When Horror Outruns Entertainment
I used to love watching Thoroughbred racing on TV. I made a point to clear my schedule so I could see the Triple Crown races, and viewed the hours-long coverage of the Breeders Cup as a horse lover's payback for enduring the seemingly endless drone of televised football.
Not anymore. After watching Barbaro break down in the 2006 Preakness and Pine Island crash to the track in last Saturday's Breeders Cup Distaff, I think I'll stay busy elsewhere the next time racing's on the TV schedule. I can't take the dread of wondering which poor horse will be next.
Yes, I know breakdowns happen--that they're considered "part of the game" that is racing. But I don't know which makes me more sick to my stomach: The fact that they ARE considered part of the game, or that the powers that be see fit to whitewash them in in order to keep us watching.
I'm still disturbed over the way Pine Island's breakdown was covered. We were told she suffered a "dislocated ankle" with a "compromised blood flow" requiring euthanasia. Come on. I saw the one and only instant replay of her somersault fall, the replay that got aired before someone obviously prevented any repeats from being shown on ESPN's broadcast. What was left of her left foreleg twirled beneath her knee like a propeller. I'd call that a broken leg--wouldn't you?
Yesterday, I read that ratings were down for this year's Breeders Cup broadcast. I'm not surprised. After seeing what happened to Pine Island and hearing the candy-coated version of her fate, I can't have been the only viewer who turned off her TV and found something else to do.
posted by Juli Thorson @ 12:30 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
I totally agree with you. I was so upset to see Barbaro hurt like that and what happened to Pine Island was awful. I was out and couldn't watch the BC on TV, but I watched the Distaff online when I heard TWO horses were hurt in it.
The announcer just said "the favorites are being pulled up" and you couldn't see Pine Island fall, but I saw her start to lose her balance and the camara instantly left her to show Fleet Indian being pulled up. It's just sad and I hope people will start to put the horse before the money.
AMEN! I have always had a problem watching racing. The fact that they take these young horses and do this is really sad. I missed this race and I am really glad I did.
On a much more mundane level... I'm a 51 year old neurologically disabled rider with an elderly Arabian. Rather than cause pain to my mount or myself, I'd like to find some information on "healthy horsemanship." I looked all over the site and your blog seemed like a place where I could perhaps find people with good ideas. (I do yoga and have started investigating natural horsemanship, I had a chiropractor help my old guy out, but what I really could use is insight into helping me understand and learn to give light cues that assist me -- and my old horse be all we can. He's willing but sometimes sore, and so am I. Points in a good direction, please? Talking to friends the other night they suggested that "I've taken him as far as I can" and I should consider selling him to a canner and upgrading. It would be a waste of a willing and sweet disposition and a horse that I think can be transformed... and sort of a tacit agreement that "disability" means "tossability". I don't buy that. I think disability is an opportunity to learn different ways of doing things. Maybe even better ones. I'd be grateful if you or the other bloggers could comment on ideas for me to pursue. Of course a top notch horse is desirable... but I think there's so much that even a good rider can do to become better, and a disabled rider like me can do to become good. Thoughts?
Kathy,
Just how old is your elderly Arabian, and what kind of soreness does he exhibit? Have you been able to pinpoint the source of the soreness, and/or treat it with anything beyond chiropractic? Not that chiro isn't a good idea--I think it is--but some elder-horse issues also can benefit from therapeutic medication. I have a 26-year-old Arabian with some arthritic issues, and he improves greatly when kept on MSM and glucosamine.
Without more specifics on your cueing problems, it's hard to know exactly where to send you for help. But thanks for asking!
--Juli
Breakdowns are devastating to the viewers, me included. That's why the new artifical surfaces are so important to racing. Polytrack reduced breakdowns by 70% at the 2 Kentucky tracks where it is in use. Yet the rumor is that Churchill will not convert, due to the traditional significance of its dirt track.
I do understand everything is run by money. If we, the public, the horse people, keep these sorts of injuries in the public eye maybe we can change things for the better. Too often, everything just dies down until the next time.
I actually have an OTTB... for several years when I purchased her. She 's my first horse... so it took a long time for us to "get together".. She'll always have that "go" which I actually like, but we are much more partners now. I shudder to think what her former life was like. Now she enjoys endurance riding here in Montana
Ahhh Juli: You touched a nerve....I've a lot of negative thoughts on horseracing..yes, I'll watch it on TV but after breakdowns of Ruffian and Barbaro I've about had enough. It's a money game; the breeders in Kentucky apparently give little thought to the damange they're doing to their two year olds in their preps for the Derby and I think they have little concern for it. Money talks; wish there was away to get away from this ugly treatment of two year olds before their knees are closed and subsequent problems. It's a travesty.
Ahhh Juli: You touched a nerve....I've a lot of negative thoughts on horseracing..yes, I'll watch it on TV but after breakdowns of Ruffian and Barbaro I've about had enough. It's a money game; the breeders in Kentucky apparently give little thought to the damange they're doing to their two year olds in their preps for the Derby and I think they have little concern for it. Money talks; wish there was away to get away from this ugly treatment of two year olds before their knees are closed and subsequent problems. It's a travesty.
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