It’s Kentucky Derby Day and I wouldn’t be surprised to see noted horse lover Gov Kristi Noem at trackside drinking a mint julep and singing that racist song they always sing before the running of the 3 year olds.
People love horses and they love horse racing, origins of which surely date to the early days of Yamnaya people of the Pontic-Caspian steppe domesticating and riding ponies around 5,000 years ago. I imagine those early races involved a lot of riders falling off during races as saddles and stirrups weren’t invented until a long time afterward, but the horses were much shorter than racing horses of today and they were likely not as fast. Still, falling off a running pony would still hurt.
As an aside here, it is my theory that virtually every story about riding horses ends with someone getting hurt.
Owners of race horses, in particular, claim a special love of horses and they back their love up with money, lots of it! Buying a race horse is not a get-rich-quick scheme, you can spend millions on a yearling horse on the narrow chance that it might be a great race horse, win a lot of stakes races, and retire to stud at 4 or 5 years old. It’s like a scratch-off lottery ticket for the very wealthy, “a dollar and a dream,” or a million dollars and a lot of feed, training, vet bills, barn fees and a year or two before you get to run your baby horse in a race for the chance at the Kentucky Derby at 3 years old.
3 years old! That’s pretty young. Sure, it’s older than 2, but running a 3 year old horse for betting pleasure is like betting on 11 or 12 year old human children running as hard as they can carrying bowling balls. What could go wrong? Chances are that nobody would get hurt and if a child breaks their leg we can patch them up. But think of the money to be made in betting! I mean, if it weren’t wrong to bet on children. This is just a hypothetical. We love our children, like we love horses.
Some years ago I took my children to Magic Forest in Lake George. It’s not there anymore so if you have never gone you missed a truly indescribable magical experience for kids. At the time they featured a diving horse. The horse, or maybe pony because it wasn’t very big, would be led to a wooden ramp which it sauntered up to a perch over a large concrete above ground pool and it took a moment, possibly to view the crowd assembled to watch the feat, then it sort of crouched and dropped into the water with a great splash! We all cheered as the pony swam over to the shallow end and climbed out to a waiting handler who clipped a lead rope to its halter and led our champion away to its barn in an areas of the park not assessable to paid visitors.
There was a time when diving horses was a big thing at fairs and carnivals often featuring riders who went off the jump with the horse. I think there were some injuries to riders on occasion - predictably, because (if you remember) every story about riding horses ends with somebody getting hurt. Eventually diving horses became less of a thing.
One day some horse lovers associated with the Saratoga Horse Racing crowd became aware of the diving horse at Magic Forest and, being horse lovers, they were appalled that a horse would be subjected to the potential for injury to a diving horse and a pool of water. They made a big fuss in the news and eventually the diving horse show was shut down.
Chalk one up for the horse lovers!
The thing is, eventually every horse racing story comes around to horses being hurt, too. Despite the great love horse owners have for horses a lot of race horses are subject to running hard on legs that are not fully mature, and sometimes they do that under the influence of various drugs intended to help them run faster. I mean, the drug part is wrong, and there are rules against it but stuff happens.
Despite great veterinary care, lots of x-rays, and a lot of general concern a fairly alarming number of theses fine and well-loved athletes have career or life ending injuries every year. I mean, who would guess that a 2 year old could “put a foot wrong,” drugged or not drugged, and have to be “put down.” It happens enough that every track has a special vehicle to come out onto the track and hide the patient from the concerned eyes of gawking race fans/horse lovers as they relieve the athlete of its suffering and life.
Despite a lot of investigation and effort by highly educated and concerned horse lovers nobody seems to understand why so many race horses “break down” every year. It’s a stumper.
Well, at least we have solved the problem of diving ponies.
Enjoy the race today! Break a leg!