The thrill of watching the earth shake as a mass of thundering hooves barrels down the stretch in a horse race is one of America’s most quintessential experiences. But the reality is that racing is a cruel and unnatural sport. Even the most die-hard fans should consider giving up on the sport until it is reformed, so that horses can have their lives back.
In the wild, horses graze on pastures and live in herds with others of their kind. They are social creatures that need interaction and stimulation. In racing, horses are confined to small isolated stalls that can be extremely stressful for them. This can lead to crib biting (a repetitive behavior where a horse grasps a fixed object with its teeth) and weaving, a nervous, erratic behavior in which the horse shifts its weight from side to side. Many horses are pushed beyond their limits and suffer injuries that may prevent them from running again. Injuries are a major problem in horse racing, with one study reporting that three thoroughbreds are killed every day because of catastrophic injuries suffered during races. The vast majority of these deaths occur on the race track.
A number of things must go wrong for a horse to get injured during a race, but two major factors have led to the astronomical rate of injury and death on the track: First, most horses are bred with massive torsos and spindly legs to make them fast. Because of this they are unprepared for the rigors of competing on hard surfaces at high speeds. They are also often rushed into intensive training at the age of 2 — the rough equivalent of a first-grader.
Secondly, the racing industry relies on an unfair system of weights to determine a winner. This is because most of the big money in racing comes from wagering, which is based on the total amount of money placed on a horse in a particular race. In this way, some horses are handicapped or given a weight advantage over others based on age, distance, sex, and other factors. This skews the results, and creates an incentive to push horses past their limits.
The good news is that horse racing has made some improvements in recent years. The emergence of animal welfare groups, like PETA, has helped bring awareness to the cruelty that still exists in this industry. In fact, growing concern about cruelty in the industry has fueled recent improvements in the quality of care for horses, including better diets and veterinary services, more limited use of drugs, and more oversight of trainers.
Still, the industry is facing significant challenges to its future as a for-profit business. It must address its reliance on taxpayer subsidies and a race schedule that leaves little room for recovery from injuries, and provide a wraparound aftercare solution for all ex-racehorses. Without this, countless horses will continue to hemorrhage into the slaughter pipeline, where they face horrific endings in Canada, Mexico and Japan.