Whipping and Racing Horses, from the U.S. to Australia

Published August 26, 2009 @ 02:52PM PT

Remember my post last week about horse racing and whips? Check out this Australian article about how the issue is playing out there: "Fair Crack of the Whip: A Racing Score Point." I'll warn you--it's frustrating. Even the "reforms" that the jockeys and industry are fighting against are nothing to cheer about from the horses' perspective.

They replaced the traditional leather whip with a padded persuader, banned jockeys from raising their whip-hands above the shoulder, and restricted the frequency with which they could hit horses.

Thus, the whip can't be used more than five times before the final 200 metres of a race. Only then, in the sprint to the finish, are jockeys allowed to use the whip on consecutive strides, to a maximum of three, followed by a pause for the horse to respond.

Talk about a weak set of rules. And "padded persuader"? Hello, euphemism! But even despite being weak, the rules still aren't being taken seriously:

On one thing, it seems, punters, animal-rights campaigners and jockeys, are agreed: the new rules appear unworkable.

The Sydney-based jockey Corey Brown, who painstakingly hones his riding technique on a mechanical horse Equicizer installed in his garage, concedes that in the heat of the final moments, ''you have a mental blind spot and revert to your old whipping style''.

Just how easily it happens - and just how workable the rules can be - was illustrated last weekend in the final race at Randwick.

Brown's mount, the favourite Melito, was beaten into second place by Deer Valley, whose jockey, Daniel Ganderton, was promptly suspended for six-meetings and fined $3900 for breaking the new whipping rules.

The horse, however, was not disqualified. The result stood. The connections of Deer Valley went home many thousands of dollars richer.

Lovely. See the horse racing section of Animals Australia's site for more on the racing issues there, as well as the Aussie site HorseRacingKills.org, hosted by Animal Liberation Victoria.

Share this Post

Comments (3)

Whipping must be banned. Racing must depend on the skill of its jockey and its quality training. Whipping is unacceptable and is a crime against these wonderful animals.

Posted by Hameed Sali on 09/07/2009 @ 06:36PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Hameed
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
If people are concerned that race horses being whipped is cruel, then maybe they should get off their "high horse" and start petitioning racing authorities to stop the racing of 2 year horses, which undergo enormous pressure and stress. Furthermore, 2 year old horses' bones are still immature. How many 2 year olds end up injured each year from the pressures and strains of training and racing? A very big proportion is the answer, and I am not just talking about those that suffer shin soreness or who bleed. So let's not pretend use of the whip is that bad. It isn't compared to 2 year old racing.

Posted by Mervyn Sullivan on 09/10/2009 @ 07:08PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Mervyn
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
The news just gets worse - the new rules, which you rightly point out were a bit lame anyway - have been thrown out altogther. If you are interested, there are a few articles at http://animalrightshub.org/2009/09/24/racing-board-back-flips-on-whip-rules/

For some reason the rights groups didn't seem to make too much of a fuss, except the RSPCA.

Posted by Animal Rights Hub Australasia on 10/18/2009 @ 11:05PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Animal Rights Hub
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Stephanie is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull.