Horses

The exploitation of horses in equestrian sports, horse racing, and carriage rides constitutes a major source of physical and psychological suffering for these sensitive animals.

1. EQUESTRIANISM AND SKELETAL STRUCTURE

Regardless of abuses or the type of equipment used, the mere act of appropriating or using another being for our own pleasure is an action decidedly contrary to ethics. A horse is said to be ready to be ridden when its knees are formed. This means waiting until the growth plates just above the knees transition from cartilage to bone. People often do not realize that there is a growth plate on each side of every bone, behind the skull, and that in the case of certain bones like the pelvis or vertebrae, there are multiple growth plates. While many begin riding their horses at age 2, the last plates to fuse are those of the spine, which does not happen until the horse is at least 5.5 years old. This takes even longer for large horses and males. Complete growth of the epiphyseal plate, or cartilage, does not occur on average until between 6 and 9 years of age.

It is incredibly easy to damage a horse's back and displace its growth plates, causing pain and injury. Riding a horse, regardless of its age, causes damage to the skeleton as well as to muscles and tissues. A horse's back is a very complex and sensitive anatomical structure endowed with extraordinary functions. The function of the spinal cord is to ensure that responses from the entire nervous system can communicate to the brain sensations of taste, smell, vision, hearing, and vestibular function. It is on this particularly vulnerable and sensitive organ, the medulla spinalis, which is the brain of the back, that the rider sits. The spinous processes of the caudal saddle position are almost always affected. In equestrianism, spinal damage is multiplied by the use of the saddle, harness, bit, and whip. The saddle restricts blood flow to the arterial capillary bed, causing tissue damage as well as general wear and tear and irritation.

2. THE BIT AND THE WHIP

The use of the bit and the whip is very cruel. Bits cause pain and damage to the horse's complex cranial nerves, as well as its teeth, tongue, and palate. The facial nerves are extremely close to the skin and therefore extremely sensitive. It is essential to understand that it is absolutely impossible to use a bit without the horse feeling pain.

There is an assortment of different types of bits. They are all designed to exert pressure on the horse in a specific way in order to control it through applied pressure, in other words through pain. Even the softest hands always exert extreme pressure on a horse's mouth and nerves—approximately 50 to 100 kg of pressure per square centimeter of buccal surface. Horses possess a complex network of cranial nerves that are impacted by the use of the bit.

Bits acting on the trigeminal nerve inflict pain on the mandibular and maxillary branches of the trigeminal nerve; the division of the maxillary nerve includes the primary sensory function for the maxillary teeth, nasal cavity, palate, and infraorbital nerve, and the mandibular nerve runs along the bones of the horse's lower jaw and then branches into the buccal nerve, lingual nerve, and inferior alveolar nerve. Additionally, the mouthpiece of the bit strikes the horse's palate and pushes its tongue down; bits acting on the teeth impact and damage the first and second premolars, causing the development of exostoses (bone spurs). The bit also strikes the horse's palate when pressure is applied to the reins, causing the transmission of pain signals via the inferior alveolar nerve and infraorbital nerve. Horses often try to insert their tongue between the joints of the bit and their palate in an attempt to escape the pain. Unfortunately, this only pinches their tongue or pushes it back toward the larynx, which impacts the lingual nerve and causes pain. The horse's mouth is one of the most sensitive parts of its body, and bits are designed to apply pressure to this delicate part. Bits also obstruct the horse's airways and interfere with its respiration, which is particularly problematic since bits are primarily used when great physical effort is required.

The control method via the bit is invasive, psychologically contraindicated, and counterproductive; it frightens the horse and causes pain, suffering, and injury. The bit is responsible for at least 50 problems. Most often, the goal is to instill fear, force the horse to resist and trigger a flight response, and cause facial neuralgia (headshaking). These and other behavioral effects have been associated with oral pain. However, responses are not limited to the oral cavity as they include a whole cascade of systemic effects. These primarily involve the nervous system and lead to negative behavioral responses. Effects on the musculoskeletal system interfere with locomotion, and effects on the respiratory system cause dyspnea. The bit is detrimental to the health and safety of both the horse and the rider and constitutes an obstacle to performance.

