There lies various problems on animal welfare fairly hidden beneath the thrill of horseracing.

Firstly, injured horses are forced to race and statistics prove that this has led to an average of
two deaths a fortnight (Cohen,2017). Further research proves that horseracing causes more
medical harm than motor racing with an astounding 1000 injuries per hours of competition
(Crawford, 2015). Secondly, horses that do survive are forced into a stifling schedule since
young which causes a list of medical issues such as muscle and joint injuries, fractures and
physical trauma like stomach ulcers (Cohen,2017). Internal bleeding, including exercise induced
heart trauma that results in nose bleeds aren’t foreign injuries when it comes to horseracing,
based on research done in University of Melbourne the majority of horses that race had blood
in their windpipes (Crawford, 2015). To top it off these injuries aren’t even treated and left to
heal, horse trainers keep their horses on track with an unhealthy dose of painkillers and other
medications (Cohen, 2017). Another issue at hand is that horses that don’t benefit the owners
are sacrificed as their owners consider them financial burden (Cohen, 2017). Whipping is
another cruel practice of horse trainers that angers most because it not only traumatizes horses
but causes bruises that will eventually scar (Cohen, 2017; Crawford, 2015). There is a thin line
between sport and animal abuse, horse racing seems to have fallen into the latter.
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