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Horse racing is all about the thrill. It’s
about the speed, the rush, the adrenaline,

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the challenge, the sound of hooves pounding
the track, the sight of extreme physical exertion,

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the pushing of boundaries human and horse
alike. And more than anything else,

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it’s about the money.

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Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome
to another vegan nugget. Above all else, horse

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racing is a business and a multi-billion dollar
one at that. It’s not for the love of the

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sport and certainly not for the love of the
horse, it’s for the love of money. This

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video is the third in my series on horse ethics.
In the first, we looked at horse riding in

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general and the musculoskeletal damage that
it causes and in the second took a closer

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look at the effects of the bit in particular.
Now, not everyone can agree on the ethical

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nature of horse riding itself, including many
vegans. But horse racing takes the commodification

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of horses to a whole other level that should
even give the most staunch non-vegan pause.

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With money as the priority, horses are treated
as no more than cash machines. This so-called

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sport is rife with cruelty on so many levels
and I’ll do my best to touch on as many

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of them as possible. Please reference the
blog post for this video linked here and in

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the video description for further articles
and resources. The cruelty of horse racing

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begins long before the track. Racehorses are
genetically manipulated and bred to run as

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fast as possible. Their lives begin at a stud
farm where mother horses are forced to be

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pregnant 90% of their shortened lives through
the use of drugs like prostaglandins and the

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alteration of their environment in order to
manipulate their natural cycles. Once born,

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potential racehorses are ripped from their
mothers, who are immediately impregnated again

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until they can no longer produce foals and
are sent to slaughter. Having been separated

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from their mothers, these newborn foals need
sustenance and are nurse by what are called

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“nurse mares”- horses with lower pedigrees
who are impregnated simply to produce milk

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for the racehorse foals. The children of the
nurse mares are of no use to the industry

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and because it’s illegal to send horses
under six months to slaughter, many are killed

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by a brutal clubbing or are simply left to
starve to death. They are then skinned to

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produce high-end leather products, known as
cordovan leather, and their meat often sold

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for human consumption. A 2009 report from
The Jockey Club stated that approximately

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49,817 mares were bred that year, meaning
approximately 49,817 by-product nurse foals

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were needlessly slaughtered. And that’s
only in the United States. This horrific cycle

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of forced pregnancies, stolen children and
premature death closely mirrors the dairy

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industry, wherein mother cows have their calves
taken at birth and slaughtered for veal so

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that humans may consume their milk.

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Unfortunately, being bred as a potential racehorse
does not save the other foals from a similar

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fate. Out of the hundreds of thousands of
potential racehorses bred in multiple countries

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every year, only 5-40% will go on to race.
The remainder are either sent to slaughter

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for human consumption or pet food, re-entered
into the breeding industry, or sold for lower-tier

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racing, which has even less safeguards and
regulations. While the consumption of horse

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meat is taboo in many societies with even
regular consumers of other animal products

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balking at the idea of eating horses, what
many people don’t realize is that horse

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slaughter is simply the back-end of horse
racing. Just as the egg industry has no use

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for male chicks and grinds them up alive or
gasses them, so too are the horses not deemed

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fit enough for racing discarded as industry
waste.

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For those horses who do make the cut to race,
it’s just the beginning of a tortured existence.

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Race horses typically begin rigorous training
when they are around 1.5 years old, long before

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their bodies are fully developed and their
skeletons mature. According to the text Practical

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Anatomy and Propaedeutic of the Horse, the
length of time for complete growth of the

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epiphyseal plates, or cartilage, is not until
they are (on average) between 6 and 9 years

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old. The extreme training demands put on these
vulnerable young horses leads to a tragic

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preponderance of fractures and breakdowns,
leaving them finished by the age of 4-6. This

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footage of a young filly in a speed trial
shows the audible crack [loud crack] of her

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cannon bone as her body is pushed beyond its
natural limits. These injuries, more often

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than not, seal a horse’s fate as they are
deemed to expensive and troublesome to treat.

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On average 24 horses die per week on racetracks
across the United states, with numbers in

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Australia as high as 68/day or 25,000 a year.
The injuries aren’t all external breaks-

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the demands of racing cause a large proportion
of horses to bleed into their lungs and windpipe,

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called Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage,
with a University of Melbourne study finding

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that 50% of race horses had blood in their
windpipe and 90% have blood deeper in the

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lungs. Their high concentrate diets of grains
also leads to gastric ulcers with a study

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in the Veterinarian finding them present in
89% of horses with many of them developing

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deep, bleeding ulcers just within 8 weeks
of the commencement of their training.

