Who here watches the Melbourne Cup? Who's family bets money on the horse race that stops the nation? Not only are you witnessing one of the most public forms of animal cruelty, you are cheering it on.
Now I’m not standing up here to try put an end to the horse racing industry, in fact I quite enjoy sitting down and watching a stint of horse racing. No, I’m here to put an end to the cruelty in which I cannot bare to watch happen. The pain that these horses are suffering from is beyond extreme and completely unnecessary, specifically from the striking of the whips, the demand of the sport and the life the horses do not get to live once they are retired.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or the RSPCA as you may…show more content… Defined as a horse race run on a racecourse having ditches and hedges as jumps for obstacles. Even the definition sounds cruel. And not only is this classification of racing a danger to the horses, its a danger to jockeys. The majority of horses that are killed during horse racing are as a result of steeple chasing, with their legs being caught, having multiple horses jumping over the same jump, falling into the same ditches some of which contain water. Many bones are broken causing horses to fall and be stepped on - but that also means that the jockeys fall too. And the jockeys are also trampled on by horses. Unfortunately, there is a number of jockeys who don’t get to see another day. And that is something that should not be happening, under any circumstances. Peter McGauran, the Chief Executive officer of Racing Australia said that research shows that 16 of the last 22 jockeys who have died during racing in Australia, were killed due to ‘massive head injuries’. The number of jockeys dying per year has significantly reduced over the last century as shown by Australia Jockey’s Association, with a drop of 10 deaths each year. Although the deaths have lowered, there is still room for improvement. Steeple chase racing needs to be ended, it needs to be completely stopped in order for safety to the jockeys and their beloved
