I've never been asked that question I'll happily answer it, though. It doesn't set a bad example to kids because if you educate them on the reasons why it's used (to help focus and encourage) on the horse then they'll know its not a bad thing when they see it happening.
I've posted the link earlier on and I've pasted part of it above. The whip doesn't hurt humans. The penalties are because they're breaking the rules. Like any other sport would do.
Horses are routinely subjected to the use of painful devices in both training and racing with little understanding of their impact on horses and whether they’re actually effective. Of most concern is the routine use of whips in training and racing. Whips are unacceptable. Whips have the potential to cause localised trauma and tissue damage to horses. What’s more, the last 100 metres of a race - when horses can be whipped an unlimited number of times - is exactly the time when horses are more fatigued and have less capacity to respond. The study assessed the area struck and the visual impact of whip use on horses and included a total of 350 rider-horse interactions, of which 109 were clear, behind the saddle impacts. Two observers, working independently, found the following: The whip caused a visual indentation on the horse in 83% of impacts The unpadded section of the whip made contact on 64% of impacts At least 28 examples of apparent breaches of whip rules were found More than 75% of the time the whip struck the horse in the abdomen (or flank) From the people who supposedly consulted on this horse friendly whip.
It's obvious that everything would be just as equal if none of the jockeys were allowed to carry a whip. So why have them at all. It's because the crowd love the spectacle of animals being whipped and ending in a climax dripping in sweat and gasping for breath. It's pseudo-sexual even though the spectators will always scoff at the idea.
So the rules are that a jockey can cause some pain but not make it too obvious they are hurting the animal.
Whips are way down the worry scale for me, I don’t even think you should ride horses. If you want to buy a horse you have a choice of one that needs to be broken or one that’s already broken. That alone tells you everything you need to know.
Is "broken" not just a term though. As in, would "trained" be more appropriate? I don't know owt about horses mind, so just thinking out loud.
Yep It gets trained like any other pet. A working farm dog gets trained but you wouldn't say it gets broken first because it would sound terrible. No difference though. Both trained for a job that they enjoy. If a horse didn't want to race, it wouldn't. No amount of sitting on it, whipping it or getting off and kicking it up the backside would change that.
'No pet, the football player is a bad man for kicking the cat but the jockey is a nice man. He's only whipping the horse to make it run faster. Now do you understand?'
If you actually believe training a sheep dog to work and putting a metal bar in a horses mouth and saddle on it’s back and then letting a human ride it, whipping it to make it go faster while there’s froth coming out it’s mouth because it’s not far off from being knackered. You have quite a bit to learn if you think training and breaking is the same thing. What I do believe is you like horse racing and you see it a different way.
I’ve got loads of mates who train sheep dogs and mates who have broken horses, not one word of pish in there mate, and you know it.
Which talking horse said it doesn't enjoy racing? The whip keeps it focused on the job and encourages the horse.
I'm headed to the Egyptian embassy tomorrow to tell them to round up an army of slaves to build some more pyramids. If they don't enjoy it, they won't do it. I'll tell them to just make sure they only whip the slaves 5 times before they get towards the pointy end, then they can crack away.
You said horses enjoy racing, how do you know that.The horses are trained to race, doesn't mean because they do they enjoy it. They realise if they don't race they get whipped