Filly DOWN in Kentucky Derby

[dukedogsmom]

That breaks my heart. I don't care for any animal racing. Run free at the RB, beautiful girl.

[MoonandBean]

So sad...I couldn't believe it when I turned out my computer. My friend was just at a memorial for Barbaro. I don't have the same reaction to horseracing as I do to dog fighting, poorly run "zoo's", etc... I hope the horses actually enjoy racing and I believe they are well carefored. This case though makes me angry...she was too young to be run like this and her little joints just couldn't take it. I hope they will look at this and pass some stricter regulations on when a horse is ready to run at this level.

[Medusa]

Well, at least now Eight Belles is pain free and can romp and run and be free. RIP, Eight Belles.

[JuniorxMyxLove]

Here's a news story on it for those who may be interested:

http://sports.yahoo.com/rah/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

[Grace]

There was an article in our paper yesterday about Native Dancer and his bloodline. Every horse in the Derby was a descendant of this horse, including Eight Belles.

These two paragraphs tell it all.

How one stallion gained so much influence over the sport is a story about market forces, genetics and in some cases greed. His bloodline's greatest asset is that it consistently produces precocious, speedy thoroughbreds that dominate the Derby and other Triple Crown events -- giving owners a safer return on their investments. But that success has led breeders to mate Native Dancer's progeny so often that the thoroughbred gene pool has shrunk. And as it shrinks, another trait of the Native Dancer line is becoming more pronounced.

Like hemophilia in the Russian royal family, Native Dancer's line has a tragic flaw. Thanks in part to heavily muscled legs and a violent, herky-jerky running style, Native Dancer and his descendants have had trouble with their feet. Injuries have cut short the careers of several of his most famous kin, most notably Barbaro, a great-great-great-grandson who was injured during the Preakness Stakes and was later put to death.

For anyone interested in reading the entire article, Here it is. Lengthy but very interesting.

[RICHARD]

The vet on call for yesterday's race gave the techical summation of the injuries that EB suffered.

She broke both ankles, on one side the condyle broke and the other she suffered a sesamoid fracture.

The condyle is the end part of a bone and the sesamoids are the group of small bones that make up the ankle. Humans have teh same kind of bones in their legs

Grab your ankle and feel the two bumps that stick out on either side. The break occured in between those bumps on one side and lower down, in the sesamoid bones on the other.

[pitc9]

I've never watched a horse race in my life (or dag race for that matter) because watching it angers me SO much.
But for some reason.... I sat down at my in laws house and turned on the TV just seconds before the start of the race and I watched it. Tears in my eyes while I'm watching it knowing that these beautiful creatures have had and always will have their bodies pushed too far. Then... at the end of the race a camera pans over and shows her down on the track and I lost it.

I waited for the announcer to get back live with her vet, and he announced that they had ended her pain right there and then.

I was so upset I was speachless when my in laws and hubby came in and asked me what was wrong.

Run free now Eight Bells...Your body will never be pushed to the brink again, you are free to run IF you ever want to again.

I don't know why I was in front of the TV at that exact time or why the TV was already on the correct station, or why I sat and watched it. But I was and I'll forever be haunted by what I saw.

[cloverfdx]

What a senseless waste of life .

[IRescue452]

Its all so senseless. You know what a filly is, a baby! A baby who hasn't had the chance for hers bones to grow normally before they started racing her. You look at the picture in the first post and tell me that horses legs don't look distorted. I would be in pain if I were a horse running on those legs.

And for all intensive purposes, fighting dogs are pampered too. The ones that win a lot, just like horses, are fed well, trained well, the owners have medical equipment with them in case they need anything, some fighting owners have very nice facilities. And just like in horses, those who don't do well, are disposed of in one way or another.

[RICHARD]

On ESPN they quoted a stat - 700 horses are euthanized each year, around the world. One horse in May is put down and all of a sudden it's a crisis?

----------

Dogs that are bred to fight are bred to die.

To compare a horse owner to a pit dog owner is funny. No comparison. PD owners keep ther dogs alive so they can be killed in a fight-I have yet to hear of a horse owner running a horse just to see it die.

Again, I don't see the purpose of racing horses, but I love to see horses run.

------------

Speaking of dogs being abused---

What is the pupose of Frisbee dogs? I ran into a "frisbee dog" once and was appalled at the condition of it's teeth. The AH that ran the dog was using frisbee golf discs that are made of hard, hard plastic-Why not throw dinner plates for the dog to chase?

I have no problems with running a dog with a soft, nylon dog frisbee... After a few hundred training sessions making an animal chasing Pyrex, what does it have to look forward to?

Cheap soft food and no bones?

[momoffuzzyfaces]

I no longer watch horse races since I found out that many of them are badly injured or worse. I read a book once years ago about horse racing. Lots of, lesser horses, are put down because it costs more for their up keep than to destroy them.

Bless her heart, she came in second in the Derby but I bet she's in the winner's circle at the Rainbow Bridge right now!!!

[elizabethann]

This just breaks my heart.

[lizbud]

The vet on call for yesterday's race gave the techical summation of the injuries that EB suffered.

She broke both ankles, on one side the condyle broke and the other she suffered a sesamoid fracture.

The condyle is the end part of a bone and the sesamoids are the group of small bones that make up the ankle. Humans have teh same kind of bones in their legs

Grab your ankle and feel the two bumps that stick out on either side. The break occured in between those bumps on one side and lower down, in the sesamoid bones on the other.

Thanks Richard, this does help explain this injury.

I tend to believe it's genetics & inbreeding that causes many flaws in
bone structure & breeding for speed. I just wish they hadn't pushed her
so hard down the last 1/4 mile ,just to place 2nd and die.

[Giselle]

I don't really know how to comment, except that I've read a similar article to the one posted before about Native Dancer. It's a tough question of ethics and morality, IMO. It's pervasive in all animal husbandry. Purebred dogs have an exorbitant amount of health problems, many of which are specific to certain breeds. I believe there was a sobering statistic of 25% of ex-racing greyhounds developing osteosarcoma. And hip dysplasia anyone? Purebred cats are not exempt, either. It's not surprising that racing thoroughbreds have the same problems. It's a difficult question with no clear answer and no single person to blame besides, maybe, ourselves.


...Or maybe I'm just feeling really emo right now

[RICHARD]

Thanks Richard, this does help explain this injury.

I tend to believe it's genetics & inbreeding that causes many flaws in
bone structure & breeding for speed. I just wish they hadn't pushed her
so hard down the last 1/4 mile ,just to place 2nd and die.

The breaks were also displaced fractures.

DF means that the bones were not "in line" after the injury.

Breaking bones is a real trip- I don't know enough about horse skeletal anatomy but those were bad injuries to an animal that depends on their legs for everyday movement...Even the on-call vet said that he had never seen a horse get injured that badly before.

There are pins, plates and screws that are used to put bones back together well enough for humans, but if the owner had tried a "Barbaro" approach to keeping the horse alive - it would have had the same result. And if there had been a way to save the poor thing you were looking at repeated surgeries, therapy and a 50/50 shance that it would ever stand, let alone run again.

At the least this will make the equine community wake up to the fact that they are sabotaging their own "sport". The last thing they need is horses breaking down at every major event.

Would Barbaro and Eight Belle's deaths be in vain if it caused the horse racing community to wake up and "smell the roses?"

I believe that tragedies will always be remembered as such - if we don't learn a lesson from them- if we can keep other horses alive it's a start in a right direction.