Horse racing is a popular sport that attracts millions of spectators each year. It is a high-stakes competition in which jockeys ride horses to win money bets placed on them. It is a sport that requires a great deal of training and physical conditioning for both the horses and their riders. Despite the many dangers associated with horse racing, there are many efforts to improve animal welfare, from improved track conditions to advances in veterinary care. However, the most important way to improve horse welfare is by boycotting the racetrack. Instead, invest your money in a sports event that treats the participants as willing athletes and not mistreated animals.
While Thoroughbreds are considered to be some of the most athletic and fastest animals on earth, they live short lives full of stress and pain. During a race, the heart rate of a horse can rise from an optimal 25 beats per minute to as much as 250 beats per minute, causing the horse to become completely exhausted and collapse. Approximately 200 horses die on British racecourses each year due to exhaustion, while others experience injuries from poor handling and from a variety of illnesses such as colic, diarrhea, laminitis, and equine influenza.
A horse race is an endurance event and, as such, is usually run over a long distance, sometimes up to four miles (6.4 km). The term marathon refers to the length of a race. Traditionally, these events were held only once a day. This has changed, and now they are often held several times a day.
During a horse race, the jockeys use a whip to guide the horses. They can be either sitting or standing, and they wear a helmet to protect their heads from the jousting with other horses during a race. The horses are saddled with a saddle that is attached to the horse’s back by straps and has special stirrups designed for a human rider. The horses are fitted with bridles, which are collections of leather straps that fit around a horse’s head to connect the mouth bit and the reins so that the rider can control his or her mount. During a race, a commentator will sometimes say that a horse is ‘on the bridle’. This means that the horse is traveling through a race without having to push from the rear, and it is also said that a horse is ‘hard on the steel’ or ‘on the snaff’, which refer to the bit that fits in a horse’s mouth.
The animal advocacy informants who participated in the semi-structured interviews described a more holistic idea of what naturalness means for thoroughbreds, and they tended to recognise that many current racing practices are not in the best interest of the animals’ natural emotional and behavioural needs, telos, health and healing and husbandry and training requirements. They also tended to see that the horses’ exploitation is an affront to their nature, integrity, and agency.