(no subject)

[lagilman]

We Care. But Why Do We Care So Much?
By JANE SCHWARTZ
Published: May 22, 2006/New York Times

"No one wants to see a racehorse break down. The most hardened trainers and the most avid fans seem to agree on this much: A horse has to win, but nobody wants to see one die trying.

For complicated reasons involving the anatomy and the physiology of thoroughbreds, a serious injury sustained at high speed too often spells death for a horse. That such a breakdown is traumatic for the owner, the trainer, the jockey, the groom and the exercise rider is understandable. Most of them work closely with the horse day after day. What seems to mystify people is why strangers feel the same way.

Since Barbaro's injury early in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the reaction of strangers to his plight — an outpouring of concern and love — raises a question with no easy answer: Why do people care so much about the fate of an animal to which they have no personal connection?"


The rest of the article (an essay, really) is here. Worth reading, although it doesn't address the issues of culpability we were discussing earlier.

Comments

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

There is complete blindness in all the articles I've read to the real solution: Start the horses 1-2 years later, ban 2yo racing, and strictly limit racing in the 3yo year. There would still be accidents, of course, and tragedies would still happen, because wherever there is money there is lethal abuse, but the fundamental reason for so many breakdowns would be removed. The animals are too young to tolerate the stress that's put on them. It's as simple as that.

[lagilman]

This article wasn't about the cause or the blame, though. It was about our reactions, and the whys of them. Hopefully, that will lead to reform, because I don't see it happening from the top-down.

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

Oh yippee, I ain't singing solo.

Not only are they too young, but genetic weaknesses are perpetuated because everything is sacrificed to speed.

What gets me is all the handwringing. Oh, we all love the horses. Oh, we're so upset. If you love them so much, stop putting money before their welfare. It's like saying, Oh, I love my child so much, I'm so upset he got his fingers cut off in an industrial accident because we have child labor here. I tell you, it makes me want to vomit.

These so-called animal loving trainers are so deeply into denial they're in submarines.