Update: Congressional Hearings on Horse Racing

This blog is very old but if someone from PETA is reading this and I have presented this question many times to no answer why don't you go after the way horse and cattle slaughter are being done instead of preventing it. I know i won't hear a thing but had to post.

i think like all of us thay should stop the DRUGS and WHIP USAGE. Eight bells that was that was so mean she was not fully depeloped in her legs so running at her top speed it broke both front legs

Maria I love you!... she's right. Peta... haha wow i'm at the point where I'm just gonna laugh at you guys. Kelley wow you just can't accept the truth

Great news! Thanks Peta for pushing for this hearing.

I sit somewhere in between Maria and the PETA people. I too am behind the scenes Maria and I see the baths and walks and care given. But the truth of the matter is behind that necessary daily routine the vets are injecting joints with cortisone to keep the horses running track conditions are designed for speed hard and fast to accomodate top trainers seeking track records for their top horses in hopes of record breaking breeding contracts for this newtype owner. see Big Browns owners who after their original trainer was arrested for mafia connections and milkshaking a horse switched to the leading trainer in regards to drug violations. Once horses start losing they drop down and fall through the cracks with the claiming ranks. Drugs and injections increase to keep them going in hopes that someone else will take them. Most of this is not a secret but well known on the backside with a small percentage controlling the atmosphere and the little guy afraid to speak up and getting brandished from the game. Kudos to the likes of Larry Jones Jack Van Berg Arthur Hancock and Jenine Shahadi for speaking up. On the flip side there are some really great caring individuals in the game. I adopted an injured one myself. In our barn several others have adopted horses to give them a good home. We put our money where our beliefs are. And as for PETA where were you guys when the claimer goes down during the week? Where were you when there was a slew of low level horses going down at Aqueduct in 2006 due to an unsafe track? The reality is that this is much like all other "big business" and this organization feeds off of media spotlights what a ripe time to collect donations!. Have you ever encouraged your horsey memberships to adopt one of these horses and give them a home? Where were you after the light died down from Barbaro?? You spent weeks crucifying Larry Jones when had you looked at his training record you would have seen it was spotless. And if you'd looked further at Eight Belles breeding line you may have focused on another aspect of this tragedy. her bloodlines scream accident waiting to happen. But your intensity on Larry Jones failed to highlight the Rick Dutrow tragedy that racing continues to let him train with his record or that reigning horse of the year Curlin is in the hands of a trainer banned for 6 months just 2 years ago. What a shame you go off on such a tangent that you miss some golden opportunities to focus on. Don't get me wrong I do realize that Eight Belles death appears to have not happened in earnest as some good will come of this in part due to your public outcry. But I find it hard to think you care as much as you say when you were nonexistent over the past two years.