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Originally Posted by Bababooyee
Amen.
There was one at River Downs last spring...last race of the afternoon. On a Friday. An otherwise beautiful day. He was at the low end of the food chain...3200-5000 claimer. On paper, not much talent to speak of. Maybe his 2nd or 3rd race ever. 3 or 4 yo. Grey. Still remember that grey mane. Right in front of the grandstand and I was on the outside rail. Maybe 20 yards directly in front of me. I felt the “thud” as much as I heard it. Seemed like forever before the medical team even knew what was going on. People screaming. “Where’s the help!?!” Women and children bawlin’. Men trying to be men with that glassy-eyed, concerned stare. Both horse and jock just layin’ there motionless. ****, what took them so long…I’ll never understand that. Finally, they got the jock strapped on a board and off to the hospital. They couldn't get the horse in the equine ambulance...tried draggin him in with the winch. He fought it. Barely budged. Couldn’t stand up on his own no matter how hard he tried. Broken femur or hip. Somehow they finally got him up…but he couldn’t stand on his own. About six guys helped him stay upright. Out came the tarps. Damn. Right after the injection, he bucked hard and crashed to the ground. Poor bastard. His once beautiful grey mane got all wet and muddy as they dragged his body into the equine ambulance. That was hard…
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I was there that day. They butchered that "ambulance run". The guy next to me called them "farm hands". Appropriate description. They brought the water truck and hosed the horse off, one of the gate workers must have diagnosed heat exhaustion. Then they tried to drag him to his feet. By the halter first. The vet was nowhere to be found. It was pathetic.
Before they killed the horse they finally surmised it was a broken shoulder. That's why the horse couldn't get up. The horse thrashed forever. The nitwits were practically torturing that horse.
You're right. Little kids were crying and screaming. I remember a little girl on her dad's shoulders begging her dad to make them "stop hurting the horse".
I damn near starting crying too . . . it was very bad.