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Cassida 1

Mishayla Cassida

Mr. Rhodes

English IV

7 March, 2018

Cruelty Against Horses

Games with horses have likely existed since humans discovered they could ride them. In

America, they are part of the symbol of the American West, and traditions created then have

continued on in the rodeo and barrel racing. The treatment of horses has shifted over the years to

try and ensure the safety and well being of the horse. This is a good thing and should be a

priority but are we actually treating horses the way we say we are?

Barrel racing and the rodeo has been around for many of years, the rodeo started around

1869 but barrel racing didn’t start till 1948 and was first shown in texas and it has been a popular

sport since then. Barrel racing is a rodeo event and sport that a rider and the horse go around

barrels in a cloverleaf pattern, and try to get the fastest time under 15 seconds. The fastest time in

barrel racing was 13.46 performed by Carlee Pierce at the Thomas and Mack Center. The

standard size for barrel racing is 130 feet wide and 200 feet long. There 6 divisions of barrel

racing 1D-6D, 1D is the division run by the fastest riders and horses.

Since barrel racing has been around and always has been a competitive sport, let’s talk

about the treatment of the horses in this sport and how they are treated in rodeos. There has

always been the argument that barrel racing is a cruel sport, but is it really? Horses are known as

wild animals who love running and roaming the fields and having fun but it somehow that’s

abuse when they’re doing that around barrels. Abuse is all about who the person is and how

people treat their horses, not everyone is abusing their horses. The things that could be
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considered abusing them is spurs on the boots, squeezing your legs while riding the horse or

overusing the horse. It’s all about how the rider rides the horse and treats it, horse rider Trevor

Brazile says he stops every 4 hours no matter what and feeds his horses 6 times a day and gives

them rest time, many other horse riders do the same thing and spend over 1,000 dollars on their

horses health. That goes for many people too, Multiple horse owners do this exact same thing,

horses are treated with such better care than people think.

Horses are athletic animals, they run and buck and are always excited barrel race says

some riders, people assume that when horses rear and buck at the gate in the beginning of the

race but in reality horses do that when they get excited, horses are always known to do that when

riding.Barrel racing isn't always always a smooth or fun ride, it takes a lot of practice and hard

work for the rider and horse. It doesn’t take a week to learn to ride, it could take up to year or

more to learn how to become a professional barrel racer. The horses love barrel racing they find

excitement in it because they love running, it’s known that people punish their horses if they

don’t do what the owners want them to do, so yes abuse is in the industry but not everyone

abuses their horses. So forcing a horse to run barrels that they get excited to do is not abuse,

unless you truly inflict physical pain on the horse by beating them or burning them or etc.

It’s true that horses can get injured while doing the sport but that’s not the rider being

abusive, horses can fall or slide while running and going around the barrels, horses are strong

animals but sometimes they can be clumsy. But barrel racing does cause bone and joint injuries

to the horses, about 70% of horses experience inflammation in the sesamoid bone and 13%

experience bone chips ( Neely Walker ) but there are more statistics than that, horses in rodeos

and other athletic events are experienced all kinds of injuries and broken bones, but it isn’t all the

riders fault. They can’t control what happens when the horses hit the ground or when they slid
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and get too excited and do something to mess up their body, but what the rider can do is give

their horses breaks, do not overwork a horse because it will just end with them having a sick or

injured horse and that’s not good when it comes to barrel racing or any sport in that fact.

The big factors that play into abuse is drugging the horses, training abuse, and neglect.

That’s not even all the abuse listed that is considered abuse to horses, there’s many more. People

use training abuse towards horses to make training more easier for the rider, tying the horse and

sacking them is apart of the training abuse. There is also neglect and that includes not providing

horses food,shelter, water or care. Beating, whipping or other sorts of hitting is definitely

considered horse abuse, it may not be thought of that whipping the horse to get them to run is

abuse, but it is. Horses are gentle creatures and being whipped and rode on all day is not what

they need love, care and nurture them.

Riders and horse both benefit a lot in horse sports and they create a connection with their

horse and love what their doing, barrel racing creates a loving bond between the rider and the

horse, they get inside the horses head and can understand what they’re thinking ( Courtney

Duncan )

Barrel racers are riding athletes, they have to have the strength and ability to hold on as

tight as they can on the horse and be able to control them. Barrel racing much like any other

sport in the rodeo helps these riders get in shape, you build muscle strength in your legs, arms

and core. The more older you get the more you have to stay fit to compete with younger riders.

The overall riding of horse help athletes with flexibility and weight loss and it can help relieve

stress and emotion. Horse riders connect with their horses and even though it’s just an animal,

they have a friendship and enjoy the activities they do with their horse, there is always gonna be

a bond because horses never forget human friends.

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How can horses be treated better? A recent New York Times article showed all the ways

that different organizations that use animals for entertainment are working to treat their animals

better. Thanks in part to social media, the casual fan, who tends to care about horse racing only

in the spring, is taking an active interest in how equine athletes are treated.

The powerful Jockey Club is working with the Humane Society to eliminate scourge and

doping. Race-day doping is particularly troublesome. It can give horses an advantage, but it can

also put already injured horses, who should not be racing, at risk of greater, even catastrophic,

injury.“It won’t solve everything, but doping is the most insidious of the practices in racing,”

Pacelle said. “It is Exhibit No. 1 for the idea that people are more concerned with winning than

they are with the protection and welfare of the horses” (Rhoden). They have taken polls over the

past few years and they are noticing that race fans are concerned with the horses health.

There are plenty more activists that are wanting change for horse abuse in the industry,

Many horses when they are worked so much their bones and tendons are worn down and horses

are no longer able to race so they are being sold to slaughterhouses so restaurants can use the

horse meat. People are now taking in worn down horses and trying to rehabilitate them and bring

back their strength. There are more ways we can stop the doping and abuse of horses,

Congressman Pitts and Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., have

reintroduced the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act , that would offer the promise of an anti-

doping reform across the entire horseracing industry. This would make USADA as an

independent anti-doping organization for all national horse races.

Overall, we need to take care of horses, and treat them the way we would treat any other

animal with special care and try to put an end to abuse in rodeo sports and do whatever is

possible to help keep the horse’s happy and healthy creatures.

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Work Cited

Rhoden, William C. “A Push to Improve Welfare of Horse Racing's Involuntary Heroes.” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 13 June 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/sports/

“Rodeos: Inherent Cruelty to Animals.” Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association,

www.hsvma.org/rodeos_inherent_cruelty_to_animals.

www.bbc.com/travel/story/20120207-ethical-traveller-are-rodeos-a-form-of-culture-or-cru+elty.

“Horse Racing Isn't Evil or Cruel.” PonyBox.com, 22 July 2010,

www.ponybox.com/news_details.php?row=1&id=1085&title=Horse-Racing-Isnt-Evil-or-Cruel.

Meyer, Jennifer Forsberg. “Horse Training or Abuse?” Horse&Rider, 31 May 2011,

horseandrider.com/training/training-or-abuse.

“Barrel Racing: Why Do We Do This?” Diamonds Dirt,

diamondsanddirt.com/barrel-racing-why-do-we-do-this/.

“Rodeo Facts: The Case Against Rodeos.” Animal Legal Defense Fund, aldf.org/cases-
campaigns/features/rodeo-facts-the-case-against-rodeos/.