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This is from www.tbfriends.com. It is a daily blog by a man running a thoroughbred rescue facility. There is humor, happiness, and sometimes sadness. He posts pictures of happy adoptions, and sometimes, horses that didn't make it. I think that he made some very good points here:





Sunday, May 4th... It hardly mattered. The nutty kind of Saturday. 11 different cars up our driveway. 4 horses were adopted, and their new homes are more than we can ask for. Employment at another ranch, and the manager gave Cathy and I a $50.00 bonus for feeding on weekends. A new gelding from the race track, and his name is El Prado. Coming off the trailer, and El Prado looks just like Pencil Point, a stallion I once worked with in Davis. Even the high left hind sock. I think about Pencil Point all the time, loved him like crazy, and now here is his twin.

Anika brought much needed morning muffins. George and his family brought Equine Senor. Mike and Kathy brought sandwiches, and delicious chocolate brownies. Cory came with carrots. Allison came with apples.

At last it was time for supper feeding. New horses from the race track still learning our routine. 6 horses on night time pain killers. Cathy feeds one section of our ranch. I feed the other. We come together in the middle to finish up. 107 horses, and in less than 3 hours they are tucked in for the night.

A shower until the hot water turns cold. Sandwiches from Mike and Kathy for dinner. The 47 incher has a DVR, and I programmed The Kentucky Derby. Rumors are spreading about a monster horse. A horse that comes into our world every 30 or 40 years. His name is Big Brown, and a friend at the race track tells me he is Super Horse.

And so Cathy and I watch Big Brown from post 20 destroy his competition. He is beautiful. The rumors are correct. Big Brown is a monster horse.

A filly in the race, and past the finish line she breaks both ankles. In less time 2 minutes she is dead. For the world to see.

On our ranch from the race track we have broken ankles. Broken knees. Ruptured tendons. One broken leg. A fractured shoulder. Broken withers. All will go on to live quality lives.

On our ranch if I rode a horse into the ground and the horse broke both front ankles I would be arrested. Jail time. 3 meals and an old National Geographic. Cathy could come see me every Sunday.

At the race track you can ride a horse into the ground and the camera shows her lying dead on the track. No one is arrested. Legalized animal abuse.

A friend who works for The Jockey Club tells me one good thing at least. Every year thoroughbred broodmares are having fewers foals. The numbers will be less again this year.

Hardly a consolation for the poor filly lying dead on national TV.

more to come

ebaymommy2girls wrote:

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Heartbreaking....

I don't know much at all about horses and thier physiology but why did she have to be put down? I don't understand...so she can't race anymore does that mean she had no reason to live? I did see an interview with the track vet and he said the bones had broken through the skin.... I never really understood why Barbaro was put down either after they spent so much time trying to fix his leg even though they knew he would never race again and wanted to stud him. Just a little confused by the whole process....

There are a couple good explanations here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080503155609AAjjORA