Sport hypocrisy?

[Guest]

It was sad that a couple of horses were put down after the Grand National again this year but this happens with horses. whether in a race or running around in the fields if they break a leg then they are put down. The hysteria that followed and the calls for the race to be ended made me sick.

This is a unique historic race that defines our culture.

People are killed in all sorts of sports , boxing , motor racing even football but these people like the horses are well trained and well checked and every prevention is taken. It's a part of sports.

A 30 year old women died in the London Marathon and what has the aftermath been? Lots of money sent to the Samaritans (her charity). Where are the people calling for the London Marathon to be banned?

Here we have thousands of fools who DON'T have professional training or care deciding to run a distance that they shouldn't. Are they checked - not well enough.

I know that some on here ran in the marathon and I'm not getting personal but people do this without the preparation and are foolish.

Leave the Grand National alone and perhaps look at how many people and what physical state they should be in to run the London Marathon.

Or better still look at the state of the health of the man/woman on the street and do soemthing about that. Obese pigs costing the state money in order to feed their faces with food that isn't needed.

Rant over.

[ozleicester]

To be fair, the boxers, motor racers, marathoners etc. all choose to do the sports. The horses dont.

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My last comment on this thread,

[OzFox]

My last comment on this thread,

You're gonna get moved on again if you're not careful

[Guesty]

I was suprised it took this long for a thread like this. I agree with the op. Whilst i think the National needs to be safer, one of the horses died jumping over fences after it had dismounted its jockey, so i guess it can't have hated it too much or it would have just run round it.

There are dangers in all sports and life. For example in America, in the last 10 or 20 years more teenage girls have died in cheerleading competitons than professional boxiers and MMA athletes combined. You don't hear them clamouring to stop cheerleading as a cruel and barbaric sport though do you.

[James.]

If I had a penny for every time people made the comparison of horses dying in the National with runners dying in the marathon I'd... well... I'd probably have about 12p but that doesn't stop it being an utterly retarded argument.

[Guest]

To be fair, the boxers, motor racers, marathoners etc. all choose to do the sports. The horses dont.

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My last comment on this thread,

The horses are born and bred for this, the marathoners, boxers, motor racers are not.

Anyone who knows horses can also see how much they enjoy racing.

Race horses are treated like royalty compared to most animals. Horse racing is regulated and the horses are checked before and after every race as well as during the season and off season.

Marathon runners simply get it into their head after seeing someone else do it that they can. A Marathon is a killer - the human body is not made for it and worse than that the medical checks for runners are not sufficient.

[Babylon]

To be fair, the boxers, motor racers, marathoners etc. all choose to do the sports. The horses dont.

Perhaps the horses should just stop running then.

[Guest]

If I had a penny for every time people made the comparison of horses dying in the National with runners dying in the marathon I'd... well... I'd probably have about 12p but that doesn't stop it being an utterly retarded argument.

so you think it's acceptable that untrained fools run over 26 miles without the proper medical supervision or the proper training?

The comparison with the National you can ignore - but that actually was a comparison of the public reaction to each of the events and not a comparison of the right to do either event.

[Zingari]

Pigeon racing ought to be banned too!

Imagine being driven hundreds of miles away with no idea where you are and the being chucked out to make your own way home again!

It’s barbaric

[James.]

so you think it's acceptable that untrained fools run over 26 miles without the proper medical supervision or the proper training?

This is just ridiculous. How many people died doing the marathon? One. Was she an "untrained fool"? No.

[Guest]

This is just ridiculous. How many people died doing the marathon? One. Was she an "untrained fool"? No.

Of course she was an untrained fool.

She's not a "professional" runner and she ran a marathon without the proper training or being medically fit enough to do so.

[James.]

You don't know anything about her medical condition. You don't know anything about her training (as such I take back my comment that she wasn't an "untrained fool" - we simply don't know).

People run marathons literally every day. People (amateurs) run ultra marathons every day. In the context of ultra running the London marathon isn't even that hard - check out the Marathon de Sables or some of the mountain marathons that people from all walks of life do throughout the year.

By suggesting that she shouldn't have been allowed to run the marathon is implying that no one should do any sport unless they have been thoroughly medically examined - you must see how absurd this is. And irrespective of that even then some conditions go unnoticed - do you remember Muamba?

I find your argument completely baffling.

[Bellend Sebastian]

And when I WANT to run in the Grand National, unlike all the other participants that aren't even able to express an opinion either way, I'm denied entry on the grounds that I'm not a horse.

You're right, it's political correctness gone mad.

I reckon I'd probably win it as well

[Thracian]

You don't know anything about her medical condition. You don't know anything about her training (as such I take back my comment that she wasn't an "untrained fool" - we simply don't know).

