No easy answers

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Unlike people & small companion animals, horses are unable to cope easily with broken legs among many other insults (its the punchline of many a Far Side cartoon). This goes for any horse, wild or domesticated. It's an evolutionary thing, not a racehorse thing...

In a way, Voss's question is this: If horses are not capable of dealing with broken legs, should horses be allowed to exist?

That doesn't mean that we shrug our shoulders & accept breakdowns as "part of the game"...that's BS. Racehorses are exposed to stresses that put them "on the road" towards injuries. That has to do with the fact that they are athletes. This is something athletes of all types deal with by the very nature of athletic endeavor.

So in another way, Voss's question is this: If athletes are at a higher risk of injury than a non-athlete, should we have sports?

It's not "part of the game", it's part of the reality of horses & athletic pursuits, and people who deal with horses for a living should be educated & prepared in ways to identify & prevent scenarios where horses can be hurt or else they shouldn't be dealing with horses in the first place...

It's a bit scary that Voss--whose job it is to educate us & console us with poetry--doesn't recognize any of this.

This post and really this thread is why I consider you to be the greatest poster in message board history. That's a compliment, I promise.

There have been a lot of really funny people that have come and gone, some intentionally and some not so much. You're hilarious, but also smart as hell and you have the ability to convey what can be complicated things in a way idiots like me can understand.