I know nothing about horses but I do know that the horse racing industry wouldn't exist if it were not for the betting involved.

I have an aquaintance that got involved in horse racing several years back. He owned 6 or 7 trotters or pacers. He lost in excess of a million dollars in 2 or 3 years before he realized that virtually everyone in the business was a crook. He never mentioned anything about the horses being badly treated except that some would get juiced up when the odds were right. A horse that hadn't won a race all year would all of a sudden run the race of it's life and pay big dollars.

Wayne

Just curious, no dog in this fight (;)), but do they really, as common practice, use steroids? Is it legal? It surely would seem unethical. If it is illegal (within the sport), do they test each animal?

Mike

It's perfectly legal and accepted. Bovine and Equine steroids have been around much longer than "performance enhancing drugs" for people...which is where some of the early stuff actually came from.

Beyond the terrible side effects that a lot of anabolic steriods have (heart problems, thyroid problems, etc) the largest drawback to anabolic steriods is that they develop muscle out of balance with the supporting ligaments and tendons.

When an animal stresses muscles mechanically, it causes the body to respond by repairing and building new/additional muscle tissue in order to prevent future damage. That mechancial stress also stresses tendons, bones and ligaments. Anabolic roids skip the additional benefit of developing the supporting cast (ligaments and tendons) and you end up with stronger muscles than bones/ligaments and tendons can handle. (basically you have a monster engine with a weak chassis).

Before the "designer" drugs that human athletes use today (and before many of the doctors understood how to dose them down to levels that are more difficult to detect) this was the biggest drawback for performance enhancers. Drugs are used more for workout recovery and injury recover now more than they're used or putting on muscle mass.

Additionally, there's stuff like horse linament, that you can use (I've actually seen humans use it....makes your breath smell rancid) to numb up sore or strained muscles so you can race/compete. In that sense, you can numb an animal up and make it race (obviously pain is an indicator of something wrong, the body's way of saying..."don't do that, it hurts" until it's corrected).

All of that is coupled with an animal that has a pretty unique "design" to begin with. If you ever look at a horse, they have these enormous muscles and a pretty large body compared to these tiny (relatively) legs, and joints.

If a horse is injured while working or unintentionally (as a companion animal), then it's at least somewhat understandable. I also understand the concept of putting them down. But when a horse (or many horses) are injured while a bunch of snobs watch while sipping Brandy and wearing derby hats, to me it kinda makes the injuries/deaths a bit senseless.

And now for the truth:
If a horse tests positive for a banned substance the following happens:
The horse
the owner
the stable
the trainer
the jockey*
are banned for life


Rick-you are correct.Running them to young is the issue.
We breed Paints/Palominos & 1/4s.In addition to mini's & miniature donkeys.One mini mare gave us her last kid at 37 years old.My wife just had both her knees replaced as her years on the rodeo circuit wore them out.SHe also was in 4H and was a leader for years.

*possiblity of mitigating circs.

But in a big race like the Derby, are they ALL tested after the race?

For that matter, are race horses tested at the smaller tracks?

In other words, is testing a normal thing?

Mike

I have a retired racing greyhound. The current situation is not as bad as you think. From what I read, a decade or more ago, 60,000 greyhounds were bred in the US every year and almost all of them were destroyed. However, now it is more like 22,000 are bred each year with 18,000 retired racers adopted each year.

It is more restrictive than MLB has ever been. :LOL: (or any other professional sport) or is it admits too?

Well that's not saying much....:rolleyes::LOL:

1ntcobra, sounds like things are much better now than when I was involved, many many years ago. We used to charge $3 a dog to put them down, most breeders didn't want to do it and were glad to pay. On a certain day, the breeders would show up with their dogs. A backhoe to dig a hole 'in the lower 40' and the dirty deed was done, en masse.

Not trying to sound judgemental... but that is sick.

BTW, both of my dogs were adopted (Springer Spaniels).

Mike

That does sound a lot better !

They are really sweet dogs.

My ex adopted one before we met.We adopted another after we married.She adopted two more are we split.:)

And before anyone giggles at the "mini thing":

http://www.guidehorse.org/

I never knew. That's an awesome concept!:D