This article contains graphic discussion of animal injury.
A jockey at Fakenham Racecourse pushed their horse to breaking point on Tuesday 9 May – literally. Footage from the race showed the horse, Flying Verse, still galloping with bone exposed from his back right leg. It’s a stark image of the brutality of horse racing, and shows why animal rights activists have taken action against the activity.
Horse racing kills
Animal Welfare Watch shared footage from the 16:20 at Fakenham on Tuesday. It shows Flying Verse stumbling as the jockey races him around a bend, his back legs giving out beneath him.
After getting back up, the horse ran a little further and revealed that the lower part of his back right leg had broken and was freely flapping. A flash of white showed that the break had exposed Flying Verse’s bone. He then stops and starts turning in circles, his broken leg flailing, as the other jockeys push their horses onwards.
The humans responsible for Flying Verse would later have killed him, as is standard for racing horses with leg and bone injuries. Animal Welfare Watch said it is “one of the worst” horse racing injuries it had seen. But it was also far from a unique incident.
In fact, as the group explained when sharing the video, Flying Verse was the second horse that race participants killed on Tuesday alone. And it may not have been the last. Animal Welfare Watch shared a video later that day showing a horse collapsing while racing at Ludlow. It speculated that the horse, Might Do Emery, would have been the third that the racing industry killed that day.
Animal Welfare Watch told theCanary:
People should be outraged by this abuse and wastage – this does not happen in any other equine sport. … Fatalities are expected in racing and this is just totally unacceptable. … Sadly in the UK the government is tacitly complicit as it receives income from the gambling industry – despite gambling being a massive social issue with specially dedicated NHS units for gambling addiction.
Failure to act
9 May was not an exceptional day for horse racing. Animal Aid launched its website Race HorseDeath Watch during the 2007 Cheltenham Festival. In the 5,904 days since then, it has recorded 2611 deaths as a result of racing events.
However, Animal Aid states on the website that it believes this number is 30% lower than the true figure. That would place the number closer to 3400.
That number isn’t evenly spread throughout the year, either. The racing season lasts approximately nine months, between March and November.
Animal Welfare Watch told theCanary:
Sadly racehorse fatalities happen almost daily on the UK tracks and the government continually fails to act despite giving the BHA [British Horseracing Authority] a period of time in which to get their house in order back in 2018 – nothing has happened and that is because the BHA are self governing and this needs to change immediately.
‘Broken relationship’
The scale of this killing is part of the reason Animal Rising (formerly Animal Rebellion) has taken action against high-profile horse racing events in recent weeks. The animal rights group first disrupted the Grand National on 15 April. A week later it disrupted the Scottish Grand National. And on 6 May, it disrupted the Coronation Royal Race at Doncaster.
Writing in theGuardian after the first action, Animal Rising organiser Alex Lockwood said the group had taken action because it sees a “broken relationship” between humans and other animals. He added:
TheGrand Nationalis emblematic of this uncomfortable and one-sided dominance – that’s why we tried to stop it.
It’s hard to argue with this, given that little has changed with horse racing since a trainer shot horse Wigmore Hall after a race at the side of a track in 2014. Nearly ten years on and we see another spectacularly shocking moment of the industry’s callous attitude towards sentient, caring creatures.
The BHA’s excuse in 2014 was the same as it is today: that trainers and stables provide horses that are forced to race with a very high standard of welfare. But what is that welfare really worth when horses have little choice in their participation? This means that, as Animal Welfare Watch said, “racing fatalities are not accidents”.
Not acceptable
TheCanary asked Animal Welfare Watch what it would suggest people do if they are revolted by the image of Flying Verse’s broken leg. It said:
We would ask people to contact the sponsors of racing to express their disgust at support of such suffering and abuse and to boycott these companies. [Tuesday] was one of the most distressing deaths to witness as Flying Verse actually lost his leg – how is that acceptable in the name of sport?
In the end, there’s little moral difference between racing horses and hunting wildlife. Both exploit non-human animals for the gratification of human impulses that other pastimes could satisfy. And as Lockwood explained, this broken relationship has much bigger implications for the biodiversity and climate crises we are all now facing.
Featured image via Animal Welfare Watch/Facebook
FAQs
Do you have to euthanize a horse if it breaks its leg? Often the only humane option after a horse breaks its leg is to euthanize it. This is because horses have heavy bodies and delicate legs, and broken leg bones are usually shattered making surgery and recovery impossible.