The impacts of the bit go far beyond the horse's mouth. A horse running at full speed is in a state of pain and fear and is much less likely to properly respond to given signals, often resulting in injuries to both horse and rider. Apart from the physiological and anatomical impact of the bit, the simplest indication of the bit's effect on the horse is its reaction: you will often see a horse open its mouth in an attempt to escape the pain inflicted by the bit, it will also shake its head and exhibit other neurotic behaviors to stop the pain. Unfortunately, many times riders will respond to this behavior by applying even more pressure, causing more pain and problems for the horse. This cycle is « remedied » by applying a noseband used to close the horse's mouth. This prevents the horse from opening its mouth. It will continue to suffer and will now be incapable of any attempt at escape.

3. HORSE RACING

Horse racing objectifies horses to an unmatched level. Horses are reduced to money-making machines. The cruelty of racing begins long before the racetrack. Racehorses are genetically modified and selectively bred to run as fast as possible. Their lives begin in stud farms where mares are kept pregnant for nearly 90% of their short lives through the use of drugs such as prostaglandins and the alteration of their environment to modify their reproductive cycle.

Barely born, these future racers are taken from their mothers, who are immediately re-inseminated until they can no longer produce foals. They are then sent to the slaughterhouse. Separated from their mothers, these newborn foals require a nurse mare—lower-pedigree horses that have also been inseminated solely to produce milk for racing foals. Because the offspring of these mares are of no use to this industry and because it is illegal to send horses under six months old to the slaughterhouse, many are killed by violent blows or simply abandoned to their fate. They end up skinned for the manufacture of high-end leather known as Cordovan leather, and their meat is often sold for butchery.

Foals bred as future racehorses face an equally tragic destiny. Out of the hundreds of thousands of potential racehorses bred in many countries each year, only 5 to 40% will ever race. The rest are either sent to the slaughterhouse to end up on butcher stalls or in pet food, reintroduced into the breeding sector, or resold into lower racing circuits that are even less protected and regulated.

While horse meat consumption is taboo in many societies where even regular meat-eaters are disgusted by the idea of eating horse, few realize that racehorses inevitably end up at the slaughterhouse. The horse racing industry disposes of horses deemed invalid like simple industrial waste.

For horses selected for racing, a life of nightmares begins. Their training starts as early as one and a half years old, long before their skeleton has finished growing. The epiphyseal plate only reaches complete formation on average between 6 and 9 years of age. The intensive training endured by these untrained young horses leads to a tragic multiplication of fractures and breakdowns, abruptly ending their lives between 4 and 6 years of age, as their care proves too costly and complicated. Numerous horses die each week during races. Injuries are not limited to fractures. The stress of racing also causes bleeding in the lungs and bronchi in a large number of horses, known as exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.

50% of racehorses have blood in their bronchi, and 90% have it deep in their lungs. Their concentrated grain diet also produces gastric ulcers. In 89% of horses, numerous cases of ulcers with major bleeding are observed just 8 weeks after the start of training. When they are not simply discarded due to treatment costs, sick horses still face pressure to be administered dangerous preparations; painkillers can mask an injury, allowing the injured horse to continue running at the peril of its life. Nearly 90% of horses that collapsed suffered from prior injuries.

Because thoroughbreds have been selected for their acceleration capabilities and aesthetics... the animal is considerably weakened, and to allow them to continue running, they are administered Lasix (to combat pulmonary hemorrhage), Phenylbutazone (an anti-inflammatory), and corticosteroids (for pain and inflammation). However, injured horses are not the only ones receiving treatments.

