Will it ever END??? R.I.P. Pine Island

[Terry Wallace]

How many more Thoroughbreds must sacrifice themselves for the sport of Kings? I am sickened by what happened it the Breeder's Cup Distaff race today...
Poor Pine Island....

Awaiting an update but it don't look good.....
:( :cry:

EUTHANIZED... unrepairable fracture...

[lisa l aka marci]

I heard that before I watched the Breeders' Cup.....so sad! The people watching with me are friends with the jockey who was riding him.....

[Carol Nelson]

Horrible..... :(

[Jane Hurl]

I'm with you, Terry. How many more?

It should be outlawed.

[CarolU]

I don't know why they can't wait until their 3 or 4....poor babies.

[Terry Wallace]

She (Pine Island) was three.... but you know...been ridden since what... 18 months...20 months? It all leads to the same kind of end... started too young, pushed too young...dies too young.

[Jasfino]

so very sad.... :cry:

[JennLM]

I couldn't agree more with what everyone has posted so far...

[Carol Nelson]

Money is the name of the game...it will never change unless they pass laws to change it... :(
(and I doubt that will ever happen...the racing industry is a multi-billion dollar industry).

[Minouri]

I agree. It's not going to change without laws or regulations. Reminds me of child labor. It takes people on the outside imposing rules on those doing it to break the cycle. As long as it is allowed and profitable someone will be doing it.......no matter how awful IT is.

[Carol Nelson]

There is another way to look at it however...to make ourselves feel a little better. There would have NEVER been the advances made in equine medicine without the racing industry. And us lowly commoners who own horses are benefitting from that too. As are our horses.
In the old days...a broken leg meant the horse got shot between the eyes...no second thought to it. Even fifty years ago, twenty years ago!...Barbaro would have been unheard of.
Joint supplements, hoof supplements, bone builders, stamina builders, founder treatment, the list goes on and on...originally designed specifically to get those horses back on the track and running again...or to help them live to reproduce other prospective winners.
So every dark cloud has a silver lining...

[Pasomom]

Yes, that is certainly true Carol, you have a good point. It sure is sad to loose a horse though. But the same rings true for humans also. We don't learn how to "fix" things without something being broken from time to time. Birth Defects, accidents, burns, all our treatments today have probably come about by and thru the suffering of others, until we learned how to remedy the situation and advance our technology continually.

Still, it is sad to watch them blow out these horses at such an early age. Just one or two more years would make a big difference, physically, and mentally on these TB's :cry:

[Terri]

I agree with what everybody has said. TB are raced and trained to young. And I in no way defend this practice. However, they are not the only breed/sport that has systemic abuses. Wasn't there just a thread about "training devices" that leave Pasos' noses bleeding. How bout the soring in Walkers? And the jumpers that are pointed at fences to early and often. I have a qrt horse in my barn that has scars that speak of past use that I would not have approved off. In fact his owner needs to sell him now because she is moving to Cal and we are both looking for a way he can stay here. We both read Black Beauty and don't want him to end up somewhere he wont be happy. There are lots of abuse in the horse industry, TB are just unfortunately enough to have it broadcast on national TV.

[PASOFAN]

Just so sad...

[SandyMM]

OK - so it is sad/tragic that a horse lost its life racing, but for every racehorse that is put down at the track, I'd be willing to bet there are a hundred - maybe a thousand - more standing in pastures dying of starvation, neglect, and flat out physical abuse.

What makes the thoroughbred losses so special compared to all the other horses that die needlessly every day? The T-bred deaths are _public_ and get a lot of press. How many young horses are started too soon under Western saddles or bareback or even English in someone's backyard - run half to death in local weekend time and games events, pushed too hard on the 'pleasure' trails, then tossed out when they break a leg/blow a tendon/develop early arthritis.

I can't tell you how many horses I've heard of lately that have come to be with their current owners as rescue cases because they were half-crazed with vicious beatings... But it isn't just Pasos, it's any breed/any horse whose owner has no other plan than to beat it into submission.

Yes, the track deaths are terrible, but to everybody who gets up in arms about the filly that was euthanized - go save a few horses in your own local area that will _never_ get the publicity while they suffer a much more prolonged death than any pampered racehorse.

[Terry Wallace]

Whats even sadder...is the number of young TB that break-down daily at racetracks everywhere, that we shall never know about.

Its REALLY bad when the high profile horses we see on TV are breaking down at a rate that seems even to be more of them than in past years...

[Carol Nelson]

Amen, Sandy...you got it, girl...you said it all! :(

[britzlove]

Terry...Pine Island broke her cannon at the knee and had a compound fracture in the pastern that broke through the skin. Didn't know how updated you had been...but I'm right here at Churchill Downs..I even have pictures....sickening the picture on the front page was bad, but her bone is showing in the picture under the Distaff results.

I'm glad Carol mentioned the good things that have come from the TB industry. I too am horribly disgusted by the practice of running them too young..training too young. I would also like to mention though that the TB industry has also done an incredible job of supporting it's own rescues..discouraging improper breeding...creating support for ex-racers and insuring market level solidity. Not that I am taking up for the practices that need changing, but out of all that is out there...there's ALOT to be learned from them that's positive.

