Grand National 2011

I know. As a member of the horse (but not racing) industry I am completely torn over the issue. On the one hand, this is the elite national hunt race, and as such it must be challenging. If it didn't exist something else would become the hardest, most elite. Aintree have improved safety no end over the last few years, put in chutes for loose horses to escape, lowered fences, watered the ground and still we see fatalities, just for different reasons. 🙁 In purely economic terms, these are valuable horses, and their owners and trainers have nothing to gain and everything to lose if they are killed in this race.

Yet the grand national is the biggest most popular event in the whole of the equine industry's calendar. It brings money and attention to the sport, which trickles down to benefit the average rider like me, whose horses' health issues are more readily understood because of the £1,000s pumped into medical and behavioural research in the racing industry.

Like so many things, the full story is not black and white. However it is perceived, the loss of two horses in the big race, and a jockey in another race are tragedies and one can only hope that any lessons and further improvements to safety are learnt and actioned.

The current rate for steeplechases is 6 in every thousand starts results in a horse's death. If this statistic is not seen as morally unacceptable then consider this - if you drive every day it is like having a fatal car crash every six months, but then they are only horses.......so that presumably give us the right to traet them like this.
Those involved, and those who fund the 'sport' by betting should be ashamed.

chris

I feel encouraged by the greater awareness (I feel) this year of the suffering of the horses. Thank you naturally for your post - it's good to have some balance here.

I believe that the number of fatalities and injuries have been coming down year on year, but apparently the conditions were so quick this year that they were not able to remove the dead horses before the next lap came around, thus people saw the horrific sight (I'm glad I didn't)

I have read the RSPCA media statement on this. http://www.rspca.org.uk/media/news/story/-/article/EM_Grand_National

As they say, racehorse welfare has to come first. Let's hope that as people are becoming more aware of animal as well as human rights and protesting perhaps by refusing to bet in the race, that that will bring more responsibility, more care, more kindness shown and these terrible injuries and deaths will no longer occur.

Judy

I refuse to be involved in this race by placing bets. I think whips should be banned in racing..to be honest I don't see the need in any circumstances. If the horse enjoys or is trained to do what it does it will do it willingly. If a horse is so tired it needs a whip then it should be allowed to drop out or continue at it's own pace. Surely a good horse will know by the rider when they are "almost there". The course owners need to look at all issues here, numbers in the race, if a horse is "in that league" and the height and type of fence. I can see that changes have been made and I give credit to that but clearly it is not enough. It cannot be right to put an animal in danger for our entertainment.:(

I refuse to be involved in this race by placing bets. I think whips should be banned in racing..to be honest I don't see the need in any circumstances. If the horse enjoys or is trained to do what it does it will do it willingly. If a horse is so tired it needs a whip then it should be allowed to drop out or continue at it's own pace. Surely a good horse will know by the rider when they are "almost there". The course owners need to look at all issues here, numbers in the race, if a horse is "in that league" and the height and type of fence. I can see that changes have been made and I give credit to that but clearly it is not enough. It cannot be right to put an animal in danger for our entertainment.:(

The most practical way to approach changing the culture of racing is small steps. Whips have already been limited (max 3 strikes, but waving it without contact is allowed) and all jockeys now carry the newer style, which is designed to make a "crack" noise but to do much less harm than the old fashioned style. I too hope one day whips will be banned, not least because studies have been published which prove the use of whips in racing does not improve the horse's chance of winning.

Want to get really angry about whips? The winner of the GN used his whip 16/17 times, gross overuse, and received a 5 day racing ban. He keeps the winning position in the GN though. Winning the biggest race of the year vs 5 days off? What incentive is that to him to not overuse the whip in the GN? To me, he should have the win removed.

To answer your other suggestions:

Horses have to qualify for the GN, its not just entry to anyone. They are vet checked prior to and after the race.

The height of fences has been lowered: all that sadly means in reality is that the going is faster, and those falls which do occur happen at a faster pace and are more likely to seriously injure the horse.

The number in the race is an interesting one. One horse fell but seemed to recover ok, only for him to be landed on by the horse following him (and one after that I think) which is what was thought to cause the fatality. Would fewer horses in the race stop this? Probably not, as there will always be an optimum line to take, and injuries like that one have been reported in steeplechases with only 6 participants.

These animals are put in danger for our entertainment, every time a horse is ridden in front of a crowd, be it eventing, horse shows, racing, even dressage... its where do you draw the line at the acceptable level of danger. 🙁 Ban the GN and all that will happen is the focus and highest level of danger will pass to the next biggest race.

There's a lot of room for improvement in horse racing. Many horses who are bred for the purpose of racing are destroyed in training, either through injury or illness (often due to their management), or simply because they aren't fast enough or they have retired. Only a small percentage of retired racehorses find a life after racing; some rehomed as private leisure horses (but the likelihood of them being suitable for this is slim), some to stud, most shot. Many are not allowed out in fields as nature intended, but live an intensively managed life, a bit like battery and barn hens. At the lower levels, one breaks down, there's always another to take its place.

I wish I knew what the answer was.