Mistreated Horses

"On average, 24 horses die each week at racetracks across America." 


"A state-by-state survey by The Times shows that about 3,600 horses died racing or training at state-regulated tracks over the last three years."


"It's hard to justify how many horses we go through," said Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Racing Board. "In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the olympics. But you see it in horse racing."


Horses are being mistreated and mishandled for the purposes of a race. They often endure agonizing pain and extraneous training to do these races. Some trainers have taken it to extreme measures to try to win, some have been caught drugging their horses. They also drug the horses to give an illusion that they are healthy and capable of doing a race.What do the horses get at the end of these races? Massive amount of injuries or worse death.

What about the officials? What do they do when they see an injured horse being put into a race? They give the trainers a slap on the wrist or look the other way.

Asides from the horses being injured mid race, they also put the rider in danger as well. Without stricter regulations, these races are causing serious damage to both animals and human beings.  This is a serious problem that should have the horse racing business shutdown.

A Survey of Horse Deaths

More than 3,000 horses died during racing or training from 2009-11 according to a New York Times survey of 29 racing states. Highlighted States do not require pre-race inspections of horses and do not perform post-mortem inspections on horses that die while racing or training.

STATE	DRUG POSITIVES	DEATHS
Arizona	107	50*
Arkansas	13	No data
California	296	635
Colorado	68	14
Delaware	53	90
Florida	366	150-160*
Idaho	No data	No data
Illinois	171	140
Indiana	58	65
Iowa	50	46
Kentucky	258	86
Louisiana	291	268
Maryland	69	79
Massachusetts	14	53
Michigan	71	14
Minnesota	222	34
Montana	5	10
Nebraska	64	47
New Jersey	105	106
New Mexico	115	349
New York	159	366
Ohio	406	122
Oklahoma	149	119
Oregon	64	45
Pennsylvania	195	243
Texas	168	108
Virginia	38	20
Washington	21	60
West Virginia	210	233

* Estimates. Actual practice and adherence to regulatory requirements varies widely from state to state.

Graph from NY Times.
Story paraphrased from NY Times