The petition

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

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Equestrian games are bloodsports, no different from bullfights, rodeos or hunting. Any "sport" that involves an unwilling participant is no sport at all, it's torture, murder, exploitation and slavery.


This though? This is bullshit.

Whoever wrote this has never ridden or been around horses much. You cannot force a 1500 lbs. animal to do Grand Prix dressage moves; they have to enjoy the challenge. You cannot force a horse to race; Stacelita refusing to break out of the gate, and an English chaser I saw that, after the tapes went up, cantered to the outgate and refused to move are evidence of that proposition. It's not unusual to see a horse who has lost its rider to continue on the course, jumping all the jumps, running with his buddies because he enjoys it. Or rates himself off the pace in a flat race, pounces in the stretch to 'win.' Ever see the CCA Oaks when Starrer lost her jock? She got over to the rail in the lead and just ran and ran until she was a pole in front of the other competitors at the finish line. Racehorses like to run; jockeys are for guidance and encouragement.

Horses have been bred for hundreds of generations to be cooperative with their human 'herd leaders', just as dogs have been. They usually WANT to please their person; conflict generally arises when wishes aren't communicated clearly, in both directions.

There was much more abuse in the days before modern horsesports, when horses were used for transportation by people who didn't care much about what happened to them. Horsepeople today are far more humane than the ancestors of these bozos, who rode in urban horsetrams and never cared if the animals were overworked.