If you truly polled the total # of TB's and the # lost through accident or neglect you'd see. The real tragedy right now lies in the pleasure/show/trail horse industry where grade horses and the western stock horses are truly suffering..along with plenty of gaited breeds...pasos included. I'm agreeing with SandyMM here. In the TB industry you can't be an uneducated backyard breeder and get away with it. You'll never find people breeding TB's for free with plans to sell them for whatever you can get, or breeding Stud X to Mare X just because you can and you think it would be fun to have a baby and then sell it when it's an untrained, barely sane yearling. But I only have to drive about a mile away from home each direction to find these horses suffering.

Anyhow...I cry everytime this happens..it's natural...but you know the very same day I saw a Clydesdale severly injured when the hitch bolted, busted lose and the others dragged him all caught up in lines. Even the training too young...training dumb is starting to decrease. The Barbaro accident was tragic but it has continued to shine a bright light on what needs to be addressed, even though Barbaro himself has a trainer I think very highly of. Barbaro was not over pushed by anyone but his own heart. Matz is an excellent trainer who believes in keeping horses sound. Tom Albertrani who trained 2nd place finisher and Belmont champion Bernardini, Kristin Mulhall (Imperialism) and Micheal Dickenson (Tapit) are other trainers who are doing it better...smarter.

I love all horses but race horses are my first love. I gotta take up for them some. I remember watching Go For Wand both happily and with sadness. I remember being very angry in 05 with the Derby, only to be crying tears of absolute joy and awe when Afleet Alex won the Preakness after nearly falling on his nose and surely rolling just like Pine Island.

So, I'll end this long winded post like this....
Congratulations Invasor and Bernardini...you ran a race to be proud of!
Congratulations Dreaming of Anna...I hope you do run the boys down this year!
Ouija Board...your heart will grace so many to come, congratulations on an amazing win and good luck to your future foals!

Britz

[Darlene Wohlart]

Pine Island did not race as a two year old. According to the ESPN reports all the horses owned by the Phipps family are extremely well cared for and conditioned . The owner, trainer grooms and Claiborne Farm where Pine Island was born and grew up were devastated . Pine Island was laid to rest in one of the cemetaries at Claiborne on Monday. Only farm personal attended what was reported to be a dignified service. They were to upset to discuss the matter.

I have been to Claiborne twice in the past. The first time to see Secretariat.
The last time I was there, maybe 1999, we had a private tour of the farm.
Generations of families work on the farms in KY caring for generations of TB's. These horses are their life, their passion and heartache. Horses are in their blood. We saw the cemetaries. The horses have stones with their name and dates. Even the teaser pony stallion had a grave stone. Secretariat is buried near the front of the farm by the office. I believe he was put in a coffin. Next
to him is his stable mate Riva Ridge. Nearby is his sire, Bold Ruler and his sire Nashrullah. The stallions in this cemetary had head stones and Secretariat's was the largest. Roses were on the top. He died in 1989, but 10 years later the people we talked to at the farm were still emotional about this great stallion and found it hard to speak about his passing.

Without racing we would not have the advances in horse care, nutrition and medicine. The TB industry financies university studies, research and also maintains retirement homes for TB's. They are working to ensure that TB's don't fall through the cracks and end up like Ferdinand. Today, if a stallion leaves the US for breeding, when he is no longer productive
the horse is returned to the US . There is also a growing movment to monitor the auctions for TBs that could end up at the slaughter house and have someone purchase them for the breeder. A good home is then found for them.
Every horse sport, discipline, what ever, has its dark side of abuse, starvation and neglect, some more then others. As horse owners/trainers we need to reflect all that is good about this business by how we care for our horses , the compassion we show, being educated as to what is humane treatment and what isn't and maintaining our passion for these wonderful creatures.
Darlene Wohlart

[Cindy]

Thanks Darlene.

[Terry Wallace]

Britz..having owned race horses myself (and also bought them at the track auction in Sunland Park, outside of El Paso, texas)....you are preaching to the choir somewhat. It does not change the fact that they are started too young and raced to young, and it is all for the need to make a return on a horse, or ship it out (get rid of the debt/deficit) if unproductive.

Racehorses are my first love I ever had with the whole horsie affair....

Sure, it is because of TB racing that we have seen so much advance in veterinary care...but it still does not chnage the fact that they are started too young, raced too young, etc. I watched a very good show in which several high-profile TB farms/breeders were in agreement that things need to change, that horses are indeed raced to young, and it has everything to do with making a return on the investment...as soon as possible.

As for Pine Island...maybe she didn't race as a two year old...BUT...when was she trained...when was she started? This is nothing against the Phipps
family. This is the fact that these horses aren't ready to run at such young ages without great risk to them... I can't tell you how many races I have watched where horses broke down, the majority having to be destroyed.

I have not observed such a thing happening on a trail ride of any breed of horse.... I have not even observed it in rodeo competition, but then...most barrel or rope horses are past the age four or five when used for that.

