooster fights is huge.

Answer 6

Horse racing is one of the last great sports where you can feel as high as the sun, and then come crashing back down to earth in an instant. Of course there will be accidents, but unlike cockfights and dogfights, the goal of horse racing is to win a race. Are there some seedy practices? Sure, but those things are in every aspect of life.

People like SnaX would have you believe that horse racing is bad because people make money off it. They're the same kind of people who would not have a problem with soap makers, until they found out people were using the soap to wash their hands.

Belles breaks my heart, Barbaro was tragic, but comparing this sport to Michael Vick, who electrocutes and bodyslams his animals is ridiculous.

Answer 7

horses are born to run

and its not common to see a horse die, their are thousands of horse races each day  with out incident

Answer 8

The only difference is between birds, dogs, and horses...!

Answer 9

The other answerer has to be kidding, right?

the horses make money for people, thus they force them to run, and drug them also! They abuse them and use them up.

There are not enough regulations with this so called "sport."

One horse in every 22 races suffers an injury that prevents him/her from finishing a race. Care for a single racehorse can cost as much as $50,000 per year. So even winners, when they get older are killed a lot of the time, very few don't. 58 racehorses a year approx. are sent for meat slaughter... and of course there's insurance fraud, where the horses are injured on purpose to collect on them. They usually get killed.

“There are trainers pumping horses full of illegal drugs every day,” says the former Churchill Downs public relations director.

Which drugs are legal varies from state to state, with Kentucky holding the reputation as the most lenient state. The New York Sun explained that because “thoroughbreds are bred for flashy speed and to look good in the sales ring … the animal itself has become more fragile” and that “to keep the horses going,” they’re all given Lasix (which controls bleeding in the lungs), phenylbutazone (an anti-inflammatory), and cortiscosteroids (for pain and inflammation). Labs cannot detect all the illegal drugs out there, of which there “could be thousands,” says the executive director of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. Morphine, which can keep a horse from feeling any pain from an injury, was suspected in the case of Be My Royal, who won a race while limping.

KFC is a sponser, and they don't care about how the chicken they use for meat are raised/killed. There's ALOT of unneeded cruelty behind their food. Eating meat isn't the issue with KFC, it's the cruelty before the anmals are even killed.

Animal rights supporter, Pam Anderson (don't really like her, but I like that she speaks against animal cruelty), has said, "It makes me want to avoid Kentucky altogether, which is sad because there are so many great people there.”

and (never thought I would say this) but I have to agree with her.