Trainers daily administer quantities of illicit drugs to their horses. With so much money at stake, people will stop at nothing to make their horses run faster. These substances include stimulants given to pigs and cattle before slaughter, as well as blood doping agents, thyroid treatments, anabolics, Viagra, cobra venom, and cancer drugs, among other things.

In addition to being drugged, horses are violently whipped during races, making this animal abuse the most accepted form in public spectacles today. In 83% of cases, characteristic marks are seen on the animal's skin. 75% of strikes are directed at the flanks. In many countries, the number of strikes inflicted on a horse during a race is only limited before the final 100 meters, after which the horse can be whipped tirelessly.

A horse feels the slightest fly landing on its skin, as evidenced by a characteristic twitch known as the « panniculus reflex » when you barely brush its skin. Racehorses also endure the bit, which, when used for racing, is even worse than those used in conventional equestrian sports.

Racehorses have bits in their mouths for most of their lives. In fact, many jockeys hang onto horses' mouths so often that the mouth is destroyed. When not on the track, the horse is kept in stalls most of the time. This is by far the most practical way to « store » a horse, yet this confinement deprives them of basic social and environmental simulations. Claustrated horses develop various pathological behavioral disorders such as compulsive crib-biting on their door or any other support, as well as sickly weaving and other acts of self-mutilation.

Ultimately, these animals are treated like common waste to be disposed of. Regardless of its record, when a horse can no longer run or its results are deemed insufficient, it is discarded like household trash. Those that collapse during races are immediately euthanized and sent to rendering facilities to become dog food and other byproducts, or more simply, abandoned in a landfill.

Those that do not die in races are sometimes demoted to participate in lower-tier races like steeplechases, which are 20 times more dangerous than flat races and much less regulated with lower standards. The ultimate destination of these racehorses is the slaughterhouse, where stun guns—poorly used because they are not mastered—further prolong suffering and anguish, while their entire life of abuse comes to an end.

From birth to death, racehorses live lives of torture, terror, and merciless brutality. This is what happens when money is worth more than the lives of sentient beings.

4. CARRIAGE HORSES

Carriage horses' bridles are painful and tight. Horses are forced to pull up to 1,800 pounds. Even though they suffer from joint pain and arthritis (hard surfaces make lameness and hoof deterioration inevitable), they are forced to give carriage rides, working 9 hours a day while inhaling exhaust fumes. Tracheal washes and respiratory secretion samples from these horses show enormous lung damage, the same kind you would see in a heavy smoker. The dull sound of the hoof, the painful and loud rattle, and the grinding of teeth against metal as the beast neurotically chews its bit are far from romantic.

Horses are forced to work even in bad weather, such as extreme heat or cold. They work surrounded by the tumult of cars and people. Due to abuse and neglect, almost all horses have at least one injury caused by repeatedly colliding with cars while walking.

Numerous tragic incidents of beasts collapsing or dying are common. Horses easily panic and act unpredictably, causing injuries and deaths resulting from collisions between horses and carriages. They also sometimes collapse from heat stroke, which is sometimes fatal. Furthermore, in the frightening spectrum of accidents, in the vast majority of cases there is a human injury, and in nearly a third of cases there is a human death.

When not working, horses live in multi-level stables that they sometimes have to walk up and down to reach their stalls—sometimes windowless and measuring 5 square meters. Stable inspections have revealed a lack of fresh water and food, piles of manure, and rotted floors leading to broken legs. This does not mean that all carriage horse stalls are deplorable, but nonetheless, these animals transition from walking in circles on concrete amid clouds of exhaust to climbing multiple floors to their enclosed concrete stalls.

When their bodies finally betray their sad state of health, the final destination for many of these carriage horses is the slaughterhouse; they are sold at auction for a pittance, shipped to Canada or Mexico, and slaughtered as pet food or for human consumption abroad. This is a terrifying end to their life of servitude.

Since January 1st, horse-drawn carriage rides have been banned in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) for the welfare of the horses. May other cities around the world follow suit.