Sorry but I cannot turn a blind eye to what goes on in both TB and AQHA racing.... JMO

[Jasfino]

My dream of a lifetime came true when I visited Claiborne farm and saw Secretariat. I walked with his groom to meet him, he whistled and Secretariat flew down to the fence from far across the pasture to see him. He got him out and I had my pic made with him. Then we went to his barn. His stall had a gold plated waterer and a bed (shavings) fit for a king. You could tell this horse knew he was something special and was loved. I saw the cemetary too. I cant say they all get treated this well but I was very impressed with the emotion I saw between horse and handler that day.

[britzlove]

Terry...I don't think I turned a blind eye...I merely pointed out some of the good as well...like others.

I suppose I should clarify that when I talked of the pleasure horse/trail market I was trying to say proportionally that TB's have it better on the whole. They are not allowed to breed w/o live cover, the fees are high, everything is high. Because of that...there are still far less TB's than QH's, throw in the paints and you've got an even larger representation of total horses in the US. I was talking ratio's..and I guess I mixed it up a little...I certainly didn't mean to say that we shouldn't be upset by what does happen to some TBs. I have no way to do the exact math...but what I meant by talking about the real tragedy happening in the market is to say that perhaps a hypothetical 1 for every 20 TBs might break down, but when one for every 20 QH's is standing around starving...or passing through ignorant owners on a downward spiral...being bred in squalor to raise babies in squaler to sell for $300 a foal...I still don't know if I'm getting it out right and I'd never want to upset anybody but what that means if hypothetically you have about 50,000 TBs, 2500 break down or are sold to bad things etc...but of 1.2 million QHs (can't even get started on the unregistered grades) 60, 000 are suffer. Did that kind of clear up my thinking on it? Maybe?

That's all I was really trying to say...weighing out the whole picture. I do not support training TBs too young and it is changing..slowly..but slow change is better than no change or backwards change getting worse.

Britz

[Jane Hurl]

I'm with Terry Wallace on this one. The whole thing is just wrong.

Gold plated waterers and stalls fit for a king don't alter the fact that these horses are abused by training them so young and racing them so young.

And, while I understand what you're saying about Quarter Horses, Britz, I can't go along with it. In my mind, it comes down to "Two wrongs don't make a right".

And what really sticks in my craw is that most race horse owners are richer than God. They can afford to wait 'til their babies grow up. They just choose (for financial gain) not to ... and that's what sucks the most.

[Jasfino]

Gold plated waterers and stalls fit for a king don't alter the fact that these horses are abused by training them so young and racing them so young.


Horse racing is a dangerous sport for both horse and jockey no matter how you look at it.

I cant believe that the same ones that approve of the current way we slaughter horses here in our country would even lift an eyebrow to the way the race horse is treated. I have seen first hand horses brought to local sales with their injuries so bad that they can hardly walk. I assume they are owned by someone who didnt care at all about them but who was determined to get that last dollar from them somehow.

So until the treatment of horses are brought up to standard all the way around the board....I cant stand and point my finger at the racing industry...even though I dont agree with everything about it.

[Terry Wallace]

I cant believe that the same ones that approve of the current way we slaughter horses here in our country would even lift an eyebrow to the way the race horse is treated.

I hope you are not including me in that quote. Am I FOR slaughter..YES
Do I approve of how some horses get slaughtered...NO.

As to people needing to "get that last dollar" out of a slaughter bound horse...did you ever consider that some states don't allow you to bury a horse and you must pay to have it euthanized, hauled away & rendered?
Have you considered that people who would let that horse get that way in the first place, likely cannot afford to do that? Have you considered the number of people who get into horses totally blindly and never really consider the cost? Only to find they cannot afford proper care?

What would you have them do with those horses? Just let them starve right to death? Or...will you adopt them all? I go to the auctions a lot. There are many horses there that NEED to be put down one way or another... they are hurt beyond repair, they are crippled with arthritis, age, etc.... I save one when I can.... but ONLY if it has a useable future....
I have saved a LOT of horses...so I sure hope you are not including me in your comment.

Riding and training horses too young crosses all boundaries...TB race horses are not "exclusive" to this type of rushing for the vanity of man...be it for show or for money.

[Jane Hurl]

Riding and training horses too young crosses all boundaries...TB race horses are not "exclusive" to this type of rushing for the vanity of man...be it for show or for money.

Amen, sister.

[Jasfino]

I can't tell you how many races I have watched where horses broke down, the majority having to be destroyed.


Destroyed humanely is alot better than most of the injured pleasure horses see. Just a couple of instances I have witnessed. One where a horses hoof didnt exist.. he was brought to the sale with just a stub... Another was dumped out at the local auction after it fell through the floor of a trailer that was bringing it to the auction. That horse was euthanized by a local vet.. thank heavens. Most end up making their way to the slaughter house... in pain..... to face the chaos of death there.

We have a rescued horse that was bought at a local auction. They have a way of getting buted and passed along to the next unsuspecting owner. My dad took her in to keep her from being passed on to a certain death.

I applaud those that care... for all they do to help a horse in need.

If you cant afford to care for the horse, and have him properly euthanized if needed, then you dont need one. I am not pointing my finger at anyone.. just stating it as I see it. I think its sad when any horse suffers.