Racing

Contouring on the topic of the thoroughbred I would like to go into what they are really good at. Racing is a big part of this breed. Horse racing has traditionally been a sport for the rich man. Today is still a sport that requires a lot of money, but there are ways around that. Partnerships are often used. This is when one horse is owned by multiple people. The 2003 Kentucky Derby winner is a good example of this. The winner was Funny Cide and was owned by a group of ten people. They were all organized from Sackatog Stable. It is critical for the partnerships to be involved with the same barn. This way there is less conflict on who rides the horse, how the horse is taken care of excreta. The winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2008 was Big Brown. He was owned by a stable itself, the IEAH horse racing hedgefund organization.
However even in a partnership it is still not cheap. A dry rate is normally played per month by the owner or owners. This is normally paid to the trainer and includes the cost of the farrier, use of facility, and veterinarian bills. There is also another fee that has to be paid; the cost for food and for the Jockey himself. In the United States is typical to spend around 15,000 dollars on training alone in one year. There are also regulations and control from the government. It is imposable to buy a thoroughbred and race it. There has to be one or more than one licensed owners. The trainer and other people that are involved with the horse have to be licenses as well. There are set racing dates and certain types of drugs that cannot be in the horse when racing. Horse racing is a huge industry and continues to grow every year.
If you do not own a horse or are not familiar with the horse industry this might be new information to you. I have been around the horse industry for a long time now and specifically dealing with the thoroughbreds in all aspects. I think the racing industry has a bad reputation for being cruel to the horse. I don’t necessarily agree with this.
First of all some people thing that racing the horse itself is bad and that it is hard on the horses and makes them aggressive. These people have obviously never owned a thoroughbred. Thoroughbreds live to run it is in their nature. They love doing it wither they are a specifically a race horse or not. If you ride your thoroughbred at a quiet trot every day and keep him in a small pasture he will go crazy I have seen it firsthand. The best rides I have with my horse are always the days after I take her out for a good gallop. When talking about making the horses aggressive, well that’s just part of the thoroughbred. They have always been a breed to be naturally competitive.
The second main aspect of racing that people assumes is that a lot of the horses are abused. I don’t really see how this can be stereotyped into racing. This is a problem in every industry and can involve any type of anima. It’s a horrible thing, but happens everywhere. The horses at the big facility in Kentucky for example live like kings and Queens.
At the end of the racing season there are a lot of horses for sale and for really cheap. The horses are auctioned off for very cheap. The buyer does not have much contact if any with the horse before it is purchased. I think this is where many people get the assumption that racing is bad. A lot of the horses for sale are questionable. It is a risk to buy one of these horses. The horses can be lame, or bad natured, and even untrainable. If people thought this trough then maybe they wouldn’t look at the racers so bad. This is really the only big industry that does this. If other horse sports had an auction at the end of their show season I believe that the same thing would be found; horses that are hard to manage. My horse was bought from a racing action and she is the sweetest horse not one thing wrong with here so good horses can be found.
I know that bad things can happen in any industry, but I don’t think racing should have a bad reputation in the horse world.