A Huevo
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StrawberryFelidos
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- Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 3:04 pm
My question: if this old guy kept coming-up lame, why didn't anybody ever think to retire him? Sure, he was a gelding, but with everything he'd given his connections (including an impressive Gr. 1 win) hadn't he earned a home?
No one ever expects that a fatal breakdown will happen to them, but with this poor fella's history it seemed like a pretty dangerous risk. You don't go lame that many times and expect to avoid devastation
reminds me of Old Rosebud. Poor Old Rosebud, the ending to that story really pisses me off (run the champion gelding 'till he's 11 and losing in claiming races, then he breaks down and they euthanize him because he can't run anymore 
).
I know Michale Dickinson is said to be a Miracle Worker, but... the fragile-legged horse just didn't hold up this time, and you can't always expect them to. Miracles don't always happen.
"We gave him two years off and we brought him back and he was lame and we gave him another year off and he was still lame. This year, after his first breeze he went lame," Dickinson recalled-TBTimes
No one ever expects that a fatal breakdown will happen to them, but with this poor fella's history it seemed like a pretty dangerous risk. You don't go lame that many times and expect to avoid devastation
reminds me of Old Rosebud. Poor Old Rosebud, the ending to that story really pisses me off (run the champion gelding 'till he's 11 and losing in claiming races, then he breaks down and they euthanize him because he can't run anymore ).
I know Michale Dickinson is said to be a Miracle Worker, but... the fragile-legged horse just didn't hold up this time, and you can't always expect them to. Miracles don't always happen.
"We gave him two years off and we brought him back and he was lame and we gave him another year off and he was still lame. This year, after his first breeze he went lame," Dickinson recalled-TBTimes
It's true that a horse can take a "bad step". However, considering the problems that A Huevo has had, there is no excuse for continuing him like that. You can say the trainer is the best in the world, but you're not the best if you keep trying to make money racing him. Sounds like an ego is involved here.
Another excuse is, "he just couldn't stand the inaction at the farm". Horses are herd animals and when you have an old gelding who needs to be retired, perhaps putting him in a field with a lot of other old geldings will keep him happier. If he is a cantankerous old horse, then he may need to be put in a pen in an area where he can see activity. I think that turning him out with other geldings and/or keeping him in his own paddock/pen is far more humane than running him until he's euthanized like that. One 9 year old I know "took a bad step" but it was because the jockey (an apprentice trying take him around the field) yanked the right rein so tight that the horse's head was pulled almost 90 degrees sideways and the horse essentially got tangled in his own legs.
Yes, you can hit a hole in the track. Yes, you can take a bad step. But if you've got an old horse or a horse with problems, the excuse is more often greed.
It's time that there were far more stringent rules regarding the old timers who have already earned their keep. This is inhumane and the rule makers just say, "Oh well. It's part of the game." I'm not so sure it's part of the game when you've got an unsound horse to begin with or an older horse whose days are numbered. The handwriting is on the wall, but the vets/track management look the other way. They need the horses to fill the card. They can plead that they love the horses all they want, but it just ain't so. They're trying to get just one more race. And one more race. And one more race. We all know lots of old geldings that were retired to a good life before they broke down (Kona Gold, etc., etc. ,etc.)
Another excuse is, "he just couldn't stand the inaction at the farm". Horses are herd animals and when you have an old gelding who needs to be retired, perhaps putting him in a field with a lot of other old geldings will keep him happier. If he is a cantankerous old horse, then he may need to be put in a pen in an area where he can see activity. I think that turning him out with other geldings and/or keeping him in his own paddock/pen is far more humane than running him until he's euthanized like that. One 9 year old I know "took a bad step" but it was because the jockey (an apprentice trying take him around the field) yanked the right rein so tight that the horse's head was pulled almost 90 degrees sideways and the horse essentially got tangled in his own legs.
Yes, you can hit a hole in the track. Yes, you can take a bad step. But if you've got an old horse or a horse with problems, the excuse is more often greed.
It's time that there were far more stringent rules regarding the old timers who have already earned their keep. This is inhumane and the rule makers just say, "Oh well. It's part of the game." I'm not so sure it's part of the game when you've got an unsound horse to begin with or an older horse whose days are numbered. The handwriting is on the wall, but the vets/track management look the other way. They need the horses to fill the card. They can plead that they love the horses all they want, but it just ain't so. They're trying to get just one more race. And one more race. And one more race. We all know lots of old geldings that were retired to a good life before they broke down (Kona Gold, etc., etc. ,etc.)
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StrawberryFelidos
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This is inhumane and the rule makers just say, "Oh well. It's part of the game." I'm not so sure it's part of the game when you've got an unsound horse to begin with or an older horse whose days are numbered. The handwriting is on the wall... They can plead that they love the horses all they want, but it just ain't so. They're trying to get just one more race. And one more race.
Amen.
I know that many people see the issue entirely from a business aspect, but, IMHO, I can't understand how a person in good consciousness can send an old, frequently lame horse with glass legs out on the track when you're putting the horse's life, the jockey's life, and every other horse and jockey on the track in danger. Sure, any horse can suddenly break down, but an old horse who's had many major (and continuing) leg issues obviously has a much greater chance of creating disaster. Yeah, you can pump out a few extra dollars from an otherwise "useless" gelding, and you can call it a "fairy tale" when that weak-legged old man gets up and tries again year after year, but it looks damn ugly when the old man finally snaps a limb or the jockey goes down with him. Money doesn't always make it right. Do right by your horse and your jockey and don't push your luck!
RIP, A Huevo