Kentucky Derby... am I the only one who HATES this race of greed?

Question

I raise horses and anyone who knows horses "should" know they should NOT be running or overworked at 2 yrs old. Their bones are NOT fully developed yet. Barboro was no accident. He was the act of greedy owners who only abuse and exploit the poor animal for profit! Let's speak out for these beautiiful creatures who cannot defend themselves.

Answer 1

I was raised and owned and groomed race horses for well over 19 yrs. Your right  but its not for greed its for Glory. Yes Barbaros was a tragedy but it happens and that's the facts the Jacksons did all they could do and so did the Vet and his Staff. Mr Prado did his job to in pulling him up and getting off of him. You say its a greedy business. Will Mister let me tell you this it is a multi-Billion dollar Business. As for the poor animals all that we ask they do their best and retire to be studs at the age of 4 and live a life that is better than most people in the U.S. So know your facts first instead of watching TV. But as the old timers would say your right 2 yr olds are fragile but this has all ready been discussed. The next race is the Preakness and on TV. Your welcomed to change the channel

Answer 2

1st...  are you the only one who hates it?  probably.

2nd...  i don't raise horses, but i ride horses...  any one who does anything with horses "should" know that the Derby is a horse for 3 year olds

3rd...  Barbaro was an accident as is true for any horse that breaks down in the race.  We do everything we can to predict and prevent it.  If the horse is hurt, we don't race him.  Notional didn't run today for a small fracture.  But sometimes there's just things that happen...  like if you're running along and fall down and break something.  I can't tell you how many times we're walking and my mom trips and hurts an ankle.  It was certainly an accident.  You wouldn't do anything to hurt your horse any more than you'd do something to intentionally hurt yourself.  The Jacksons were amazingly good people and it's such a shame to see people criticizing them.  they did everything they could for Barbaro.

Funny you characterize the Kentucky Derby as a horrible race of greed without concern for the horse without mentioning rodeo, polo, show jumping, reining or any other horse activity.  clearly you approve of some use of the horse (no one raises them just to let them go in a field)...  I just find it odd that you think the Kentucky Derby is horrible while not mentioning things like the sporthorse cup where they make the animals jump 6 feet in the air.  I'd make my horse gallop a mile as fast as she could before I ever forced her to run at a wall taller than her and expect her to be ok when our combined total of 1500 pounds comes crashing back to the ground from the 6 foot fly over the jump.

muunbiem, if I could give you more than 1 thumbs up for that answer, I would!  hilarious!  "It's Barbaro, BOZO!"  lol!

Answer 3

For someone who claims to raise horses, you sure don't know sh it. The Derby is run by THREE year olds.

...and it's Barbaro, bozo...

kmn_miam:

LOL, Thanks. Gave you one. You could also mention "Tennessee Walkers". Now, THAT'S some cruel senseless sh it...

and for YOU, meuhelper:

Barbaro's "greedy owners" spent WAY more on that horse than they ever made...

Answer 4

I disagree. NBC just got done showing barbaro's whole life and his owners did nothing out of greed and there is no way that you can call racing abuse and exploitation of animals, its one of the hardest sports in the horse world, the horses deserve their right to race and if they dont like it, they dont do it. Barbaro was bred to race along with who knows how many other horses. Also horses can defend themselves, if barbaro didn't like what he was doing, or being asked to do he could've stopped he had the power, as do many horses, to injure any person that he wanted to. Horses aren't helpless any one who raises horses should know that.

Answer 5

Looks like you are! Might I suggest you take your rants somewhere else?

The Jackson's haven't a greedy bone in either of their bodies, and I find it highly offensive that YOU criticize people you don't even know. For crying out loud, you didn't even know the correct spelling of B-A-R-B-A-R-O. Did you know that they spent $220,000 for Barbaro's saddle last night?  Did you know that that money goes for  Disabled Jockeys? Did you know they are standing in the forefront of the Anti-Slaughter Bill?

Your ignorance is so glaring I'll be waiting to see how many other people slam  you here. Try PETA, you will find some supporters over there.

Answer 6

Everyone who is answering this question is pretty ignorant about the realities of horse racing.

Horse racing is much like greyhound racing. The horses are bred for the track, live very stressful lives at the track, get used up and then thrown away.  Every year there are thousands of horses with no where to go except the slaughterhouse.

To the person who said they just finished watching the NBC special: uh, yeah, they sure do make everything look fine and dandy and grand on TV, don't they?

I don't 100% hate horseracing, because what am I going to do about it? People love it and it will continue. But I wish there was more awareness about its darker side.  Some people have proposed imposing some kind of fee or tax on racegoers that will help pay for the horse's retirements.

Truly, some horses get adopted, but many are lame, or crazy from the stressful treatment and are not adoptable. These horses get stuck on an airless, filthy trailer for 20+ hours to be hauled to across the country to one of the two slaughterhouses in the US to be brutally murdered. And horses are smart; unlike cows, they smell and sense what's going on in the slaughterhouse and go to their deaths terrified.

What the OP was saying about age is that horse's bones aren't fully hardened and formed until age 3 or 4.  Racehorses are first mounted under saddle for training at age ONE, and begin racing at TWO. They are still babies. That's why their bones sometimes just plain give out, like Barbaro's did.

I used to train ex-racehorses and most come away from the track with injuries because of the stress and strain on their not-fully-formed bones. The lucky ones can heal and go on to another career hopefully with a loving family. The unlucky ones get the chuckwagon.

Answer 7

yep!!

Wild horses couldn't drag me away from the track.

Answer 8

You need to stick to tree hugging......