16 Comments:

1. Eric said...
   May 5, 2008 at 10:08 PM  
   Greed. The owners win a purse. Eight Belles wins oblivion.
   Ms.Green said...
   May 5, 2008 at 10:09 PM  
   There should be an investigation. I'm sure the insurance company will have one. These people are disgusting to me.
   Marshal Art said...
   May 5, 2008 at 10:48 PM  
   I'm sorry. I'm not getting it. What's the problem here? The horse broke it's ankle, right? Putting horses down in such circumstances is commonplace. Please elaborate your concerns. Maybe I missed a salient point of this story.
   Al-Ozarka said...
   May 6, 2008 at 10:41 AM  
   I'm with you, MA.
   
   It was a horse.
   Eric said...
   May 6, 2008 at 10:49 AM  
   Now, don't get me wrong... I'm no PETA freak, but don't horses have any value beyond the racetrack? The filly had lots of heart, but a horses bones aren't even fully grown/developed at Eight Belle's age. The owners won some money then tossed away the filly to collect the insurance. They didn't even try to save her.
   
   It didn't work with Barbaro, but they could have at least tried. They could have made an effort to not look like complete cold and callous s**ts.
   Marshal Art said...
   May 6, 2008 at 8:54 PM  
   I don't know. Didn't Seabiscuit have a break that they fixed? I'm going by the movie here, so forgive me.
   
   However, I don't know what determines whether it's worth it to try as it would be traumatic on the horse to keep it immobile long enough for the bones to set, and then of course to build up the strength in a manner that doesn't re-injure the affected area. I'm just running with an uninformed train of thought here. One of my fellow congregants is a vet. Perhaps he'll know about horses enough to clear this up. He's not a regular, so it could take some time.
   Al-Ozarka said...
   May 7, 2008 at 10:42 AM  
   It's an animal. Let's keep things in perspective.
   Eric said...
   May 7, 2008 at 2:32 PM  
   Yes, an animal. But an animal mistreated and abused.
   
   Would you not want to slug your neighbor if you saw him abusing a puppy? Kicking it around and then shooting it?
   
   Why then does a horse just get brushed aside so casually? I'm not a fanatical animal rights activists, but I can see when animals are being unjustly treated and abused, and I can empathize with them.
   Al-Ozarka said...
   May 7, 2008 at 3:51 PM  
   "Would you not want to slug your neighbor if you saw him abusing a puppy? Kicking it around and then shooting it?"
   
   Sure.
   
   But not a race-horse trainer who is acting on behalf of the animal, EL.
   
   How was this horse abused?
   Dan Trabue said...
   May 8, 2008 at 7:45 AM  
   Eric, heed the warning from the Prophet, Supertramp:
   
   Now watch what you say or theyll be calling you a radical,
   Liberal, fanatical, criminal.
   
   Wont you sign up your name,
   we'd like to feel you're
   Acceptable, respecable, presentable, a vegtable...
   Eric said...
   May 8, 2008 at 8:21 AM  
   GREAT song, Dan, but the warning comes a little late, don't'cha think? I mean, people already call me radical and fanatical...
   
   I guess I still have a ways to go for the rest.
   Dan Trabue said...
   May 8, 2008 at 9:21 AM  
   ahh, but NEXT they'll be calling you a liberal, criminal.
   
   Wouldn't you rather be respectable? Acceptable? A vegetable?
   Al-Ozarka said...
   May 8, 2008 at 10:51 AM  
   How about I call EL...
   
   "Wrong on this issue."
   Marshal Art said...
   May 9, 2008 at 1:36 AM  
   What an annoying song.
   Ms.Green said...
   May 9, 2008 at 10:27 PM  
   "Andrew Beyer, an acclaimed handicapper, blames the breeding industry for churning out horses who are swift but susceptible to injury at an early age. "Because buyers want horses with speed, breeders have filled the thoroughbred species with the genes of fast but unsound horses," Beyer wrote in his Washington Post column. "As this change in the breeding world took place, the sport was allowing the use of pain-killers and other medications that are forbidden in most other countries. They allow infirm horses to achieve success, go to stud and pass on their infirmities to the next generation." Eight Belles' grandsire, Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, has a record of fathering flash-in-the pan horses who run blazing times as 3-year- olds, then are never seen on the track again." [from Salon online]
   
   The reason this was disgusting to me is because it shows to what lengths greedy men go to obtain wealth. Having dominion over animals does not give us the right to allow them to suffer for our benefit. I'm a hunter, but I hunt and shoot to kill the first shot. I have no desire to make any creature suffer.
   Marshal Art said...
   May 12, 2008 at 1:35 AM  
   I doubt the breeders "desire" that the animals should suffer. I also doubt that it's a goal to breed for speed only with no thought whatsoever toward breeding for durability as well. How much more profit could an owner make if the horse was not only blazing fast, but could run for years without injury. It's too easy to point to them and say they are motivated by greed, when their motivations are to use the animals to make a profit. The distinction? Your profit is the meat, skins and trophy head of the animal you hope to drop with one shot. But you both are using the animals for personal gain.
   
   There's a lot of money that goes into breeding horses and then training them to run a race. Doing so only for a year or two of racing doesn't seem to make good business sense. Breeding them to run forever does.
   
   This is all speculation on my part, but it just doesn't seem to make sense as Beyer explains it.

Post a Comment