Horse Racing: Disgusting and Bastardly

Horse Racing has some of the highest forms of torture and violence in any sport in current society. Horses and jockeys alike endure traumatic injuries in a drug-fueled state of competition for sums of money only used to continue the despicable cycle.

Horses have been used for human activities for nearly 3200 years. Early domestication of the equine was intended for use in battle and transportation. To train the horses for conflict, warriors would challenge each other to race and clear obstacles. Slowly, the training of horses for battle decreased, but a new hobby took it's place: Horse racing.

While the ownership of horses has been around for thousands of years, some of the most brutal treatment of these animals has occurred in the past 200 years. By the time horses had mostly left the battlefield, horse racing had become their new torture use. While medical treatment in general was simplistic and ineffective, horses injured during races were either killed on the spot, or kept alive and starved in poor conditions. It is estimated that over a million horses have been killed because of horse racing in the past 100 years around the world.

Some of the worst treatment of horses happens here in the United States. In the US, horse racers are allowed to drug their horses with untested and dangerous chemicals that could easily kill any human being. These drugs can cause serious health problems that ultimately ruin the life of the animal. Often, when these health problems surface, the owners sell the horse to a slaughterhouse or to criminals who take enjoyment in causing the horse pain. Usually, drug use and killing things is considered evil, but here, its a thing to be praised, with horse racing raking in $115 billion annually.

If it were up to me, people guilty of foul horse racing and abuse would be lynched in a horse's stable area, but many feel differently.

"I would never enter my horse in a race like that." says Samantha M., a horse owner. Many equestrians are disgusted with the treatment of horses in racing, and never would participate in such a terrible sport. So next time you see the Kentucky Derby on television, I encourage you to switch the channel if you feel as strongly as I do about the treatment of horses in this despicable sport.