Using a whip for racing...?

Question

Horse racing is an awesome sport...but i feel that we could get rid of the whip....seems to me that if a horse really has the determination to win...it will.....can any of you out there give me a good reason why we need to whip a horse....seems kinda cruel.......

Answer 1

Bill Shoemaker would ask, How would you feel being hit with a piece of leather when running as hard as you can. Merv Griffin once told a jockey - Don't you hurt my horse (don't use the whip) - as instructions on the use of the whip on one of his top runners.

There is no real good reason - though it gives an appearance to handicappers that the jock is giving a full effort in gunning for a win or position at the wire. But riding is in the hands and arms, not swinging a stick in the deep stretch.

Answer 2

i highly doubt that the whip really hurts the horses. not the way 99 percent of jockeys use them.  ya the horses feel it but its more of a motivator to get them going than anything else.  

if you take away the whip you are changing the entire sport, a sport built on history.  the times will be slower, and youll always have the second guessing of, he ran the kentucky derby in two minutes, but imagine with a whip he would have broken secrateriats record.  take away the whip you take away the history and all the stats and times.  it would be like starting over..  

i guess this era will go down as the eight belles backlash era.  that horse has done more to destroy the integrity of horse racing.than any other .  she broke down on derby day and now they want to change the entire sport.  its sickening.

Answer 3

I have no objections to whips being used, as long as they are used appropriately and correctly. I am assuming that you were prompted to ask this question because you saw a video clip of what jockey Jeremy Rose did this past week at Delaware Park racetrack. He smacked a horse he was riding across the face and hit the animal's eye during a race- and the filly he was on suffered a lacerated cornea and some bruising. Rose has been suspended from racing for 6 months, and rightly so, if you ask me.

The stewards in that case acted very correctly- and Rose is lucky that they didn't decide to pull his license for a year or more, and that the mare he was on didn't stumble and fall after he hit her and blinded her like that. Both she and Rose could have been KILLED by what he did- all it would have taken would have been one misstep on her part, caused by the fact that she couldn't see out of that eye once he'd hit her. Rose has apologized, and the mare is expected to recover, but that's not the point. The point is that this should never have happened to begin with.

It's one thing to want to win- but winning should not come at the expense of the animal's health or safety, or that of the other riders and their horses. Using a whip is not a guarantee of victory, either, because a lot of horses don't take kindly to being whipped, and will either fight back or sulk, the way Big Brown did in the Belmont. Whips are used in other horse sports, and in other disciplines, for training and signalling, and abusive behvavior is not tolerated. The same thing should be true in racing- and it is, at least most of the time. I  think that the use of the whip is actually the LEAST offensive thing in racing- there are plenty of other things in the sport which are much more ugly and heartbreaking than this is.

Answer 4

Most jockies and drivers (harness racing) don't whip the horse. The horse is responding to the crack of the whip as the jockie hits their boot or the suly driver hit's the sulky arm.

I'm sure some of them strike the horse, as far as I'm concerned those are the ones that are in the wrong business.

Horses are examined for welts by the racing officials and a whipped horse can be disqualified at some tracks.

Answer 5

I do not believe a whip is ever needed. If the horse does not want to go no matter how much you whip him, he will not run.

This new allocation of Jeremy Rose is awful. .  I do NOT believe one bit that it was an accident. He should be suspended for more than 6 months.

Answer 6

I have been riding, not racing, but just showing on the flat for a while now, and sometimes you must use a whip. It isnt cruel because you have to remember that horses have thick skin and the fur helps too. It giives them a "Ohh i need to work" kind of signal. If it really inflivted any kind of pain, we would have horses bucking and kicking everywhere! Jockies also dont neccesaraly hit the horse. They might crack it on their boot or stirrup. Race horses sometimes dont want to go. That normal, so using a whip just pushes them. It feels like a pbaby pinch when you "whip" a horse. Now i agree, you shouldnt do it too often, but just enough so the horse knnows you mean business. Hope this was a good opinion/statement thingy? Lol.

Answer 7

I personally do not think a horse needs to be  whipped (CONTACT).. ie if NO jockey had a whip then that would make the race fair... BUT, some jockeys use the whip to straighten the horse if they stray off line ( which is a good thing),,Also a jockey will SHOW/SWISH the whip upsides the horses head (NOT HITTING THE HORSE ) this can also stabilise the horse. giving the horse momentom to run staighter and possiby faster...i NOTICE THE JUMP JOCKEYS TEND TO USE THE WHIP TO ALERT A HORSE APPROACHING THE FENCE, BASICALY MAKING SURE THE HORSE KNOWS THE FENCE IS THERE & NEEDS TO BE JUMPED...(sorry about the Cap`s)...I think we can have great races without the horses being actually hit with the whip..but other people will probably see it different.