Five reasons why horse racing is cruel (2024)

FAQs

Why is horse racing cruel? ›

Racing exposes horses to significant risk of injury and sometimes, catastrophic injury and death through trauma (e.g. broken neck) or emergency euthanasia. The odds are stacked against horses in the racing industry.

It is only cruel to horseback ride if the rider is ignorant. There are conditions and situations that are painful to the mount - lameness issues, back problems, sores beneath the saddle area, bad teeth, behaviors from previous traumas, and more.

These practices supposedly improve performance, but they qualify as animal abuse and cruelty. Abuse in equestrian sports can be anything from spring to drug abuse to racing horses underage. For some reason, the natural beauty of horses is not good enough to many people. Sadly, horses are abused in racing all the time.

Making horses pull oversized loads like carriages is cruel. Horses are forced to toil in all weather extremes, dodge traffic, and pound the pavement all day long. They may develop respiratory ailments because they breathe in exhaust fumes, and they can suffer debilitating leg problems from walking on hard surfaces.

Running (cantering or galloping) is a quintessential horse behaviour and horses voluntarily run together in groups when given the opportunity – even in races without jockeys. However, there are a number of reasons to think horses have not evolved a desire to “win” during a group gallop. Horses are social animals.

They like it!” One study of injuries at racetracks concluded that one horse in every 22 races sustained an injury that prevented him or her from finishing the race, while another estimated that three thoroughbreds die every day in North America because of terrible injuries sustained during races.

Then, too, there's slaughter: Two independent studies (as well as industry admissions) reveal that most — multiple thousands annually — “spent” or simply unwanted racehorses are mercilessly bled-out and butchered at their “career's” end.

Horses were the means through which many women first acted in a truly independent way, often pursuing equestrian endeavours despite/without their parents, or else, proudly taking up adult-like responsibilities in being the teacher, pilot, and carer of their ponies, rather than the one being looked after and told what ...

With time and training, many horses have excellent memories and a strong bond with their human friends. This means they will remember you even when you've been apart for a long time. Horses can also hold negative memories of a person when they've experienced abuse or trauma.

Is horse racing corrupt? ›

Intermittingly associated with fraud and corruption in it earliest form (Vamplew, 1976; Chinn, 1991; Dixon, 1991), and in particular gambling, horse racing was, and still is, vulnerable to different types of fraud and corruption.

If horses could choose to show jump, do you think they would? Show jumping has been exposed numerous times for animal cruelty and drug scandals.

Despite the controversies, "racing will never be banned — there is too much money to be made from it, particularly as gambling becomes easier across the U.S.," Elizabeth Banicki writes for The Guardian.

Horses tend to only bite to defend themselves or to show irritation. However, whether it's by pure accident, a cheeky love bite or something more malign, being bitten by a horse is very painful indeed. Our equine friends can bite hard enough to break fingers and cause severe cuts and bruises.

Much of the cruel treatment of horses raised to race mirrors the treatment of animals raised for food. Extreme confinements. Unnatural methods leading to skeletal injuries, mental health issues, and other bodily problems. Treated as an inconvenience to be discarded after no longer being seen as useful.

To make matters worse, racehorses are not even afforded the protections of animal-cruelty statutes, meaning an owner or trainer can run his horse into the ground — yes, even to death — with virtual impunity. Heartrending separation. Spirit-crushing confinement and isolation. The grinding of unformed bodies.

PETA's goal is to make changes in the horse racing industry. The organization said it does not support horse racing, and said horse racing can never be entirely safe but said there are changes that could be made at racetracks to make them safer.

About 20,000 U.S. horses—including former racehorses, work horses, show animals, discarded pets, and even wild horses—are sold to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico every year, according to a recent report by U.S. nonprofits Animal Wellness Action, Center for a Humane Economy, and Animals' Angels.