Why do they shoot horses with broken legs? ›
Injuries can end a horse's racing career, and a broken leg can be a death sentence. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) says that “often the kindest way to help a horse with a broken limb is to put it down” due to the animals' “complex physiology”.
What horse broke his leg at Belmont? ›
After winning the 1999 Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, Charismatic was favored to win the coveted Triple Crown—but he broke his leg in the home stretch of the Belmont Stakes. This injury was memorialized in the iconic photo of jockey Chris Antley cradling the horse's broken leg in a protective hold.
Why is it fatal for a horse to break a leg? ›
The lack of muscle and other tissue means that even with a cast, the broken bone has little to support it. And, it's much harder to prevent a horse from using its broken leg to bear weight.
What does breaking a horse do? ›
For a horse, riding is demanding and requires discipline, so they need to be trained and ready. Put simply, without breaking in a horse, they will never be ready to ride. The phrase 'breaking in' used to refer to a much crueler process, in other words breaking the horse's spirit so they won't resist a rider.
Why can't horses recover from a broken leg? ›
Another factor relating to equine anatomy that negatively impacts healing is that there is no muscle located below the carpus and tarsus—only bone, tendons, and ligaments. This means that there is minimal soft tissue covering the bone and many displaced fractures can easily become open and contaminated.
How do they euthanize racehorses? ›
Horse euthanasia by injection
Only vets can legally carry out euthanasia by injection. The process is as follows: Anxious horses might be given a sedative first. A lethal overdose of anaesthetic drugs is then administered intravenously (through a vein)
Can a horse live with three legs? ›
The horse wears a standard human prosthetic sock, and the sock is initially changed every day, and later every two to three days, depending on the horse's individual needs. The end result is a healthy, happy horse capable of life as a pasture pet or breeding animal.
Why did Secretariat get laminitis? ›
While the cause of Secretariat's laminitis remains a source of speculation a half-century later, the veterinarian who performed the necropsy believes it was likely the result of an anomaly in the region's fall pastures that was brought about by an unusually early frost.
What happened to Seabiscuit's leg? ›
Seabiscuit was injured during a race. Woolf, who was riding him, said that he felt the horse stumble. The injury was not life-threatening, although many predicted Seabiscuit would never race again. The diagnosis was a ruptured suspensory ligament in the front left leg.
Sixteen days later, on 5 April 1932, Phar Lap died in mysterious circ*mstances in San Francisco. Tommy Woodco*ck, the devoted strapper who had seen the horse through all of his races, was heartbroken. In Australia, Phar Lap's death was seen as a great tragedy, and rumours spread that the horse may have been poisoned.
What famous horse was euthanized on track? ›
EIGHT BELLES
Because her trauma was too severe to move her, she was euthanized on the track in front of 157,770 fans and a live television audience. Her trainer, Larry Jones, said he thought Eight Belles tripped over her own feet, a habit she developed because she didn't pick her feet up high enough.
Have any horses survived a broken leg? ›
With all the advancements in modern veterinary medicine, fractures are no longer death sentences for horses. Veterinarians can repair and rehab many limb fractures, and the horse might even be able to return to work.
Is Secretariat buried at Belmont? ›
After his racing career, Secretariat stood at stud at Claiborne until he passed away at 19 years of age. Secretariat's grave is located in an understated horse cemetery, past two brick pillars with granite roosters atop them, behind Claiborne's main office.
Can a horse survive a broken leg? ›
With all the advancements in modern veterinary medicine, fractures are no longer death sentences for horses. Veterinarians can repair and rehab many limb fractures, and the horse might even be able to return to work.
Can a horse survive with three legs? ›
The horse wears a standard human prosthetic sock, and the sock is initially changed every day, and later every two to three days, depending on the horse's individual needs. The end result is a healthy, happy horse capable of life as a pasture pet or breeding animal.
What does it mean when a horse breaks in a race? ›
Break: Start of a horse race. Breakage: The money the track retains after the payoffs are rounded off to a nickel / dime on the dollar. An extra little fee for the track. Breakdown: A horse that suffers a serious injury is said to break down.
Do wild horses break their legs? ›
In the previous incident at the BLM Antelope Complex roundup in July, a wild stallion broke his rear leg while escaping a trap pen, snapping it in half. In that instance, the stallion endured 40 agonizing minutes running with his rear leg dangling helplessly before being captured and euthanized.
