A horse race is a sporting competition between two or more horses, typically over distances ranging from one to four miles (6.4 km). The sport originated in ancient civilizations and has been a part of history, culture, mythology and religion.
Horse racing is a cruel sport for both humans and animals. During their lives as racehorses, horses are forced to run beyond their physical limits and must often be over-drugged with cocktails of legal and illegal drugs to mask injuries and artificially boost performance. Injuries are common, and many horses are euthanized after their careers end. Others are sold to slaughterhouses for human consumption. The life of a racehorse is a bleak one. The sport is riddled with corruption and violence and the industry is structured systematically around animal abuse. On average, two jockeys die and sixty are paralyzed each year.
The racehorse’s body is suited for speed and stamina, but it was designed as a prey animal. The horse must be confined to a small space, forced to work at a grueling pace and often pushed to the limit. During the process, horses suffer from mental health problems, skeletal injuries and other bodily ailments. They live in extreme conditions that cause pain and suffering and die a callous death after a cruel life.
In their natural habitat, horses are free to roam and move as a pack, not individually, to keep each other safe. In their short, forced lives as racehorses, they are pushed to the edge of their capacity and then euthanized or sold for slaughter.
As humans, we have no business putting our animals through such a brutal and miserable existence. The only way to save these wonderful, intelligent and loyal creatures is to stop the cruelty of horse racing.
To do so, we must recognize that horses are not property. They are living, breathing, feeling animals who want nothing more than to live a happy and healthy life.
In the wild, horses are prey animals and prefer to run as a pack to keep each other safe. They love to move fast, and they can run far and fast, but it is not their nature to compete with each other or be bred for a specific purpose.
A race is not a horse race when the horses are forced to compete in order to win money or prizes, rather than for their own enjoyment. Horses need to be free of such compulsion and they must be able to live their lives as companions and not slaves. In the modern age, the only way to ensure this is to abolish horse racing.
