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Horse racing is dangerous and sometimes tragic: Here's why

Roar Rookie
5th November, 2014
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There are a number of way available to watch the 2015 Caulfield Cup (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
Roar Rookie
5th November, 2014
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1171 Reads

The funny thing about a Melbourne Cup and horse racing in general is that tragedy is often not too far away. Horses are mighty, but delicate beasts. A broken leg won’t kill a person, because we can get about on crutches and just lie about for awhile.

The biggest race in Australia was run yesterday, and just like last year when French mare Verema was euthanised after the race, it’s brought the issue squarely into focus again.

Two horses died, and it’s not good for anyone. The industry is mourning. Racing people love horses. It’s not a good look, and no one would argue otherwise.

But a broken leg is such an awful thing for a horse that they’re almost always euthanised by vets.

> Admire Rakti dies in post-Melbourne Cup tragedy
> Araldo euthanised after breaking leg after the running of the Cup

Why? Well, horses have a body the size of a ute but a brain the size of the badge on the grill. That’s not a knock on them, but they’re animals that can be frightened easily, and that won’t just do as commanded.

They can’t just take it easy for awhile. They don’t know when or how to just relax, rest up and have us humans run about trying to find the oats they like while putting on movies of grassy open fields.

In truth – horses need to stand. Lying down for too long just leads to other complications. To use the ute analogy again, horse legs are like bicycle tyres on a one-tonne pickup. Horses are 500 kilograms plus, but have unusually fine, brittle legs. Composed of no muscle, the extremities are only skin, tendons and bone. They’re designed to stand and gallop, but any injury will leave them badly damaged.

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So a horse might survive surgery to fix up their leg, but they might survive to only hurt their leg again post-surgery as they move around, sometimes violently as they awake from surgery.

Or they might survive the post-operation complications, but then favour the other legs, leading to more problems. Horses can’t really be stopped from moving about, and the terrible pain and distress that puts them in means that they’re better off being humanely euthanised. Amputation is not an option either.

There are certain, rare cases where horses can be saved. It usually involves a lot of money and carefully suspending horses in swimming pools for weeks on end to avoid further injury, and it’s all for saving horses that have a special sentimental value, or perhaps are worth millions of dollars to the owners.

The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s biggest sporting event, and as we have seen in modern times, outcries are louder than ever after incidents like the two that happened yesterday occur. There’s plenty of people extremely upset about poor Admire Rakti, and poor Araldo, both suffering seemingly freak incidents.

But here’s what’s unusual. Two jockeys died in the past weeks.

South Australian jockey Caitlin Forrest died in hospital from injuries suffered in a terrible fall at Murray Bridge.

Queensland-based jockey Carly-Mae Pye lost her life in a barrier trial at Callaghan Park after another tragic fall.

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Two young women doing their jobs. No #hashtagged fury.

Racing is dangerous. And it leads to tragedy far more than what anyone could reasonably argue is fair game.

But why does Australia only take to social media and comment forums with outrage turned up to truly when horses suffer tragedy?

It comes down to agendas, and what’s front of mind, in plain sight. People don’t want horse racing at all not because of the risks to humans, but to the animals themselves.

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