Quote Originally Posted by Rodent View Post
Of course it's a sensitive topic. There are thousands of people who work with horses and absolutely love them. They bond with them. Then you have an avalanche of ignorant people telling them they are evil and trying to shut down an industry that is their livelihood.
What about the showjumpers and eventers? They break legs too. Where are all the protesters hurling abuse at the 14yo girl putting her horse through its paces in the hope of being an olympian? Doesn't suit the narrative. Evil gambling and alcohol abuse blah blah blah.
Animal cruelty is the issue. Call it out by all means. There are cruel people in racing as there are in all industries. Weed them out. Racing is not cruel. On the contrary, the money it generates means the $ is there to care for the horses far better than they get elsewhere.
Rodent: Your points are fair, sadly in the racing industry though there are too many dirty pricks who cover stuff up, like selling horses to slaughter even though they are still registered for racing. The horse meat is then sold to bogan greyhound owners who think (by feeding their dogs horse meat) they will run faster. Horses that have turned over 400k sold for their meat, surely that is worth a retirement in some humble farmer's paddock. I cannot remember the figures but Racing NSW claim something around 5% sold to slaughter, BS - more like 35-40%

On the other side of the fence watching working class bogans dress up and pretend to look wealthy is cringe worthy, the alcohol flows in and that is when all the in-securities come out leaving a series of punch-ons around the venue, the worst of course being the after party at the pub.