I no longer bet on the National,,too many horses die.

Count me in .....    I am having to walk around biting down hard on my lip about it.. 

 

My Dad's main interest in life (apart from me Mum) is horse racing..   in the past I have been to various race courses with him..    up until about 6 or 7 years ago he would always tell me to pick a horse for the National & stick a bet on it for me... 

 

but the older I get the more I can't condone it anymore..     any of the racing tbh..   but especially the National.

 

I was up at Ma & Pa's the other week & they were watching some racing on the telly..  is was jumpy racing (hahahaha...   I think there is a more technical term for it than that)...   and Mum and Dad had a couple of bets on..     if it wasn't for current circumstances I would have voiced my opinion & left..   but under the circumstances I felt I had to stay.     I couldn't watch the telly..     at every jump my heart was in my mouth.

 

 

I have been listening to some of the telly peeps talking about how much safer they have made it this year, but as they have said that a couple of years ago, and a couple of years before that its a bit meaningless really. 

 

 

Tis good to have somewhere to state unhappiness about it Saz..    cos I just feel like a big old killjoy if I say anything anywhere else (work, my parents, obviously on here etc etc etc)

 

Yes Ditty, I didn't want to be a killjoy in the other thread, but I did feel like I wanted to have a bit of a rant about it

 

I also don't agree with any racing really, but the National just seems so grueling for the horses and there seems to always be a death there It's a strange one the National though, people who usually don't watch racing/have a bet (and sometimes disagree with racing!) seem to get into it.

 

Good to see some people in here anyway, I thought I might be on my lonesome

My in laws are right into horses, in a big way, but I don't like them they're big and scary! The other day I climbed through some Brambles and over 2 fences, whilst carrying my dog, just so I didn't have to go through a field with horses in! They're probably friendly but I don't trust them I wouldn't wish them any harm though, I hate to hear of them getting killed like this

which is why it will continue year after year..    cos it brings in so much revenue.

 

 

awww I love horses.  And pretty much most other animals.

 

But I know what you mean...    I don't have a lot of love for sharks, but I still get sad when I see someone killing one on the telly (unless its Jaws..   that one had to die )

A horse in a field bit my mum and rammed me from behind, and it was just a little horse! it was eebil! I liked that black beauty on TV though

Yeah, I don't understand people.... I actually know someone who loves animals and gets really upset whenever a horse dies but always watches the racing and puts bets on

I've got two metal rods & a shit load of bolts in my left forearm, courtesy of a horse that went ballistic halfway up a mountain & threw me onto some rocks 

 

but then I was the one that was on its back digging my heels into its side and steering it through a bit in its mouth..     so I figure I have no room to blame the horse.

 

that's my Dad that is...   

 

gets really concerned wanting to know if a horse is ok if its fallen, puts on a mega sad face if one dies,   then walks through to the study to see how much he has won at the bookies 

 

surely...   somewhere..  deep in his mind he must know its a tad hypocritical

 

I'm always a bit wary of horses cos they're so big, luckily the only ones I usually see are police horses and they're very calm

Its badgers you gotta be wary of Saz apparently 

 

bloke at work keeps telling about badgers..    about how most badgers are lovely, but every now & then you get a pyscho killer badger..  that spends its life going on random sprees of murder & destruction.

 

keeps trying to tell me that badgers are a bigger threat to the chickens than foxes!

 

 

eeeee..   mind you..   that has reminded me about that piggin badger cull the government has sanctioned...      

 

*heart drops again* 

If it's any consolation I would do away with the GN tomorrow. I love NH racing and bet quite regularly. I love horses too, but there is something rather odd about celebrating sending not very athletic horses, or not the best horses, struggling around a hazardous course. They would not send Cheltenham horses over such a trip.

Count me in. I never watch it and feel sick and angry when I hear on the news one or more has died. Some make the point they love to race and jump, maybe they do but it's not like they have a choice once trained, and they don't have a choice in the height of the fences. I hate that people uses animals for money, sport, shooting, and a whole lot of other things animals have to put up with or suffer because of humans. These issues wind me up big time

Count me in too

 

Like Ditty I used to participate in sweeps yrs ago but the older you get and the more informed the more you just know it is sooooooo wrong. . it's not like it is a couple of horse cantering merrily across the countryside jumping the odd style as they go. . it's a bluddy huge pack of them all squished in together. .

 

Hasn't a Jockey recently been paralysed too. . from the Cheltenham race week?   not good

Bravo to one and all  it takes brave souls to stand against a sea of opposition.

We will fight them on the beaches (calm down Saint yer fool)

 

Yellow Rose - you echo my feelings exactly.

Ditty - i can't look as those poor horses take a leap, risking their lives, for our entertainment.

Its shameful so few seem to care.

 

One died of a heart attack - it was ran to death - bless its soul and damn those who thought they had the right to do that.

 

I'm kinda welling up so that's enoughh from me.

I think that happens quite a lot, they just run them to death

oh Ditty, now you mention it, I have heard about mental badgers attacking people before. They're very territorial apparently

Sorry Sweet this has me laughing so much - is it Horses you don't like cos they're big and scary or your in laws?

 

Sorry for intruding - I like to read alternative views - I'm ashamed to say I don't have strong views on this really. If it were banned it wouldn't bother me unduly - all the while it still runs I quite enjoy the occasion.

 

Sorry That's a bit ignorant really I suppose.

I hadn't heard about that but just looked it up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-n...ern-ireland-21999327

 

That's sad for him, but at least he chose to be there knowing the risks

Soozy, I didn't used to have strong views on it - I don't now to the extent I'd ctitisise people for having a bet and that it just makes me feel really uncomfortable when I hear anything about it, or think about it. I don't know how to explain, I'm anti, but not in a in yer face way? I think, the more I thought about it, I started just thinking 'why are we doing this'?

THIS!!!

 

Humans choose to participate in sports, join the police force, take a job as a security guard..    animals don't.

 

I didn't want to sound harsh or unsympathetic to the bloke Ditty, cos that is an awful thing to happen to someone. But it is one of the risks of the job and people know this before they take them

 

Although I am usually fairly unsympathetic if a matador is gored

I do understand Saz - I guess I'm a bit too lazy to give it too much thought. There are other things I prefer to give my 'emotional' energy to. I like animals and don't like to see cruelty of any kind but I'm not one of these people who are really passionate about them.

 

So sorry - you had the good grace to start a separate thread on this and I've barged in - it's just that Sweet's post had me laughing.

 

I'll back off and leave you to it 

Another horse dead,a broken shoulder so it was destroyed.

Am I allowed in here as I've also been in t'other thread, but I wanted to add that I was always under the impression that badgers were viscious.

Awww is it over now?

Yes ........all horses and riders fine

I fell asleep watching a film on C4 and woke up to some pundits going thru the National, fence by fence in slow motion and multiple times and from multiple angles if a horse fell over whichever fence they were looking at. .

 

that's a bit sick I think, regardless of the fact none were killed they seemed to revel in the fallers

OLLY i couldn't agree more.Sick.

 

Two horses died in the pre race sessions yesterday

We need another one lal for the Derby  

 

King George, Royal Hunt Cup, QE2, St James's Palace...

Some idiot came out with:-

 

'No horses died at this year's National, so that prooves that the changes they've made to the fences worked and the course is safer.'

 

ONE RACE! And it's all sweetness and light.

I'm a bit late, but have always hated the Grand National