Heres one that stuck in my gullet.



"THIS is a national scandal. Nothing short of it. Australian thoroughbred horses are whipped daily and consistently and nobody knows why.

It is cruelty on a massive scale and Australians should be ashamed that we have not ordered the barbarism to stop years ago.
Sections of the racing industry maintain the whip does not cause pain to a horse. Pat Hyland, a former wonderful jockey and now a trainer, said on Wednesday: "It doesn't hurt the horse. Horses are tough animals."
Hyland needs to answer this question then: if it doesn't hurt horses, why are they being struck in every race, every day around the nation? What possible point is there in whipping? Just thank God Hyland is not your anaesthetist.

The chief executive of the Australian Racing Board, Andrew Harding, is one of the brightest administrators in the game. Yesterday he would not answer the question whether the ARB considered whipping hurt horses. The reason? Because if he said "yes" there would be a flurry of court action by animal welfare groups. If he said "yes" the barbaric nature of whip riding would be laid bare. And he could not say "no" because that answer is so utterly and obviously wrong and without substance.

Victorian chairman of stewards Terry Bailey told Melbourne sports station SEN on the same day that he did not know whether the whip hurt horses. Presumably, it could well be causing terrible pain yet it is allowed to continue because the highly paid and highly qualified racing vets can't figure out whether lashing a horse's rump and shoulder inflicts pain.

If racing does not know whether it causes suffering then it should not allow the practice to continue until it finds out one way or the other. People who are charged with maintaining the welfare of thoroughbred horses cannot be allowed to be in denial or a permanent state of ignorance. ...."


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24542804-21147,00.html


imho - horses are NOT tough animals. They are very sensitive and very spiritual.


Many of the better jockeys use "hands and heels" only for their horses.

Morality is not fixed, whipping a horse is less than ideal, but not as bad as not looking after a horse properly, it is not really that big a deal.

If what is kinder to the horse, for a minute or so, costs you millions of dollars, then you may say whip him, but not excessively.

If you say categorically that whipping is wrong, then what if the winner was going to donate the money to save starving humans?

Is a little discomfort for the horse acceptable then?

Tricky stuff morality, few empirically definitive answers are found.

Principal; treat animals kindly=good
Action; ascribe our values to every scenario, in a false belief that we will always know what is best=dodgy.

Is whipping a sadomasochist considered to be a cruelty?

Horse racing in general is an extremely cruel sport from start to finish - but if it gives humans pleasure and makes them money - who cares about the suffering of the animals?

Most of these beautiful creatures who have served their masters well end up at the glue factory after years of beatings, stress and being passed from one person to another.

Horses can think for themselves. If you treat them badly, you can end up dead. The people who make the strongest connection with horses are those who work with them day in, day out. Not some animal libber who wants to set them free so they can destroy our environment and get ravaged by parasites.

Race horses love to run, many of them LOVE race day.
I love sprinting, it is like that.

Most owners/trainers/jockeys have a good relationship with their horses.
Some of the traners sleep with them in the stables.

They just don't need to be whipped to run.

Isn't the whipping a strategic thing? To let the horse know when to pace itself and when to push itself to the limit? Obviously you wouldn't hurt or bruise an elite athlete and think it would make them run faster. But you can't exactly talk to a horse in the middle of a race.

I'm sure whipping the horse causes discomfort, though since they are not sapient they will not experience it as humans do.  

IMO race horses are generally very happy and well looked after creatures.

There's nothing better than being at the peak of your physical fitness (from memory), and if a horse is unhappy, it will not perform.

If a horse comes out of a race streaming blood from excessive whipping, which does happen, then I'd say that this is barbaric.
However, most times, a horse only needs to be shown the whip to know that it's time to give all. Other times the jockey doesn't even touch the horse whilst going through the whipping motion, or he/she may only whip the horse very slightly. Lots of humans don't mind a slight whipping from time to time   :P

As well, they get more holidays than you or I.
All they need to do is do what they love doing as best as they can.
If they don't love it, or if they're no good, well then they're dog meat  :o

Kytro - you get double points !! For using a word I had to look up in the dictionary.

You Sapient Being you