Melbourne Cup: Two horses killed

[LPC]

Very sad news. Two horses have been killed during this year's Melbourne Cup. The favourite, Admire Rakti, was carrying record-breaking heavy weights and died (apparently from heart stress - results of tests awaited). The other, Araldo, broke a rear leg and was euthanised.

Do we really have the right to put horses through this carnage, not just at Melbourne but all over the world? Just so people can watch and put on bets? Humans can run, too. Why not put bets on that?

Regarding Araldo, the horse euthanised, most of the press has been meekly accepting the argument - always trotted out when horses are injured - that the horse was in pain and had to be put down. Yet humans who break their legs aren't put down, nor are most domestic pets; only horses are not given the chance of surgery and recovery.

Why? I did some research. The reasons are purely financial. If the horse is put down quickly, the owners can claim the value of the horse back from insurance. If the horse is treated and passed on to a horse charity to live out its life, the owner gets nothing. That is the explanation. I always wondered why - and now I know. Money talks. Compassion doesn't.

[Knight of Albion]

I didn't know that about the financial aspect. That's disgusting.

Obviously they (the horses) are a commodity with a financial value first and foremost.

That could be surmounted though. With insurance companies insuring for surgery costs and loss of potential revenue in the event of a horse being unable to race any more, instead of what you might call a 'write off' fee, which only encourages the destruction of the poor animals.

---

And heartbreaking to hear about the two horses.

Much like the UK's Aintree Festival (which includes the Grand National) fatalities happen virtually every year.
No other 'sport' would or should accept such a pitiful situation.

[platy]

Araldo wasn't instantly euthanased. He was taken to one of the best Vet hospitals in this state and they were looking at putting a plate in his leg. The vets, not the owner or trainer, said that his pastern was too badly damaged to be saved. Nobody wanted to see the horse dead. The difference between repairing a horses leg and a human leg is that a human understands they will be unable to use that leg for weeks. Getting a horse to rest is extremely difficult.
How he broke his leg also had nothing to do with the race. It was an idiot waving a giant flag at his face that spooked him. Could happen to any horse, any where. If one of my horses broke its leg, I would have it put down too. And that has nothing to do with financial gain.

I've seen horses have worse accidents in their own paddocks. My neighbours horse, Lolly, managed to tear off half her hoof. A friends horse died when she was struck by lightning. My own horse cut his leg open down to the bone with one of his own hooves!

Admire Rakti's situation is rare. Incredibly unfortunate and upsetting.

The only reason this has come under such scrutiny from people is because the Melbourne cup is massively publicised. People saw it. Tomorrow it will be forgotten. Every other day of the year no one thinks twice about what injuries or deaths are occurring in cross country, or show jumping, or dressage, or pony club or the local competition down the road or my spaz of a beast in her paddock.

[Catherine]

It did remind me of the National in its horse losses. The way the insurance is set up it encourages euthanizations. That could be changed.
Watching for signs of heat stress would have helped. I am sure they watch over their horses, but the will to win becomes greater than horse safety.

No other sport accepts a few losses every year.

[LPC]

(11-05-2014, 04:17 PM)Catherine Wrote: It did remind me of the National in its horse losses. The way the insurance is set up it encourages euthanizations. That could be changed.

Yes, it reminded me of the carnage in previous years at the Grand National, too. Regarding the insurance cover, both the Noble Knight and you, Catherine, have a good point. The insurance could be changed to cover extended medical care, etc. The only trouble is that the owners want money in their pockets to compensate the loss of a valuable race horse. Vetinary treatment would not compensate them for their "investment" (as it is often called in horse racing) - only if the horse could race again.

[Catherine]

We are not ignoring you. You make good points, but I know with our racing industry here, the focus is on the horse being able to earn. No owner wants a horse that recovers, but can't run.

We also have trouble with our chuck wagon races at the rodeos. The will to win is strong and horses and sometimes riders get killed.

I think they have trouble with car racing and accidents. Athletes get killed trying faster and better things. We are not prudent when we get the urge to win.

The National in England has horse deaths every year. Some probably are not preventable, but I am sure some are preventable.

We are hoping that these races will review any deaths and see if there is room for improvement in how things are done.

[Tobi]

I don't think we are ignoring you platy. While it's true that "The sport of Kings" as it's called, endangers many beautiful horses on a regular basis, for the sake of vast amounts of money -it's also definitely true that horses have difficulty mending if anything goes badly wrong with their legs. They can't lie down for long and spend a good deal of time standing, and rehabilitation can sometimes be not possible with leg injuries. You make some good points about that.

[Catherine]

I just wish all the horse race situations would do a mortality review. Maybe they could compare the different races. There might be room for improvement in handling things.

Every time a construction worker is killed in Ontario they do look at it and see if it was preventable. Sometimes it was just an unfortunate accident and sometimes they find a cause that can be changed.

Certainly injured horses are a problem because some injuries are so hard to heal in a horse. I would hope the vets keep asking themselves if there is a way to fix some injuries that we can't fix right now.

[platy]

And in the case of what happened to Araldo at Melbourne cup they did make changes.

http://rv.racing.com/news/2014-11-05/sta...p-carnival

[Catherine]

I am glad they were able to act quickly and make changes. They will at least prevent further accidents. Sometimes you can't foresee a danger. Who would have thought of someone waving a flag. I am sure the person with the flag never thought he was endangering the horses.

I wish they would react like that to the Chuck wagon races at the big rodeos. There are horse and sometimes rider deaths most years. Something in the race is too dangerous. There need to be changes.

Any industry that involves animals does need to constantly review its practices to be sure that things are safe for the animals.

I guess we should commend the Melbourne cup for its quick response.