So true! There are a lot of issues across all equestrian disciplines that compromise horse and people safety. Racing is easy to pick on because it is so much more public. And eventing is big right now because the rash of injuries and deaths this year. But there are problems that need to be addressed everywhere. I’d love to see more and more people wait to start horses under saddle. I think they should be kept to ground work, tying, tacking, lungeing, and other training techniques sans rider until they are at least 3, and even then it should be light work. It may be expensive to feed and care for them until you can use them, but not as expensive as those vet bills when they get hurt.

Thanks for brining up a little bit of the basics of equine anatomy and the huge amount of pressure their legs receive. Most people don’t understand how much weight and pressure is on relatively small bones and joints in horse’s legs. I know a guy who just couldn’t understand why she had to be put down. There’s no way a horse can recover from that kind of injury.

At the same time, I don’t believe more training would have made a difference. These horses are in top condition, or they wouldn’t be competitive in the Derby, let alone come in second. While we’re comparing horses to humans, the most highly-trained and conditioned athlete can still sustain injuries. Solid training helps, but it doesn’t prevent accidents 100%. While what happened to Eight Belles was certainly tragic and I do believe their are reforms that can and should be made, I think we also need to keep it in perspective: accidents happen and injuries can happen to anyone (or any horse). It certainly wasn’t intentional or malicious.

Like you said, however, we are responsible for the well-being of our horses. Hopefully this incident will be a message to breeders and trainers to be more careful with these young, fragile creatures.

Must be a strange kind of sport.

This accidents wouldn’t happen if horses are TRAINED for the distance and speed they face in competition.

Athlets in sports are trained to what they face in competition. And athlets are grown, no kids. 3 year old fillies or colts are just jungsters.

Obviously Eight Belles won 4 races this year against horses not of her class. The Derby was the first race where she run against equally strong competition (colts of her age), and, not trained enough, her muscles fatigued after finishing, sending too much stress to the bones, until her ancles collapsed.

The BIG difference between human and equine racers, one should know, is: equines have 5x the human weight (plus the weight of the jockey), running at double or triple the human speed – BUT, the size of ankle is just equal. And galloping, there is one phase in gait where just ONE leg is strained…

Even if horses love to run, even run to death, it is the HUMAN who need to know better, control it, and preserve life. That’s all about riding.

Also, the horses body is still developing at the age of 3. This is why in many cases, training a young horse takes time. Overdoing it will put stress on the bones and the horse will break down. The race horses are pampered and they do love their jobs. If they don’t enjoy racing, it will show on the track. At that point they are sold and end up with another job, like maybe show jumping or eventing. It’s like humans, if you don’t like one thing, try another that you do like. Racing is not for all Thoroughbreds. I would like to see breeding of the TB done more for sturdiness than speed. It will help decrease the tragedies on the track.

Rising Rainbow – I agree, many horses do love their job. And if they don’t, you can’t force them to do it. Well, you can often get them to do it, but they won’t do it very well. Part of raising horses, or buying your own, is finding out what they like and playing to it.

I hadn’t thought so much about the costs of waiting longer to start horses, but I bet you’re right that the expense of waiting is one reason racehorses start so young. I know these owners pour huge bucks into maintaining and training these horses. It’s not like they’re abused, they’re incredibly pampered and well cared for most of the time. And it’s not cheap! It’s just too bad they have to start earning their keep before they’re grown up.

I also know from experience that some horses just love to work. Whether their work is racing or showing or working cows, there are horses that are happy when they’re doing it. Those horses that don’t love it, don’t do it. They are sullen and uncoperative. You can’t force a horse to run like Eight Belles did.

I also agree with what you say about breeding for lighter bone and running them so young. Just because a horse is big doesn’t mean it’s ready to be working and carrying weight. It’s unfortunate that things won’t change. I think that’s where the issue of money really comes in. It’s expesive to house horses while you’re waiting for them to mature. Tacking a couple of years onto the starting age would account for huge bucks. That’s why it’s not going to change. A very sad situation for the horse.