Showjumping: ethical or unethical? (I'm particularly interested in the perpectives of those who do it.)?

Question

Hi there. I was watching the TV and saw lots of horse-racing accidents when they were jumping over things. The jockey being interviewed was talking about how dangerous and risky a sport it was because jockeys can get killed easily if something goes wrong, given that they're traveling fast at height on top of a heavy animal.

Anyway I suddenly thought about the fact that it's also a risky activity for the horse too. They can be injured or killed and sometimes if they're injured badly, I understand that they get euthanised although I'm not totally sure about that.

The difference is that the horse doesn't get a choice. Now I could understand maybe if the activity was hugely important or necessary but it isn't. It's just a sport and I understand that there are other horse sports with less of a risk but even if there wasn't, there still wouldn't appear to be sufficient necessity to put the horse in this much danger.

So I think that there is an animal welfare issue here. Thoughts?

Answer 1

ask your self who's benefit is it for?, who benefits from seeing showjumping? the poor horse dont care about it so basically i think its selfish and unethical. they use these horse for there own gain. they get the accolades not the horse... its quite pathetic. we humans think we have a right to do a lot of things to animals. if you couldnt talk or understand words, how would you feel if i jumped on your back with out asking and made you jump things? you would probley  think it was disrespectful of me to do that to you..but not to the horse...

the sad part is, the horse isnt smart enough to choose for its self...so we just take advantage of that and jump on anyway...who cares if the horse falls and dies right?! at least we get what we wanted out of it... thats the mentality of some horse folk... if a horse is trained to do a job then it will do that job regarless of if it loves it...a horse dont have the mental capacity to understand loving something let alone showjumping or steeple

Answer 2

I don't personally do jumpers, but I do hunters and watch the jumpers at my horse shows.  I also like to watch the Rolex coverage on tv and the sport horse contest thing on animal planet each year.

I agree that it looks rather dangerous for the horse and rider.  I know from ordinary jumping (hunters and equitation jumping) that the horses are bred for their task and they really do enjoy it.  There's no making a 1000 pound animal jump over a pole elevated two foot, let alone three, four, or five foot.  Horses do have a choice.  There's tons of things that a horse can be used for.  Some are better at different things.  Some really don't like jumping, so they're used for flat riding.  Quarter horses are very versatile... they can jump, but tons of them end up doing western pleasure and stuff like that.  Horses don't speak up and tell us what they want to do, but if they're resisting jumping training, we know that they're happier doing something else.  It takes a human with some horse sense to choose the right vocation for a horse.

High level show jumpers can have accidents, but I've seen a lot more danger at local horse shows.  Upper level riders are smart about riding.  Jumpers is about turning and asking your horse to condense and expand their stride during the course.  Too often you see low level riders (local horse shows) just running toward fences as fast as they can.  They can't navigate the course as well as an advanced rider could, so they try to compensate by making their horse run faster, which is just making the situation more dangerous for both horse and rider.

Rather than outlawing entire sports or riding disciplines, I think they ought to ban ignorant people from owning a horse.

Answer 3

horses love jumping, they get really excited after they jump... but of course with experience they learn to control that excitement... so you wouldn't see it at competitions

horses may easily injure their legs without any rider involved.. at least they're protected and better controlled when there's a rider...

God gave them speed, and power to jump high for a reason.. so why not allow them to use those two traits.. whether it's for sport or leisure, if not for war or a life-challenging dilemma :)

trust me, they absolutely LOVE it.... and as a rider and horse-lover, I wouldn't force any horse into doing something I'd think they hate.... and as for the risks, life is full of risks, and a good rider knows his/her own limits before the horse's....

besides, taking care of an injured horse is quite expensive, and can take several months.

one more point, if a horse was "made" to jump, there wouldn't be a bond between the horse and its rider, as a matter of fact, that horse would hate any two-legged creature ;)

hope that was sufficient

Answer 4

Are you talking about steeplechase racing? Show jumping does not have a jockey they have a rider. Showjumping is also done in a ring. Anyways if it is steeplechase you are questioning yes, it is very dangerous for the jockey. The jockeys probably get hurt far more then the horses. Steeplechase is not as popular in the u.s as it is in Europe. So as far as injury to the horse I couldn't say if it was high. Of course there are going to be injuries as with any sport but the percentage of horses euthanized is going to be quite small.

In a sense though the horse does have a choice...if you know anything about horses you know you can not make a horse do these things if they don't love it. I don't think this is an animal welfare issue at all and horses are my passion.

Edit: This is really a tough subject that you will never get an "answer" for. I guess you can only believe what you believe is right for you. I really don't think these sports are abuse. I am not saying abuse doesn't go on because as with anything you have bad people out there that do abuse these animals. I love horse racing and jumping . To me there is not a more breathtaking beautiful site in the world then these creatures beauty and elegance along with heart and desire to win. These animals are true athletes that love to run.

Edit: Crystal Ando...You obviously know nothing about horses!!! Yes, you can train a horse to do a job...Yes, they will do what trained for, up to a certain point. The horses that do succeed at things like showjumping are athletes that love what they are doing. A horse that doesn't like to jump (I have ridden horses that don't like to jump) will NOT jump fences of the size they do for showjumping. Yes, since they are trained they will jump small fences but you can tell they don't enjoy it. The elite athletes of the showjumping, racing, eventing, or whatever sport love what they do. At these levels you can't make a horse succeed at these of levels...It takes a VERY special animal to compete at these ranks. Horses are NOT stupid!!!

Answer 5

I have to do things I don't want to do; it's called making a living.  The horse has to make a living too.  Racing is his job, what he does in return for his complete care.

Furthermore, just as people who hate their jobs don't rise tothe top, horses who don't like their jobs don't win.  If they don't win, they're too expensive to maintain as race horses (or jumpers or whatever) and are generally retired to a new career.

Horses do have a choice in the matter:  they can be good enough to win and keep racing, or they can fail to compete (it's not the whip, it's the horse's heart that makes them go) and find a new job.

Yes, it can be dangerous.  But it's a necessity, because otherwise the horse will have no use and no one - certainly not the bleeding heart PETA people - will pay the upkeep for it.  Quid pro quo.

CD - I ask myself if I would rather have a job I don't like and risk my life in traffic getting to it, or never have lived at all.  And I would much rather be alive, even if it ends tomorrow.

Horses generally enjoy their work - not all aspects of it, and not in every case, of course - and they enjoy just being alive.  They don't obsess over whether they're doing something for someone's pleasure or whether they're risking their lives; it doesn't occur to them.  When they're not working, they're enjoying being horses, and if that's just hanging out in a stall watching pigeons, they're generally good with that.

The average horse doesn't work for more than an hour a day, if that.  A horse on race day works for maybe 3 minutes.

It's not a bad life.  In fact, most horses think it's pretty good.

So yes, for these horses it is better to live to run then to never have lived at all.  If you want to examine horse welfare don't look at the sporting horses; look at the Premarin mares, who spend their entire lives pregnant and standing in a standing stall so their urine can be collected for hormonal replacement therapy, or their offspring who are taken away too young and dumped wherever, usually in killer auctions.  Or look at the 30,000 BLM Mustangs in feedlots across the West because they are unadoptable.

I don't think it's risk that makes for cruelty.  A horse in the wild is at much higher risk.  I think it's disregard for the individual horse that makes it cruelty, whether it's all the nameless faceless Premarin mares and BLM mustangs or a few racehorses with unfit trainers.