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Originally Posted by jcs11204
who is to judge mis or overuse ? you could argure that it happens every single race
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Europe seems to have a handle on judging mis- or overuse of the whip.
This is a really interesting thread, but what I keep thinking is, horses aren't machines. It's well and good (and justified) to say a rider needs to learn how to ride his horse properly, without depending on the whip to do everything, but you can give every correct signal with your hands and voice (jockeys, I imagine, can't do much with their seat and leg, due to how they sit the horse), and the horse may choose not to respond. In that case, the whip might do what hands and voice won't. I'm all for less use; I still am not convinced that banning them won't also compromise rider safety. They have to make split-second decisions in a race, and I'd hate to think even one rider would get injured when it might not have been necessary due to not having a cheap, lightweight piece of equipment.
I'm hopeful some of the DTers who are riders will chime in, though, 'cause I don't mind being wrong.