A horse race is a contest between horses, typically on an enclosed track or field, which are guided by humans known as jockeys – often humans who ride other horses – who aim to guide them over obstacles such as jumps and hooves at high speeds while maintaining control. While horses may experience injuries like fractured leg bones and hooves during racing events, legal and illegal drugs may also be administered to mask injuries and enhance performance artificially. The sport can be hazardous both to participants and horses alike.
Early racing involved contests between two or three horses; with pressure from gamblers leading to bigger races with larger fields; races for six-year-olds carrying 168 pounds over 4-mile (6.4 km) heats where winners had to win two out of four heats in order to be declared victorious. Dash racing, where skill and judgment played an essential part in success, gradually replaced match racing by the late 1860s.
Horse racing has been marred by several scandals related to doping and other forms of abuse, putting many potential fans off from participating. Due to stories depicting horses suffering at the hands of cruel trainers, revenue for this form of entertainment has seen steady decreases over the years.
While racing industry professes to care about animal welfare, their practices have not changed significantly; horses still suffer excruciating physical stress during competitions and often succumb. Eight Belles’ and Medina Spirit’s deaths both occurred in 2008, prompting public inquiry into its ethics and integrity.
Racing-related fatalities have decreased in recent years, yet remain too many. To truly protect horses’ wellbeing and ensure financial success for its industry members and men and women alike. A keen analysis should take place both at a macro business and industry level as well as inside individual minds of industry members themselves.
Only then will horse racing truly value its horses; to do this it must restructure its entire system from breeding and training through aftercare and limits on when horses may run and their years of service. Doing this requires complex, expensive and nontraditional steps taken by all industry players with complete buy-in from all sectors – but only then could horse racing survive and thrive – it would truly revolutionize horse racing! Ultimately time will tell.