Dear British Horseracing Authority,
We would like to share our concerns about the physical abuse of horses and stop the excessive whipping of horses.
During The Grand National 2011 the winning horse nearly collapsed from exhaustion, having had water thrown over him and given oxygen. His jockey, received a five-day ban for excessive use of the whip. This is common in many of the races.
27th September 2011: Following public outcry, the British Horse racing Authority (BHA) brought in new rules on the whipping of horses: Offending jockeys would be banned for whipping a horse more than 6 or 7 times, according to the race, and would have their winning money stopped. If they offended more than 3 times they would risk a revue of their licence.
Professor Tim Morris of the BHA said that to ban whipping outright would be to give in to the animal rights groups. He said that the whipping doesn’t hurt. Why then is the BHA bringing in the new rules on whipping?
Perhaps if it doesn’t hurt, an extra penalty could be applied to a guilty jockeys that they receive as many whip strokes as they have dealt to the horse.
November 2011: Because of complaints by penalized jockeys, the BHA started backtracking on the rules and penalties for excessive whipping.
Having recently watched the races at Cheltenham on television....many jockeys were observed whipping horses more than 7 times. It was not observed that penalties were given.
It is past time that these rules be clarified and enforced. We would appreciate your consideration and actions being taken.
