Re: [RC] Ho Boy! Here comes PeTA! - Sisu West Ranch
"...This needs to be addressed just as much as the age of
racing - the breeding of fast horses at the expense of appropriate physical
attributes..."
Someone with more knoweledge than me please correct me if
I am wrong. I suspect that genetically TB's have extremely strong
bones. My reasoning goes like this:
1. They are raced many years before their bones have a
chance to mature, therefore; their bones are weaker than they will be at 5
or 7.
2. They are fed very concentrated diets so that they get
big faster and can race at 2 yrs. old. Many are probably on the verge of
joint problems caused by excessively rapid growth, but don't because tolerance
of overnutrition is bred into them.
3. I suspect that the use of LSD build strong bones and
joints would get you blank stares from the TB trainers. On top of that it
would take years, and they only have a few months to get the horse ready to
race.
This all points to the "break down" problem mostly going
away if they were not raced until they were mature. Now the industry is
built on racing at 2 instead of 4 or 5, so they and those they pay, directly or
indirectly (track vets, journalists etc.) keep silent about this solution
to a lot of the problem.
Personally I am not holding my breath that this solution
will ever be looked at seriously by anyone who is in a position to really make
changes.
Ed
Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower
Road Victor, MT 59875
