What Kind of Hit Will Racing Take If Barbaro Dies?

Originally Posted by Downthestretch55

Euro,
You and I have chatted before.
I'll tell you, horses are not underfed, nor are they overfed...if they are being closely monitored.
To have energy, the food must be put in and shoveled out later. In the real world, nobody will do anything to compromise any chances for putting out the horse's best effort.
Have you ever been on the backstretch? If you have, you might have noticed that they have fans blowing cool air when it's warm, feed supplements, on and on....
Heck, they're better treated than some of the folks that live in nursing homes.
Yes, there are heavy handed training methods. Some people get freaked and escalate difficult situations when the horse is just plain scared...and problems result. Just remember, most of the people that are around horses, day in and day out, know them pretty well...and the last thing they want to do is be cruel, mean, or inhumane to them. Most of these people love horses. If they didn't, they would have chosen a different form of employment.

I would live to live on the backside if I could. You are correct in the feeding of race horses. My favorite part of the backside is how each stall has a cat. But none of the help would do anything to hurt the horses. I know a few years ago there were some people at River Downs arrested for beating horses with shovels on the backside. But I think that is the exception rather the norm. But, the life of a horse isnt that grand--imo.