Off Topic Grand National 2016

Hmmm...I bet..I watch..but I've always been dubious of the "broken leg" shoot the horse thing...it's insurance pay out and vets do what they are told as long as it's remotely justifiable. They aren't doctors with a hypocratic oath. They don't refuse to put an animal down because the owner can't afford the treatment they go with it.

 

I think we all have to recognize the steak for dinner or the chicken dinner out of kfc is far more.. well barbaric if thats what you want to say.

everyone has a right to an opinion on this

here is mine.

1. I find dog owners and breeders, especially pure bred rules extremely cruel cos frankly many breeds are going too far. the likes of say boxers or those types have real trouble breathing and often die of heart failure. There's breeds of dogs who's skulls are so misshapen they live in terrible pain.

2. horses are bred for sport. simple. there are big work horse breeds and then thoroughbreds and its the same thing. these race horses would not exist at all if not for racing. they bear little in relation to original wild horses do they? Is it wrong to run them? no. is it wrong to geld them? is it wrong to jump them over miles of courses? maybe.

Is it wrong to just shoot them cos they've broken something in some regard? possible. each case should be different and frnakly a gelding with a broken leg to some is a burden. a mare or stallion should still have some breeding value so again. it comes down to you were valued as a jumper but now you are meat... and that makes people uncomfortable.

3. look at that steak. Its bred to be bigger, different breeds of cows only exist to deliver either milk or meat to us. thats reality. so in the end that horse.. .well... its meat too to a french person. the breeds would not exist if humans didn't create them to take advantage of them.

therefore; there is an entire industry here, there's the just breeding, the guys trotting them out, guys racing.. probably 1000s employed in the business. is that greed?

Whats the difference between a ribeye steak in a resturant and a horse racing over hurdle for entertainment?

If you want to debate alternatively that some fences on the grand national course with 40 horses going is absolute crazy fair enough. I think over cheltenham while a horse can pull up with an injury from going full pelt its not the same as sending out 40 horses over beachers as at the national i'd expect a few horses to basically die. I would expect on average that on a race day over hurdles that an injury might occur but a fall leading ot death would be relatively rare.

 

I thought about OneNightinVienna as we're going to Austria on holiday this year


Doesn't matter what my feller will pick, it will come in the first four, always does for him, jammy git

 

Got that in the sweepstake

 

I usually do pick a donkey that doesn't know its arse from its fetlock, so maybe I'll think again

 

Stay away from my horse then!

 

I agree. I know this as my late grandfather is a former owner of a Gold Cup runner up and National participator. That horse lived like a king and was looked after by people who love animals and of course especially horses.

Having said that, horse racing is a massive industry and with that there is room for negligence among a few at the bottom end of the spectrum who are in it for an easy buck. The horses are well looked after at the top end but there is room for stricter rules and sanctions for owners/trainers when it comes to breeding and handling injured or unwanted horses.

 

Yeah any point to point you care to mention is prob far worse on horse.

Only need look at donkey sanctuaries to know what people do.

Toffs running horses at vast expense create jobs for a lot of people.

 

It's quite complicated with horses. Their lower limbs don't have muscle and it's made up of bone, tendons and skin. When the bone breaks it often pierces the skin and tendons which means the horse (which is heavy) can not support itself standing up. At this stage it is as good as retired because it will never recover to race again. But recovery to even a normal life is difficult, the horse would be required to heal whilst lying down...try stopping a horse from wanting to get up and walk about without hindering the healing process. Add to that, if it were to lie down for long periods of time, it is likely to get Pneumonia from liquids accumulating in the lungs (like what often happens when an old person has a hip replacement).

I guess the only real answer is to reduce the size of jumps. Banning horse racing as the activists wish would be catastrophic, imagine the plug was pulled on horse racing? What would happen to all the horses? Not to mention the livelihood of all the people involved.

 

our fingers don't have muscle either.

It really is down to the fact that a hunter (fox hunting now banned of course) is a totally different beast to a top race horse and different again to a cart horse

The jumps for the grand national are huge compared to regular hurdles which you can walk through if you get it wrong.

For me its simple... we'd eat all the horses in mcdonald's burgers...

 

Horse crutches?

 

can we look at this instead?

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at least carragher has the good grace not to pay a hooker to come.

 

Or a horse version of one of these?

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Perfect

 

mostly they break front legs though.. or necks.

Or they do the tendon itself. I think a lot could be fixed if someone really wanted to but those frenchies love a bit of horse flesh.

most end up on a plate in paris.

 

Lost one (Bishops Road) so put two more on...

 

many clouds is a big favorite.

Its a hard race to call cos frankly you can be a shoe in and with 40 horses unless they all get out of your way you can be tripped up several times over.

 

I've got Many Clouds

 

Favourite rarely wins the national