Grand National

[Pogle]

Make a point Zips and stand by it ffs.

My last national I ever bet in.

I never bet on the national, for the simple reason that horses die in it.

[mudskipper]

Yep, accepting that in horse racing, horses will occasionally have to be put down following a fall is one thing. Having one race where horses are killed every year is not acceptable.

[MarillionFan]

I never bet on the national, for the simple reason that horses die in it.

WSS

I also don't eat Mcdonalds because it has dead horses in it.

[oscarose]

Sad to see the 2 deaths; the owners will be gutted.

Lowering the fences has encouraged the horses to go faster, therefore IMO the fences should be put back to their original size, maybe decrease the number of runners and water the ground heavily to try and decrease the speed of the horses. A combination of speed and ground conditions make it dangerous for the horses.

[SimonMac]

The horses are bred purely for racing, if they didn't race they wouldn't exist. The number of horses that are treated well in the racing community compared to those who are put down after an accident is minimal compared to the number of "non racing" horses that suffer horrible mistreatment at the hand of their owners.

[oscarose]

The horses are bred purely for racing, if they didn't race they wouldn't exist. The number of horses that are treated well in the racing community compared to those who are put down after an accident is minimal compared to the number of "non racing" horses that suffer horrible mistreatment at the hand of their owners.

WSMS

[SimonMac]

Its a tragedy when animal is put down, I bet the owners, trainers, stable hands and all those involved in the looking after of these animals are heartbroken at their death, its not just a financial loss to them.

[doodab]

According to Pete was the one I had a flutter on. Makes me a bit sad that does.

[Zippy]

You need to read up on why horses are put down when they break a leg.

I'm not being deliberately provacative here, there are real and genuine reasons why this happens.

OK I'll admit my opinion is based on/skewed by my experience and education. For example - a horse had a chronic abcess in hoof, op to fix (not guaranteed) costs £3k, horse is worth £2k. Lovely horse dies in her stable. She doesn't know whats coming and dies peacefully, so I do understand it's also about economics. There are also genuine welfare reasons why a horse with a broken leg needs to be put down as I referred to in my post. I was trained to run an equine business though, so my opinion will be biased towards the economics rather than the 'save the horse at all costs'.
One of my more 'interesting' trips was to the equine hospital at Lambourne. Fookin ma-hoo-ssive operating table. Owners who loved/valued their horses and paying a large fortune to save them.

I'm still sad about the National deaths. Horses take a risk every time they go out in the field or on a ride/schooling session (they break legs messing about in the field FFS) but it seems to me the balance between 'job-related' risk and putting them in danger is wrong in the case of the National.

Deaths do occur in other horse sports (I've seen a few, sadly) but not to such a degree as NH racing. We really do need to review what's going on here.

[d000hg]

The RSPCA described the deaths as "totally unacceptable" and called for "an urgent examination" of the race.

That makes it sound like a horse being put down is unusual in some way.