Is horse racing cruel to horses?

PLEASE BE AWARE SOME IMAGES BELOW ARE HIGHLY GRAPHIC AND MAY UPSET SOME READERS.

As the Grand National came to a close only a few miles from my house there was a sad image that lingered in my mind, that being the image of a horse covered by a sheet and a detour for the rest of the horses.

The topic of the 2 horses deaths at the Grand National at Aintree has been a subject of much conversation between Kirk and i over the weekend. We have discussed all aspects and all sides of the race and i feel i can see each persons point of view.

Let me first express that under no circumstances am i trying to change your opinion or am i trying to tell you what to think but i feel this is a topic of great discussion and i want to express my views.

Let me start of by saying as a animal lover horse come very far down the list of my favourite animals, purely because i have had some not so good experiences with them in my life (sliding of the front of one during a horse ride and also having my foot crushed by one at the Easter show one year) but by no means do i hate them.

I also don't bet on anything and that includes horse racing whether it be the Grand National or Melbourne Cup etc. Not my thing.

I was however crushed when i saw the live feed from the national, i know (from many vet shows ie animal cops) that if i horse goes down and doesn't come straight back up chances are it wont come back up, and as i watched the race i had a pit of the stomach feeling that it was going to end sadly for some, and it did.

Horses Dooney's Gate and Ornais both suffered fatal falls during the race, my first thought was these horses do not chose to run this race, to jump 30 fences etc. Kirks thoughts on this where they sort of do "if a horse gets to the first jump and doesn't want to it wont" maybe, but these horses are trained to do so, so then i thought maybe it is all they have ever known its what they expect... hmm!

I do understand that this is a big industry and horses don't die all the time and that Aintree race course and the authorities have taken steps to stop it from happening.

Please leave your thoughts below.

Image and artical found here!

Image and artical here!