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Animal rights, Horse Racing should be banned

Article · March 2017

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Rana Al Khouli
Hamad bin Khalifa University
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Running head: Horse Racing

Animal Rights
Rana Al khouli

Essay Writing II, Argumentative Essay

Qatar University
 Horse Racing 2

On my ninth birthday, my father insisted on taking me on a nearby tour. It was amazing

minute when I knew that my dad wanted to surprise me and enroll me in one of the biggest horse
farms in Syria to learn how to ride a horse, which was one of my dreams. I entered the horse
farm happily and dad asked me to choose one of the horses. There were horses of different colors
and ages, so I chose the black one which had dazzling eyes and a charming look. After that, I
became a good rider and decided to participate in competitions and horse racing. Riding a horse
was the greatest experience I had in my life because it made me feel distinctive. Then when I
grew up, the idea of horse racing seemed to change to me. Horse racing has become popular all
over the world and it attracts people of different ages to enjoy watching the spectacular horses or
to bet on a horse. Some people make a living from horse racing regardless of the pain that horses
feel. They enjoy watching horse racing, but they do not care about horses’ suffering, before,
during and after the race. Horse racing should be banned because it can be painful for horses and
sometimes even fatal.

To begin with, horses experience physical pain during the race. Both humans and animals
could feel a pain. According to Sarjeant (1969), “the higher mammalian vertebrates experience
pain sensations at least as acute as our own”. That means horses also feel pain from any injury
that could occur to them. Moreover, the faster a horse runs the more distance it gains, which is
basically dependent on the number of whips that a jockey hits. The jockey usually uses a whip as
a key tool to make a horse run faster. The number of hits increases dramatically during the last
100m of a race. In a study conducted on 350 horses to assess the visible impact of whip use on
them, in Australia, by McGreevy (2012) shown that “whipping caused a visual indentation on the
horse in 83% of impacts”. This could affect the horse’s skin harshly and lead to inflammation.
Also, the horse’s abdomen (or flank) was struck more than 75% of the time by the whip
(McGreevy, 2012). This may hurt more than any other part of the horse as the skin is vulnerable
in this specific area. Therefore, whipping might be an essential part why horse racing causes pain
to horses.

Additionally, horse racing could be a real threat to horses’ lives and it may lead to
fatalities. The number of horses decreases due to different causes during the race. According to a
study conducted in Britain that compared a remarkable difference in the number of dead horses
between two races, Cheltenham and Hexham, from 2007 to 2013 by Stansall (2014), “48 horses
have died as a result of racing at Cheltenham race and seven at Hexham”. Some horses get
 Horse Racing 3

injured, fall or collapse and die directly during this period. For example, at Cheltenham race,
falling and what followed from it was the major cause of death. Almost 54.15% of the horses
died because they broke their necks, backs, legs or pelvic bones, 37.5% were died due to injuries
during a race and 6.25% collapsed and died during race or afterwards (Stansall,2014). Also, at
Hexham race, 14% of horses slipped up and fatally injured (Stansall,2014). This shows the hard
efforts that horses do to keep alive during the race, the pressure on horses and how much they
suffer. Additionally, the number of dead horses increases in a long-distance race more than the
short one. In fact, longer distance race (2.5 miles and more) observed a noticeably higher number
of dead horses compared to the minimum distance race of 2 miles (Stansall,2014). Therefore,
horse racing threatens the horses’ lives.

On the other hand, some people argue that horse racing should not be banned because if a
jockey uses a padded whip, horses’ injuries could decrease significantly. Thus, a horse will not
feel pain anymore. However, in the study conducted by McGreevy (2012), the unpadded section
of the whip made contact in 64% of the impacts. This means even though it may be less painful
than the totally unpadded whip, it still causes pain. Additionally, an effective connection between
a jockey and a horse relies on the number of whips that jokey hits and the pain inflicted as a
result, a jockey will not use a padded whip that does not inflict a bit of pain on the horse because
it will be ineffective. Thus, a horse will feel pain whether the whip is padded or not because the
jockey wants to assure that a whipping is painful and effective in make a horse runs faster.
Hence, if we want to help and protect horses’ lives, we must ban horse racing.

To conclude, horses may suffer and even die due to racing and so horse racing should be
banned. Whipping causes physical pain to horses because of the number of hits that a jokey does
during a race which causes inflammation. Dangerous injuries, such as broken neck, could even
lead to horse’s death sometimes. A padded whip is not a guaranteed tool to protect horses from
painful hits. Despite many other factors that play a role in a horse’s suffering, the responsibility
still relies on humans to stop this pain. Human horse performances might provide a safe
environment and maintain horses’ lives because horses do not have to exercise on jumping or do
any other dangerous moves that may cause serious injuries. Thus, horses’ pain will not end if we
do not take action today.
 Horse Racing 4

Reference
Brain, L. (1962) "Presidential Address," in C.A. Keele and R. Smith, eds., The Assessment of
Pain in Men and Animals (London: Universities Federation for Animal Welfare)
McGreevy PD, Corken RA, Salvin H, Black CM (2012) Whip Use by Jockeys in a Sample of
Australian Thoroughbred Races—An Observational Study. PLoS ONE 7(3): e33398.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033398.
Sarjeant, R. (1969). The Spectrum of Pain. (London: Hart Davis) p. 72.
Stansall, D. (2014).Why more horses die at Cheltenham than at any other British Racecourse: an
Animal Aid analysis, Retrieved from http://www.horsedeathwatch.com/downloads\
Cheltenham2014.pdf

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