Eight Belles Euthanized -- How Tragic!

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
OMG, that is so sad that horse was so badly injured and had to be put down right on the track. I don't even care who won the race (although it's obvious it was Big Brown).
Shades of Barbaro at the Preakness.
My heart goes out to them.
 

klmno

Active Member
This is a sad story- apparently the vet said he had never seen anything like it. I wonder if there had been minor fractures during the race that caused totaal collapse and breakage afterwards. By the photos, she was a beautiful horse!
 

Nancy

Well-Known Member
It was so sad and evidently the crowd knew nothing about it until much later. I'm wondering if being a filly her legs and ankles are not made to withstand the kind of racing. Perhaps it was just a freak accident but maybe she was pushed too hard and her legs just couldn't take it.

I hate that part of horse racing, it seems that any injury at all is life threatening.

Nancy
 

SRL

Active Member
"In nautical parlance, "Eight Bells" is the end of a four-hour watch. It's also a nautical euphemism for the death of a sailor: his watch is over, eternally."

Rest in peace.


 

Star*

call 911........call 911
The sport of Kings - lost a Queen. How terribly tragic, and SHAMEFUL. How hard could they have pushed that filly anyway?

Barbaro was such a valiant and magnificent animal. My forever favorite was and always will be Secretariant.
 

Sara PA

New Member
Another filly trained by Larry Jones had done very well the day before. Ironically, before the Derby, Jones had been telling everyone "if we run fourth, fifth, or sixth, we've had a great weekend as long as she comes back to the barn good.' She seemed to finish the race fine. There were no signs of problems until 1/4 of a mile after the finish.
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
There was a picture in the paper today of her trying to get back up. I felt so bad about it anyway and when I saw the picture.....omg. The ankles on the poor thing were sooooo not bent the right way. It was horrible.
 

mom_in_training

New Member
I am not a race fan either. In my opinion its abuse. These horses knees are not even fully closed until they are about 4 years old and yet they run the **** out of them and incidents like this unfortunately happen. It saddens me to no end. Its all about the money and when they damage their legs (If they don't get put down) from this harsh sport then they just trash them and they end up somewhere in a horse rescue or slaughter. Some are lucky and do get rehabilitated and adopted by people that truly care along with providing the well deserved respect that they have never had. Poor baby. I am a horse owner as well. Oh and saw this on the msn homepage.

http://msn.foxsports.com/horseracing/story/8102414?MSNHPHCP&GT1=39002
 

Nancy

Well-Known Member
I truly hope there is an investigation. I saw where they are breeding these horses with big muscular bodies and their skinny legs just cannot support these huge bodies. As soon as this horse was injured I thought that perhaps the jockey pushed her too hard, made her run too fast for her legs, should have realized something was wrong.

It's made the whole sport very unappealing to me. I use to like to watch the kentucky derby but lately I've found myself just hoping all the horses get through it uninjured.

Nancy
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
This happens so often, but is rarely in the public eye.

For racing purposes, all horses turn a year older on January 1 of each year, regardless of their actual birth date. Breeders largely use hormones to fake out the mares into cycling to get foals born as close to January as possible, otherwise, you may have a foal born in April or May, and when you're talking 20 months old compared to 24 months old, in a horse, that's a big difference.

Anyway...since the Derby is a "championship race" based on earnings, these guys are running their hearts out at the ripe old age of 2 ("figured" age, not actual age), which means they're training when they're 1. Any good vet will tell you NEVER to run your horse before 4. And these guys are training at 1. Any good trainer will even admit its a fine line between physically ruining the horse forever and a good race. Its just ugly.

Another thing that bugs me...if she'd been a colt instead, they likely would have tried to save her. Colts can sire many foals and make more money. Its a brutal industry.
 

Sara PA

New Member
No, they wouldn't have tried to save the horse had it been a colt. Both front legs were broken in multiple places. The skin on the left leg was broken and the bone was sticking out. Horses can't live if they can't stand and they can't stand with both front legs broken.
 

dreamer

New Member
My youngest brothers dad owned racehorses....(we live near ARlington Park) and I used to work (for 20 years) waiting tables where many jockeys, trainers,owners, bettors, bookies and other horse persons ate---
I got turned off to abuses of horseraceing decades ago. So sad. :-(
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Ahh, I suspected it was her youth, and that the bones weren't fused. My husband is a chiro and tells parents (human parents, that is) not to let their kids run track until they're in mid-high school for the same reason. Too many kids ruin their shins running too hard, too long, too young, and it takes months and months to heal.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
I'd hope they wouldn't have tried to save him if it was a colt, but they've tried to "save" some with injuries equally as bad. Heck, 30 years ago when it was unheard of, they tried to save Ruffian. Secretariat's trainer was quoted saying he beleived she may even be even better than Secretariat. And she was a filly. Imagine what a colt out of her could have been.
Those operations are rarely successful, anyway, so its probably for the best, anyway. It just bothers me what "success" can make a person do to an animal.
Even in the quarter horse world, a world champion mare that had foundered so bad that her coffin bones had nearly fallen thru her hoof was kept alive long enough to produce two foals. Granted, they tried to keep her comfortable, but still.
I'm sure they love their animals, I just don't understand that kind of love.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
It is easier to obtain sperm from a male with-broken legs (vs having a female go into foal), which was some of the scuttlebutt as to why Barbaro was allowed to live so long ... Either way, it's a tragedy. I hope owners learn from this.
 
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