It's been a few days and I'm surprised to see that no one has a comment about this topic.  Do riders and horse owners not in the racing industry think this is not their problem? or do some of the accusations that racing is cruel come to close to implying that riding horses is cruel?  I personally don't think riding a horse is inherently cruel, but I'm surprised there's no comment from the equisearch community on the topic of horses breakdown on the track.

http://forum.equisearch.com/forums/t/40841.aspx

Then of course, there is the infinitely amusing and entertaining "Why are we still doing this?" thread, specifically pages 38ff, see:

http://forum.equisearch.com/forums/p/40548/291356.aspx#291356

Only people with very little logic compare racing in general as cruel to most riding, competition and otherwise.  Just because NASCAR goes fast doesn't mean everybody driving goes fast.

As we all know, maximizing or pushing ANYTHING to it's limits and beyond means surpassing normal breaking points.  There are several laws, postulates or corrolaries that define these limiting factors and how we have learned to exceed them.

It should boil down to whether the efforts are for good or bad.  To the racing industry, celebrating Big Browns' win was more important that Eight Belles' loss.  It's all part of their game.  PETA can cry out loud for the suspension of the jockey, but is it really the jockey that should be accountable for the filly's loss?

Obviously, the racing industry has bred the feet out of their championship bloodlines.  Maybe someone ought to study retired racehorses and show what these products of greed end up being.  What are their prospects for living out a normal existence without the arthritis, and other problems resulting from their breeding and early training.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!  I knew there must be some comments somewhere, but I've never even noticed the forums until today and didn't know where to look.  I really enjoyed reading the eightbelles thread, lots of great insight there! 

YAAAAAAAAAAY!!! I finally find people who agree with me.  Race track breakdowns are so preventable, it is so rediculous!!!!!  This issue is so diversified over so many parts of the industry, but I am really glad that I found some one who agrees with me.  The death of Eight Belles, the runner up in the Kentucky Derby should be a real wake up call, just like the death of Barbaro should have been a wake up call as well about how the racing industry is running these horses into the ground.  By starting the horses on the track as a two year old, their joints are not sound enough to handle the stress of the constant work.  A horses joints are not sound until they are aproxamitaly five or six years old, a thourobreds racing carre could be so much longer if they would hold off traing for a couple of years and then beging running them.

I use to exercise horses in the racing industry and quit when I got too tall, and heavy and began to see through the treatment of the horses.  I did not like them running so early and training so hard.

I have converted to barefoot on my own horses.  The hooves when confined in a shoe, do not flex.  I think therefore, the joints and bones absorb the shock, and being so young they can't take it.  I think people should re-examine shoeing their horses and quit if they can help it.  I have watched hunter/jumpers retire early from over training with joint problems.  I think people really need to examine this and think about it.  Barefoot and not riding horses hard and training hard until they are 4 or 5 should be discussed.

thatwindow:

If racing attendance were to go down, the industry would be forced to change. 

I just did a google search on "racing industry attendance".  New York Times and several business journals state that attendance is down.  I've lived in Chicago (Arlington) and Portland Oregon (Meadows) where racetracks have closed.

The NYT article states that Belmont made money on off-track betting.  Other tracks in New York are open, but there isn't a horse around.  They are taking bets on simulcast races 200 miles away.  The concessions add to an aire of racing day on the big screen.  It's amazing that their total take is in the millions per.  Although I'm certain it's the same pool of money moving around.  It would be interesting to see how many bettors there are.  Are they just betting more money individually?

Then again, Big Brown's breeding rights is now worth $50,000,000 or $100,000 per cover.  If he wins the triple crown, last done by Affirmed in 1978, he'd be a one in a million horse.  Probably it's one in 3,000,000 racing bred TBs.  That's a lot of throwaways!!