Racing is cruel? No, horses love to gallop
THE people who condemn racing because a horse sadly died during the Grand National are good-hearted and mean well, but I doubt any of them has ridden at full gallop. Horses are designed by nature to run, gallop and jump. When you ask a horse to gallop, he willingly does so, and if he is a racehorse he will take off like a rocket. Show him a jump and he will fling himself at it. Yes, doing this can result in death in rare cases, but it is sudden and occurs when a horse is at its happiest. I know this from experience. I went out on a ride on my thoroughbred with friends. We were galloping around a large field and I was getting exhausted, trying to stop my horse going too fast, when he suddenly dropped dead. It was a horrible experience and I will never forget it. But neither will I forget that he was having the time of his life until, in the blink of an eye, a major artery burst and he died. It could easily have been a fatal fall on a racecourse, but the result is the same: the horse dies suddenly with the wind in its mane, or is quickly put down to prevent suffering. The alternative is for the horse to live to an old age, getting thin and ill and having no quality of life. When I was a stable girl, one of the thoroughbreds wasn’t ridden enough and became irritable, even biting me on one occasion, because he was bored. Like my beloved horse who died while we were galloping, I would like to pass away suddenly while doing something I love, rather than endure a long, drawn-out, painful illness.
MAUREEN KELLY, Leicester. I SHARE Martin Samuel’s concerns about horse fatalities at Cheltenham and Aintree. I have always loved dogs and horses, and have decades of experience in showing and judging working gun dogs. Whether canine or equine, I can judge soundness in movement and temperament. The terrible death of Sir Erec at Cheltenham, after a long delay before the race in which he needed a new horseshoe fitted, brought tears to my eyes, as did Up For Review’s fatal accident at the first fence of the Grand National. Horses are well cared for by their trainers and stable boys. I think that on race day, if there is any doubt about a horse’s soundness, it should be standard procedure to withdraw it. DAVID WILMSHURST,
Ashford, Kent.