The last whack in the head was unnecessary.

I didnt see this horse get whipped in the face. I see the horse getting whipped in the side & then hit in the face once with Carrols hand. If he had been out there just whipping the horse in the face over and over, then that would be a different story.. but you can see the whip hitting the horse in the side, not the face.

i didnt see the horse doing anything right.

Plenty of people have seen me beat the tar out of a horse both on the ground and in the saddle...but I have never hit a horse in the head, apart from a smack between the ears to get one to stop rearing. It just isn't productive and there is too much potential to do actual harm if you accidentally hit them in the eye. Carroll even admitted that he was frustrated and hit her out of anger. We've all been there...he should have handled himself better IMO.

This brings up a point that I do think tracks have a responsibility to step in more than they do. I witnessed the most terrible accident at a track this summer at Colonial and what angered me the most was that it was by negligence of the trainer that the horse is now dead and many people were witness to something I hope I never see again. This of course, was swept under the carpet as an unfortunate accident, but I think it was someone's responsibility to investigate why a trainer's horses were always underweight and clearly not schooled. I consider myself one of the strongest fans of racing out there, but even I had to step away that day because of this incident.

:tro:

Anger aside, very bad training move for wacking the horse just as he calmed down and made the turn. He got wacked in the face as he was doing what he was being asked to do.

that's what i thought. it's counterproductive. any give at all is a reason to stop punishing the horse. the blow itself may not have been physical harmful..but how does it move the horse forward?

Not that it matters, initially the suspension was 6 months and was reduced to 3 months about a month later.

I'm curious as to what kind of pressure was put on Paulick to make his story disappear.

"Don't post that video unless you've been around thoroughbreds most of your life. If not, you're a huge sissy. David is a man AND a nice guy. Can't say the same about you."

:tro:

I almost spit my coffee, this post derserves its due!

A whole thousand dollar fine. http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...eptable-temper

Reasonable punishment. Now they just have to sweat it out for the next few days and hope it blows over.