With all the 'Grand National is a slaughterfest' comments...

... I thought I would just throw boxing into the ring (pardon the pun). At least with horse racing the intention is NOT to harm the horses. The intention with boxing is to inflict damage onto ones opponent. For me, if any sport should be banned it should therefore be boxing. And if anyone says that boxers make their own decision to become boxers so it's their problem if they get brain damaged then I say the authorities should definitely ban the sport as it is simply not civilised to allow people to knock seven bells out of each other. In any other scenario people walloping each other would be a crime and rightly so. In a ring it's ok but in the street it's not? Don't make me laugh.... The Grand National is a good event, enjoyed by horses as well as humans.....
Best wishes to one and all and up the Reds

 

please tell me this is a wind-up post

 

That's a bit much! Just needs to be better managed that's all. Make it an sporting spectacle we can be proud of, not riddled with death and controversy. The argument that there is no intention to harm the competitors just does not wash, because it quite clearly does. Anyone who thinks that is acceptable is living in the past and is up for extinction themselves.

A boxer takes risks of his own free will, a horse doesn't. A boxer doesn't have lunatics like Kate Walsh on his back driving him beyond his limits so she can be one of the lads. Horse racing is about breeding, heart, endurance, speed and above all beauty and grace. Not about a canopy behind an enormous fence with a horse underneath with a bullet in it's head.

 

Yes - let's cut out the risk here.

And while we're about it, when will we ban fishing? We've listened to the argument that the fish don't feel anything for far too long. Has anyone asked the fish?

And when you consider the number of people that are STILL killed on the roads each year, how can we justify continuing to allow cars on our roads?

And alcohol - we're all constantly reminded how many people the "Devil's Buttermilk" kills each year. When will it be outlawed?

If we can get on top of all these things, maybe we'll all live loger? (Or maybe it'll just seem like it.)

 

The big difference is that the participants 'choose' to risk their lives.

 

In Boxing, the intention technically is to score points by beating the opponent's guard. Think of the Olympics where there are hardly any knockouts due to head guards etc

 

Check yer facts mate.

1. Katie Walsh comes from a horse racing background. She is the daughter of amateur jump jockey, trainer and television pundit, Ted Walsh and the sister of top class jump jockey, Ruby Walsh she has no need to prove herself as "one of the lads"

2. Her background means she is more knowlegable about racehorses than you and I.

3. She actually pulled the horse up before it died so she did not push it to its death.

4. It died of a heart attack, not of a racing incident, something that can happen at any time, even to those who appear to be the fittest of athletes (just ask Fabrice Muamba!)

Of course there are those who will jump on any passing bandwagon at this time of year.

 

Well said that man.

 

Don't forget the 1's who weren't so lucky. Phil O'Donnell, Antonio Puerta, Marc Vivien Foe, Miklos Feher and David Longhurst

 

And don't forget they made the choice to partake in their sport. Animals don't get a choice

 

The chicken I ate last night didn't get a choice. Do we ban all meat?

 

Don't eat it then the demand for supply wouldn't be there. Ping pong

 

Right.

So we can't eat meat now because the animals don't have the choice whether they want to die or not. Anything else?

Did you see the parade of former winners? They've just shown Rough Quest, who won the race in 1996 He's 27 years old and looks an absolute picture - quite clearly treated like a king.

I thought that when a horse retires and is no longer useful to its owners that they are all shot or slaughtered? How confusing.

 

Lucky Rough Quest as some races horses from this country end up in Saudi and get flogged in races over there then end up in stone quarries where they are worked to death, plenty of evidence on that if you want to check it out. Not all race horses are as lucky as Rough Quest that's why there are so any ex race horse charities.

 

Yes some ex-racehorses do not enjoy their retirements. But it is not just ex-racehorses who are 'worked to death'.

 

I know it's not, I donate to SPANA every month which is for working animals. I mentioned ex race horses as you were keen to point out how well a retired one was looked after so I referred to others who aren't so lucky