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Every year, thousands of horses are bred for racing. Only 5-10% of them make it to the track, and the majority of the rest are sold for horse meat (yes, you read that right). The horses that do go on to have a racing career don’t have it much better, between injuries, failure, and drug addiction – all of which the general public has been aware of and virtually ignoring for years.
Why? Money, of course. Not only does horse racing bring in millions of dollars a year, but the people who own and train horses have deep pockets. The kind of deep that keeps people looking the other way.
But while NBCSports and ESPN were talking about what a “great race” was run at the Preakness today and others were touting the “record attendance,” two horses lost their lives (also, a jockey was injured on the track).
Do you think Twitter was going to let that slip past? Nope.
#1. Yep! This is what NBC Sports had to say about the race…
#2. And let’s make sure we talk about the reason no one in the mainstream media is talking about dead horses.
#3. Literally. No one there cares because they’ve become so accustomed to horses being euthanized on the track and jockeys being hauled away in ambulances.
#4. ESPN joins the party, ignoring the tragedy in favor of calling a “great race.”
#5. From the stats I could find, it might be higher than that – closer to 1200.
#6. Easy enough. Money.
#7. I did not know that… Interesting, considering how heavily drugs are regulated in other sports. Incidentally, they’re not regulated in the horses, either, many of whom experience severe withdrawl symptoms…if they’re lucky enough not to get turned into “hamburger.”
#8. Good question!
#9. Not as long as there are people like this… 
#10. Or like this… 
#11. Until that day, I have to say, I agree with this guy: 
If you’d like to support PETA and other organizations working to end horse slaughter and cruelty in horse racing, you can read more and donate here, or sign a petition here.
Images courtesy of TrackSideView.net