People run marathons literally every day. People (amateurs) run ultra marathons every day. In the context of ultra running the London marathon isn't even that hard - check out the Marathon de Sables or some of the mountain marathons that people from all walks of life do throughout the year.

By suggesting that she shouldn't have been allowed to run the marathon is implying that no one should do any sport unless they have been thoroughly medically examined - you must see how absurd this is. And irrespective of that even then some conditions go unnoticed - do you remember Muamba?

I find your argument completely baffling.

Indeed - people are already vicitmised enough because of ill health as it is. It is clear that some believe the only people who should be able to travel the world and/or enjoy themselves in public are the perfect specimens. Small wonder it's not illegal to die.

[Zingari]

And when I WANT to run in the Grand National, unlike all the other participants that aren't even able to express an opinion either way, I'm denied entry on the grounds that I'm not a horse.

You're right, it's political correctness gone mad.

I reckon I'd probably win it as well

I’m prepared to take you blind folded a few hundred miles away and let you find your own way home if you like ( after removing the blindfold of course)

We’re not PC in the pigeon fanciers club , anyone can join in .

Please don’t get lured into spending the rest of your life in the town hall square though .

[Bellend Sebastian]

I’m prepared to take you blind folded a few hundred miles away and let you find your own way home if you like ( after removing the blindfold of course)

We’re not PC in the pigeon fanciers club , anyone can join in .

Please don’t get lured into spending the rest of your life in the town hall square though .

I'd go for that. Unless you dropped me off a few hundred miles out to sea. Blindfold or no blindfold, I'd drown in minutes. I'm no swimmer

[Thracian]

To be fair, the boxers, motor racers, marathoners etc. all choose to do the sports. The horses dont.

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My last comment on this thread,

Be careful what you might wish for. A lot of horses only exist because of racing. They are bred for the purpose just as cows and sheep are bred for farming.

As with sports like motor racing and boxing there's good argument for addressing and improving safety issues but calling for an end to The National because it's dangerous is ridiculous and so 21st century.

As for hinting that the horses might not wish to race or jump go to a stables yourself and see. Mostly, when it comes to their gallops, or the thrill of race day, they're as keen as a kid is to go out and play football.

[Zingari]

I'd go for that. Unless you dropped me off a few hundred miles out to sea. Blindfold or no blindfold, I'd drown in minutes. I'm no swimmer

no it would be on land somewhere .

i've just rang Widdowson's haulage company up, and they say if you want to jump into the back of one of their trucks , the driver can drop you off at an undisclosed location up to 300 miles away

sounds like too much of a good thing to miss out on

ps i'd think it wise to take a packed lunch or something . We don't usually let pigeons do this but they can be quite resourceful during the journey home

edit;

i've just had a thought ( yes really)

If god didn’t want horses to race , why did he make racehorses ?

[Daggers]

And when I WANT to run in the Grand National, unlike all the other participants that aren't even able to express an opinion either way, I'm denied entry on the grounds that I'm not a horse.

You're right, it's political correctness gone mad.

I reckon I'd probably win it as well

Can I ride you?

[Zingari]

Can I ride you?

that's only allowed in the "ride a white swan" class i'm afraid, it's for the coveted Bolan Trophy

[Guest]

And when I WANT to run in the Grand National, unlike all the other participants that aren't even able to express an opinion either way, I'm denied entry on the grounds that I'm not a horse.

You're right, it's political correctness gone mad.

I reckon I'd probably win it as well

what you really want is a little jockey on your back riding you for over 4 miles isn't it? With 30 jumps too;

that's only allowed in the "ride a white swan" class i'm afraid, it's for the coveted Bolan Trophy

Don't you have to jump trees in that event?

If god didn’t want horses to race , why did he make racehorses ?

I'm not Touché

[Zingari]

what you really want is a little jockey on your back riding you for over 4 miles isn't it? With 30 jumps too;

Don't you have to jump trees in that event?

I'm not Touché

Yes

Trees are best avoided during the Marc Bolan trophy event.

edit;

I think people need reminding that there would be hordes of angry Irishmen roaming the streets if racing the gee gees was banned .

do you really want this ?

[Captain...]

2 completely separate issues here you can't compare horses with people, horses are not able to accurately self assess their condition, they are not able to understand the magnitude of the race ahead of them, they don't know how long the race is, is it a marathon or a sprint, how many jumps they have to make, what height all of the jumps are, and cannot take precautions when approaching certain difficult/dangerous parts of the course. They rely on the Jockey to guide them in all of this, but they still don't know what they are doing, they are just repsonding to training.

This website has the stats, http://www.horsedeathwatch.com/ that is a lot of horses destroyed, for what is essentially a really dull spectacle, that needs to be livened up by betting.

Animals dying for our entertainment is not unique to horse racing, but at least in bull fighting the bull is eaten afterwards, if we ate the horse after it was killed, that would make it better and tastier.