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When not tossed aside as too expensive to
treat, injured horses are pushed to keep racing

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with the aid of dangerous drugs. Pain medication
can mask injury, allowing wounded horse to

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run harder, further endangering their lives-
as many as 90% of horses that break down have

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pre-existing injuries. Journalist Max Watman
explains that because “thoroughbreds are

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bred for flashy speed and to look good in
the sales ring … the animal itself has become

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more fragile” and that “to keep the horses
going,” they’re all given Lasix (which

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controls bleeding in the lungs), phenylbutazone
(an anti-inflammatory), and corticosteroids

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(for pain and inflammation). Injured horses
aren’t the only ones drugged, however. Former

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public relations manager for Churchill downs
Alex Straus says, “There are trainers pumping

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horses full of illegal drugs every day. With
so much money on the line, people will do

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anything to make their horses run faster.”
This includes chemicals that are made to bulk

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up pigs and cattle before slaughter, as well
as blood doping agents, thyroid medications,

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stimulants, Viagra, cobra venom, and cancer
drugs, among others.

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In addition to being chemically pushed to
perform, horses are brutally whipped during

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races in what is probably the most public
and societally endorsed form of animal abuse

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today. The racing industry assures that whips
must be padded and when used properly only

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stimulate a horse, not cause pain. However,
according to a study by professor and veterinarian

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Dr. Paul McGreevy, the padding failed to protect
horses in 64% of strikes and 83% of whip impacts

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showed visible indentation of the skin, with
some 75% of strikes hitting the horse’s

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flank even though that’s against the International
Agreement On Breeding, Racing, and Wagering.

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Dr. McGreevy also found that 70% of strikes
were delivered “backhand” and were thus

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not counted under the rules limiting the number
of strikes. In many countries, the number

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of times a horse may be struck during a race
is only limited up till the last 100 meters,

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at which point horses may be whipped ceaselessly.
This piece of ballistic plastic consistent

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with a horse’s flesh, shows the impact of
a standard single whip strike. Dr. McGreevy

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himself took this further and did a thermograhpic
study of his own leg after delivering a standard

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blow to his thigh. These white areas show
inflammation 30 minutes after the single blow.

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Whip proponents argue that horses are much
larger animals and have thicker skin and a

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higher pain tolerance. There is nothing to
support this claim and McGreevy points out

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that horses can feel even a single fly landing
on their skin as evidenced by the characteristic

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shake called the “manniculus reflex.”
It is rather naïve to assume being beaten

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repeatedly with a blunt object is a pain free
experience. Racehorses are also subjected

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to the use of metal bits, the impact of which
I’ve extensively detailed in this video.

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It’s important to note, however, that the
bits used in racing are even more severe than

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those used for equine sports. Horse whisperer
Frank Bell states that, “Racehorses have

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bits in their mouths pretty much their whole
lives... A lot of jockeys actually balance

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on the horse’s mouth so often [its mouth
is] destroyed...”

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When off the track, horses in training are
stabled for the majority of the day. This

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is the most practical way to “store” a
horse, however, this isolation robs them of

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social and environmental stimulation. Stabled
horses can developed a number of neurotic

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behaviors such as crib-biting, where they
bite on fences and other fixed objects, as

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well as swaying back and forth and self mutilation.

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After all of this pain and suffering, you’d
think that racehorses would be rewarded in

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the end, especially the champions. But these
animals are treated as disposable commodities,

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regardless of their achievements. When a horse
is no longer able to perform or his or her

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performance is no longer deemed adequate,
he or she tossed aside like so much garbage.

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Those who break down on the track are euthanized
on the spot and sent off to rendering plants

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for pet food and byproducts or simply dumped
in a junkyard like this horse. Those who don’t

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die or are killed on the track are sometimes
downgraded to lower-level racing, like jumps

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racing, which caries up to 20 times more fatalities
than flat racing and has far less regulations

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and standards. The final destination for most
failed racing horses is slaughter, where captive

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bolts are often sloppily and ineffectively
used, prolonging the painful and terrifying

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death of these long-abused animals. Even champions
who won their owners hundreds of thousands

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of dollars are sold for a pittance.

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From cradle to grave, racehorses live tortured,
terrifying, brutal, and completely thankless

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lives. This is what happens when money is
placed above the lives of sentient beings.

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And this is the true face of the so-called
“Sport of Kings.”

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Thank you for watching and please share this
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some Fridays. And be sure to check out the

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first and second video in the horse ethics
series. Now go live vegan and I’ll see you

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soon!