Stop Drugging Race Horses!

National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA)

Every week, an average of 24 horses die at racetracks around the United States, according to a 2012 New York Times investigation. “These deaths often go unexamined, the bodies shipped to rendering plants and landfills rather than to pathologists who might have discovered why the horses broke down,” the newspaper reported. In addition, a staggering 10,000 race horses limp off to slaughter each year when they become too incapacitated to run any more.

Much as the thoroughbred industry would have us believe they love these horses, the statistics belie that claim. Race horses are money making machines. That’s it. That’s all. Just-released undercover investigation revels how horses which can barely stand are drugged, shocked and quite literally held together with superglue to make them run and win.Substance known as Cobalt is usually used t o drug horses because it is difficult to detect and is not being tested for. When an excessive amount of Cobalt is administered to a horse, it can be very harmful. When used in excess, the affects of Cobalt can be, but are not limited to: cardiovascular issues, potential nerve problems, thickening of the blood and thyroid toxicity. Also, last year's PETA investigation from inside the industry reveled that racehorses are given an aggressive, daily regimen of pain-masking drugs and treatments.

The practices PETA documented include these: - Administering thyroxine, a prescription-only hypothyroid drug, with the apparent intent to speed up horses’ metabolism. - Injecting a banned-in-Europe diuretic called Lasix into “basically all” Asmussen’s horses running in New York. Lasix is apparently a performance enhancer that can mask the presence of other drugs and dehydrate horses so they’ll drop weight and run faster. - Scarring on horses’ legs from the application of liquid nitrogen and other “blistering chemicals” apparently to get blood flowing to sore legs. - Administering a variety of drugs such as muscle relaxers and sedatives to horses which demonstrated none of the symptoms of the conditions requiring such treatment. “We witnessed a horse so sore it hurt him even to stand, thyroid medication dumped into horses’ daily feed, and horses who had been blistered with chemical paint in a bizarre attempt to stimulate healing,” says PETA. ”Even at this top level of racing, the syringe is the top training aid, and if the horses get out alive, they’re broken.”

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/horse-racing-2/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/sports/peta-accuses-two-trainers-of-cruelty-to-horses.html

http://www.care2.com/causes/this-is-the-dark-cruel-underbelly-of-the-horse-racing-industry.html

We urge everyone in the horse racing industry to control their greed and stop abuse of horses NOW!!

Thank you