Those Poor Horses

I was extremely sad to learn that 3 horses have already died during this year's Cheltenham Festival. Personally, I think this is appalling.

Some are saying that the ground was too hard, which meant that as they were landing the horses broke their legs. As most of us know, a broken leg for a horse means that's pretty much it for them. I have seen horses recover from this type of injury, however it's a long and expensive road, and there's no way a horse could race afterwards, so that's the end of it for a race horse.

To be honest, for me, I don't care what the ground is like, those horses should not be put through the stress of racing the way they are today. Expecially the hurdles.

I was always taught when learning to jump that the key to a safe take off and landing was to make sure that the horse was calm and collected on its way up to and over the jump. So why is it so acceptable for these supposedly experienced jockeys to hurtle their horses at these fences at top speed and watch them topple over them, struggling to keep their balance and carry on running.

I was speaking to a friend yesterday whose daughter went to a jockey training school for a 9 week course last year. She stuck it out, but has decided she definitely does not want to work as a jockey in the future. She said the horses were 'crazy' and always 'chucking you off'. Does that sound like a horse happy in its work? I think not.

I'd love to hear your views on racing. Whether you agree with me or not, please feel free to leave your comments.

Thanks for reading.

Sarah.