The grunt of death. That’s what I once heard it called in relation to horses dying during a race.
In safety engineering, there are no accidents, just preventable injuries and deaths. Yet the horse racing community cites horse deaths as a natural part of the game – an expected outcome for some horses. Or so the arguments go, some of them claiming that track-related deaths are greatly exaggerated - after all, it used to be worse.
If the horse racing industry has its way, spectators and the general public will be indoctrinated over time to accept the deaths of horses on the track, not as abusive, but as normal and natural, to be expected – a part of the culture, the way things are. The slaughter of farm animals for food is regulated to minimize their suffering during the process, but race horses are not afforded the luxury of a quick death. They must first be mangled on the track – breaking legs, backbones, or skulls before being euthanized – all while the public looks on. Horses must endure a public slaughter that even children can watch.
But lately many anti-horse racing articles have been published condemning the abuse and unnecessary death of horses. For example:
- “The 2023 Kentucky Derby: A Case Against Horse Racing,” by Emer Nolan, The University of California at San Diego Guardian, May 14, 2023. Excerpt:
…a number of tragedies surround[ed] the race: seven horses had died in the week leading up to Derby day, and an additional five horses had been scratched or taken out of the competition. These tragedies have brought the long-standing debate about the ethics of racing horses to the forefront. This has reignited in fans a reckoning with the dark side of horseracing that has long been pushed to the background, despite such deaths being regular occurrences in the sport.
- “Why horse racing is stuck in a very bad place,” by David Von Drehle, The Washington Post, May 5, 2023. Excerpt:
In desperate need of reform, horse racing has hunkered down instead … The Kentucky Derby is shadowed by the specter of premature death among the magnificent creatures known as thoroughbreds. Churchill Downs in Louisville, scene of the venerable Run for the Roses, saw at least four seemingly healthy horses either die or be euthanized after life-ending injuries in the fortnight leading up to this year’s race ... The root causes are widely understood: Follow the money, as the saying goes.
- “The ugly truth of thoroughbred horse racing,” by Larry McDermott, The Tryon Daily Bulletin, May 12, 2023. Excerpt:
Thoroughbred horse racing in America no longer has that sweet taste of a Mint Julep. It’s criminal now. The aftertaste is repulsive. The Kentucky Derby has a long and rich, as in dollars, history. It began in 1875 and today is a place where the monied and wannabe monied throw lavish parties to talk about their horses in the runup to the event. It is where racegoers get all gussied up to be seen. And, it’s where young and often fragile horses go to die.
Might we be hearing in the distance the grunt of the slow death of horse racing? In good conscience, horse racing should have ended long ago.
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Editor’s Note: Bettina Sperry is a former doctoral student of International Education Policy, with an ongoing interest in human behavior, economics, public policy, history, and education. She is the recipient of numerous educational awards, including a Fulbright Administrator Exchange Award to study in Argentina and the first-ever Fulbright School Administrator grant to host an Argentine teacher to study the US education system.
She is currently engaged in writing a book of short essays to address issues of horse racing multidisciplinarily, to include the sociology of indoctrination, the fetish of power and mutilation, the historic spectacle of horse racing, and the psychology of animal abuse.
Bettina has experienced firsthand the torrential abuse faced by horses at the track. On her farm in West Virginia, she raises eight thoroughbreds, along with her huskies and a few pigs and chickens.
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Editor’s Note: Bettina Sperry is a former doctoral student of International Education Policy, with an ongoing interest in human behavior, economics, public policy, history, and education. She is the recipient of numerous educational awards, including a Fulbright Administrator Exchange Award to study in Argentina and the first-ever Fulbright School Administrator grant to host an Argentine teacher to study the US education system.
She is currently engaged in writing a book of short essays to address issues of horse racing multidisciplinarily, to include the sociology of indoctrination, the fetish of power and mutilation, the historic spectacle of horse racing, and the psychology of animal abuse.
Bettina has experienced firsthand the torrential abuse faced by horses at the track. On her farm in West Virginia, she raises eight thoroughbreds, along with her huskies and a few pigs and chickens.
| Copyright © 2023 by Bettina Sperry |
Excellent, incisive essay, with well-chosen commentary from your sources. I felt an analogy with legislators' response to the ever-increasing number of deaths from guns, and I'm proud of your work in expanding awareness of the danger to magnificent horses.
ReplyDeletePat Hamilton (for I know “Anonymous” is you in this case), I hope that legislators come to their senses in both situations: the proliferation of gun violence and death, and the inhumane treatment of horses for vile entertainment.
DeleteThank you both. History shows an intense deprh on the part of all levels of law enforcement to ignore the crimes committed within horse racing, sometimes contributing to it - a history of archaic ignorance in mutilating (physical violence and drugs) and killing horses for sport exists. Legislators are only now beginning to address the problems, but there is a large swath of indoctrination that has to be over come, thus more work to do. As a researcher, a lot of ground needs to be covered, thus a compilation of essays in the social sciences.
ReplyDeleteBettina, yes, research, fact-finding and substantiating must be done, but that “large swath of indoctrination” will also need much publicity and public relations “to be overcome.” So, here’s to your book coming out soon and selling 10,000,000 copies!
DeleteThank you for a perfectly researched article. Don't know if the ones in charge will ever give a dam, but it's nice to know there are a lot of us out there who do.
ReplyDeleteMichael, thank you. A lot of people are turning away from racing as the brutal reality sinks in. Attendance was down at the Derby and the Preakness had half the crowd of prior years. Still, a lot of work remains.
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