The price for 2min 'sports' game

Staying in Melbourne it is understandably why someone might be mistaken that I would pay particular attention to the Melbourne Cup Day. 

To watch horses, not ordinary horses, but splendid, upstanding elite horses that were the pride of their riders and delight of their owners who, as a rule, treated them with a care and devotion shown only to race horses…. With every buckle shining and if proven to be the supreme elite, they will have red rosettes on their headstalls, ribbons around their neck proudly shown off. After of course, two minutes of what could be titled the fastest sports game that man has made! Their eyes are bright and alert, and their coats shining after careful grooming, for those with big money, these horses are no pets nor companions of their riders or owners rather carefully guarded investments. 

Unfortunately, from where I am standing right now, it seems that the general public are completely ignorant of the real truth about the cruelty of horse-racing and are of the opinion that race-horses are treated like Kings!! Any 'sport' that uses animals as a product and without genuine respect for their health and welfare should absolutely be banned; but with the majority of people seeing horse-racing as a harmless bit of fun it will be very hard to do this - especially in Australia. 

We only need to look at the promotional material for the Melbourne Cup; where the main focus is the dress up, theme, flowers, wine, food and then on the side the horses.  It does not even need to be mentioned about the fact there is a public holiday for a horse race. I will *sigh* with deep un-interest that I am staying in a country that seem to put capitalism before humanity, before animal welfare- after all the cost of having a day off for this city is in the millions which was clearly illustrated and heavily debated when the AFL final was made into a public holiday, to the dismay of business owners of course!

Now please let me clarify, I don't think its the Jockey's that are the problem nor the groomers. They have pure passion and love for the animal, this is often shown in their relationship with their horses… I don't think that the horses are treated badly at the racing yard either, but rather racing a horse is in itself damaging - 80% of horses bleed from the lungs by the end of a race. I recall this from a feeding company using this information to market different feeds to keep horses going longer by lessening the bleeding!!! There is truly a problem with capitalism!!! Ex-race horses are not given a retirement by the industry and often they are thrown out as 'replaceable, pass used by date' products!! The workers and the animals are just a means to an end. 

When I stop for two seconds and think what does horse racing bring to mind - reality hits!!

The sting is this - 

Jockeys see horses as 'replaceable' - a callous use of the word serves only to highlight the widespread attitude within an industry that treats horses as commodities, not as sensitive sentient animals!!

Horses are often on drugs - this is highlighted heavy by the media at olympic time, yet it happens all the time, its apart of the racing culture. The drugs are both legal and illegal and are as ubiquitous at the racetrack as silly looking hats!

Former race horses are 'retired' to the slaughterhouse - this is reality, common knowledge that horse is turned into dog food or horse meat!! Oh humans why, why, why, why...!!!

On top of all this, it hurts to even think of the fact horses are made to race when they are too young risking their lives on the track at the wrong age due to their bones not developed to deal with the pounding and stress of the track. Horses are whipped to the finish line; to hurt animals deliberately is illegal in most other circumstances, but riders seem to be required to carry whips despite prove that whips can cause pain and suffering to the horse!! 

Im not even going to touch on the gambling side that is a whole other issue - yet to sum up the horse racing industry its all about money!! Owners of horses often mistake their love of money and glory for a love of horses but, the facts make it clear what the industry is really worth!!!

While I let myself get wined up about this, I have come up with a solution!!!! The problem you ask, is the treatment of race horses… I have come to a heart breaking conclusion, there is no way of taking away horse racing altogether. Therefore the next best option will be to ensure the horses are cared, are 'retrained', are loved once they get given their ticket to freedom. It will take be big, take about four D's - dedication, devotion, discipline and determination. 

As this country is set of been very capitalist, I look at it from this angle - 

So - this cup day here is worth billions of dollars, the amount people pay just to get entry into the racetrack, not only on the day yet on the days leading up also is beyond anything!!! Therefore I think, its only right and fitting that if everyone puts just one dollar towards the retirement of the horses, every year these horses would be looked after - in terms of health, place to live, retraining to go from long hours training to one of galloping no more and so forth. 

This cruelty will end only when the public realize the truth - there is no such thing as a 'harmless flutter' when it comes to funding the cruel and exploitative horse racing industry!!!!