Please call your Congressional Representatives to support U.S. Senate Bill 973 and H.R. 2012 to increase oversight and penalties for overusing drugs in horse racing.
Below, we’re sharing portions of a letter to the Editor by Silvie Pomicter, (Pres., Voice of the Animals, Chinchilla) published in standardspeaker.com.
“Every week, 24 horses die on racetracks across the country because of preventable injuries, and every year, 10,000 ‘broken-down’ race horses are sent to slaughter. Most horses do not retire, but are sadly transported away from the racetrack to end up in slaughterhouses in Canada, Mexico or Japan, where they are turned into dog food and glue. Their flesh is also exported to countries such as France and Japan, where it is considered a delicacy.
Horse racing is best described as institutionalized exploitation of baby horses. Imagine being pushed beyond the point of exhaustion: the bones in your legs straining to hold up the weight of your body, your bleeding lungs incapable of taking in enough air, and you’re forced to keep running despite it all. This is what life is like for racehorses who are chronically drugged by trainers in order to mask their pain and enhance their performance.
We all know the famous horses that died for the sake of this cruel sport – Ruffian, Barbaro and Eight Bells, who was “unmercilessly whipped” by a sadistic jockey, and died on the track after breaking both front legs in the 2008 Kentucky Derby.
Please contact your U.S. representative and senators and ask them to support the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act of 2013, Senate Bill 973, and H.R. 2012, which would increase oversight and penalties for overusing drugs in horse racing.”
Categories: Horse News
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Reblogged this on Pass the SAFE Act!.
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Pass the SAFE act and keep our horses safe by not overmedicating them. There is way too much use of drugs on horses in the racing industry. They are only hurting the horses.
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The biggest problem in horse racing in the past several years has been the breeding of the Prospecter stallion line on both the stud and dam line. Mr Prospector was very fast, however his off spring tend to break down fairly young because the bone is not there to take the punishment of racing at those speeds.
I have been told by the hunter/ jumper crowd that many of the Prospector offspring not fast enough for the track had found their way to being hunter/ jumper prospects
with the same problem occurring. I think that the breeders are now moving away from the line and looking for better bone. Most of the breeders also try to use holistic methods to care for their horse, of course there are always a few owners who are fools, but generally horses are treated holistically more than people are. In fact you could learn a lot about holistic medicine if you talk to a horse owner and or breeder. I have found that in talking to trainers and riders that most colts love to run, there are not as many mares who care to run, as they tend to save themselves
the trouble,as it should be for they carry the babies and need to protect themselves from over exertion. I don’t think the law is helpful. I find that education is the way to
make change, not laws for people to creatively skirt around. Therefore education is the key to change not laws. It would be better to give seminars inviting old timer horse owner/breeders as well experienced holistic owner/breeders and holistic veterinarians to teach other horse owner/breeders to care for horses holistically which involves proper nutrition as well. Horses that pass on the track, are usually covered by insurance, so the owner makes the decision that it is wise financially to put the animal down rather than heal it. Almost anything can be repaired now days except for sudden death on the track. It would be better to legislate a better insurance plan that encourages policy holders to heal and rehabilitate their horse rather than put it down.Think education over legislation, we don’t need more laws we need more knowledge
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Unfortunately, Emily, some people need a law in place to encourage them to do the right thing.
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