I guess my point is horse racing is cruel and it leads to horses dying, but should it be banned I don't really like it and it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if it was banned or not. But arguing that it is not cruel because humans die in sporting events they have chosen to take part in is just nonsense.

Horses are big powerful dumb animals that are arguably driven to their death by jockeys and trainers in the pursuit of money and entertainment. Humans choose to compete for the enjoyment, pleasure and thrill of victory/acheivement, we know the risks, we accept them horses don't have the capacity to understand the concept of risk, and even if they did, they don't get a choice in the matter, if they do choose not to then they are off to the glue factory.

[Guest]

2 completely separate issues here you can't compare horses with people, horses are not able to accurately self assess their condition, they are not able to understand the magnitude of the race ahead of them, they don't know how long the race is, is it a marathon or a sprint, how many jumps they have to make, what height all of the jumps are, and cannot take precautions when approaching certain difficult/dangerous parts of the course. They rely on the Jockey to guide them in all of this, but they still don't know what they are doing, they are just repsonding to training.

This website has the stats, http://www.horsedeathwatch.com/ that is a lot of horses destroyed, for what is essentially a really dull spectacle, that needs to be livened up by betting.

Animals dying for our entertainment is not unique to horse racing, but at least in bull fighting the bull is eaten afterwards, if we ate the horse after it was killed, that would make it better and tastier.

I guess my point is horse racing is cruel and it leads to horses dying, but should it be banned I don't really like it and it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if it was banned or not. But arguing that it is not cruel because humans die in sporting events they have chosen to take part in is just nonsense.

Horses are big powerful dumb animals that are arguably driven to their death by jockeys and trainers in the pursuit of money and entertainment. Humans choose to compete for the enjoyment, pleasure and thrill of victory/acheivement, we know the risks, we accept them horses don't have the capacity to understand the concept of risk, and even if they did, they don't get a choice in the matter, if they do choose not to then they are off to the glue factory.

I probably disagree a little with most of the above but can understand and agree with the sentiment.

I don't bet. I like to watch the National. These horses have a good life and are bred and born to compete in races. Many more horses die in fields everyday when they step in a rabbit hole and break aleg. Fact is we kill horses when they break a leg instead of going to the ridiculous expense of keeping them alive (another point that humans could probably follow better imo). Some countries do eat horse flesh - even here in France it's fairly popular.

Humans DON'T understand the risks but they fool themselves that they do. Do you think that Claire would have ran in the Marathon for charity if she knew that she would die? Would the samaritans let her do it in their name if they knew there was even the smallest of chances she would die? Of course not. People (and especially young people) do not understand how fragile they are they think they are indestructible.

The London Marathon has become an event that fools put themselves forward to do without the proper training nor the proper medical checks. they do it for a laugh or whatever. If they really wanted to run they'd do a lot of other events before even considering a marathon. Marathons are hell.

[Captain...]

I probably disagree a little with most of the above but can understand and agree with the sentiment.

I don't bet. I like to watch the National. These horses have a good life and are bred and born to compete in races. Many more horses die in fields everyday when they step in a rabbit hole and break aleg. Fact is we kill horses when they break a leg instead of going to the ridiculous expense of keeping them alive (another point that humans could probably follow better imo). Some countries do eat horse flesh - even here in France it's fairly popular.

Humans DON'T understand the risks but they fool themselves that they do. Do you think that Claire would have ran in the Marathon for charity if she knew that she would die? Would the samaritans let her do it in their name if they knew there was even the smallest of chances she would die? Of course not. People (and especially young people) do not understand how fragile they are they think they are indestructible.

The London Marathon has become an event that fools put themselves forward to do without the proper training nor the proper medical checks. they do it for a laugh or whatever. If they really wanted to run they'd do a lot of other events before even considering a marathon. Marathons are hell.

People do understand the risk, or at least that there is a risk, but take a calculated gamble, as they do by deciding how much training to do, but they are gambling with their lives not the lives of anything else, and they have the right to do so. Of course she didn't know she would die, but she must have known the risk, it is all over the entry pack you get when you run it.

I thought that with the London Marathon you had to have completed at least 2 half Marathons before you apply, and maybe even one other Marathon, as a way of stopping just anybody take part. this may have changed, but there used to be entry criteria.

Also it was my understanding that a horse with a broken leg cannot be cured, if they sling up the leg and keep it immobile it will catch pneumonia and die anyway, not to mention the actual complexities of a horses leg, I don't think it is a case of it being too expensive, but that it is just not possible at the moment, and call me selfish but I would rather science concentrated on curing cancer than fixing horses legs.

I don't really disagree with either point you are making, about marathons and horse racing, I just don't think they can be compared.

Edit: horse meat is also popular in Spain, they even have horse meat only butchers, if cooked well it is quite nice, but generally it is tougher than beef or lamb.