Horse Racing Exposed: Abuse, Drugs & Death

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

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

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

it’s about the money.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

that humans may consume their milk.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

fit enough for racing discarded as industry
waste.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

well as swaying back and forth and self mutilation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

of dollars are sold for a pittance.

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

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

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

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