Kentucky Derby
Posted by lotus42 on May 03, 2008 · Member since Mar 2007 · 3081 posts
This is really sad. :'(
http://sports.aol.com/story/_a/favorite-wins-kentucky-derby-in-tragedy/20080503183509990001
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WHY is this still legal? Disgusting. >:(
I agree. It's awful that beautiful animals like horses are abused in such a manner...
Now I am legitimately angry! Yahoo sports' headline for this story is, "Filly Eight Belles breaks down after 2nd-place Derby finish." Breaks Down?! What?! Cars break down, machines break down, airplanes break down, objects break down! The horse DIED, it didn't "break down". Apparently horses are not sentient beings that merely break down, that or the media doesn't want to use the words that correctly describe what happened.
The article goes on to state, "Eight Belles repaid her faithful with $10.60 and $6.40". There it is, that's really all most people even care about with this story which makes it all the more depressing.
Here's the article,
http://sports.yahoo.com/rah/news;_ylt=Akm6rMmXmS4Mrj9eGSqcWqsX47kF?slug=ap-kentuckyderby-eightbelles&prov=ap&type=lgns
That's terrible. :'(
And screw the photo gallery of Hugh Hefner, Chelsea Clinton, and all the rest of them in their huge hats right in the middle of the page. Seriously.
Can you believe they do this!?!?!?! I was horrified when I read the yahoo story on this--poor girl--they could care less for her--it's all about the money she could bring it--and she won't bring in any with two broken ankles-- :'( :-\ :( :'(
I love horses and I despise horse racing. They run the hell out of them when they are 2-3 years old and then trash them. The horses are treated so bad that it is hard for normal people to adopt them, not to mention the other health problems... :'(
Sorry I just had to post these awful quotes from the article for those who didn't read it...
>"the joy of the Derby....was upended when Eight Belles was euthanized by injection on the track.
She had broken both front ankles and could not be saved"
>"Eight Belles showed you her life for our enjoyment today..."
euthanization, enjoyment, WTF?
F'ing disgusting. They literally ran the poor horse to death in front of thousands of "fans". Like some Roman Colosseum shit.
Did they really have to euthanize the horse? Just because it's ankles were broken?!
Horse racing, dog racing....all of it makes me ill.....and angry.
http://bestsmileys.com/angry2/10.gif
Horse racing, dog racing....all of it makes me ill.....and angry.
http://bestsmileys.com/angry2/10.gif
Storm,
I love that smiley....it looks so pissed off yet cute!
This stabs me in my gut and as my horses nuzzle me for treats, playfully steal my brushes and go off running while Im trying to groom them and protect them from the flies, and lazily spend the day in one of three 7 acre pastures-I only hope there is a horse heaven where this poor filly is enjoying the sunshine. How does a horse break both ankles while running a race?? It's only obvious she was in the best shape of her life and fully capable of competing, however the greedy owners and jockey ran her too f---ing hard!!!! That Jockey ran her to her death and next year noone will even know her name. Im so sad and horrified!
Horse racing is an outrage and there is an on-line petition to stop it:
http://www.petitiononline.com/racing08/petition.html
I was signature #46 so it hasn't been out very long.
Thanks TinTexas, I signed too, #53, I would encourage everyone to do the same!
this msut stop.
Why don't these people just watch the Boston Marathon in floppy hats while drinking mint juleps?
;D seriously, what's with the hats...
I signed it, too. #85, so its growing fast.
Did they really have to euthanize the horse? Just because it's ankles were broken?!
Yeah :(
It's pretty much impossible for horses to recover from broken legs.
Signed....#99
My DH surprised me on this issue. Usually, he usually comes out in favor of anything that someone is making their living from. But he wants to see horse racing banned also! He said it's cruel to the horses. Duh!
This is a letter from a vet from my hometown. We have this great little weekly magazine/paper thingy that comes out on Thursdays. It's called The Independent, and I still read it online because it keeps me connected while I'm up here. I pulled this from their Opinions/Editorials section...
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/may/08/not-so-belle/
Spot on Pinkerbell. Horses joints, ligaments, and tendons do not completely fuse, connect, and finish growing until around age 4 and yet these poor, noble race horses have people on their backs riding them, running them before age 2, even, (age 2 is the EARLIEST most any other horse breed is even started to train because they are just not grown enought o have the weight of a rider on their back and bones, let alone having that extra stress and concussion of the galloping and weight combined) so they are ready to race by the day they turn 2 years old! Then they are galloped, galloped, galloped putting huge amounts of physical stress on these unfinished, immature joints and bones for as long as they can hold out. Hence the HUGE number of race horse injuries on the track (during training in betwen and actual races) and related deaths (eunthanasias). The few that do make it past their 4th year on the track almost always have chronic musculo-skeletal injuries through out the rest of their lives. Most race horses that are too injured to race anymore, and do not have top bloodlines or extraordinary track records and wins, so used for the gamble of breeding another rare winner, are sent to slaughter. Even the ones who are used for breeding year after year are usually sent to slaughter when they fail to produce outstanding babies or can no longer have babies. It's all about money. There are rescue groups who try to rehab and adopt some of them out, but there are far more horses than there are homes available. And horse meat is a delicacy in Europe and Japan.
I love my horses and I love Thoroughbreds- they have the look of eagles in those magnificent eyes. But I despise the horse racing industry. >:(