Kentucky's ongoing attempt to end racing in state proceeds..

[Riot]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

Really? No sh!t. That was my whole point. If every horse needs an injection of drugs to race, we probably shouldn't be racing horses. Now, personally I don't think they all need it, but you know that already. I'm just not sure the US is ready to hear we run a sport where every horse needs drugs to run. How is that going to fly?

Nobody is advocating that all horses get it. Nobody is saying all horses need it.

But the truth is that 93% of horses that race in North America have evidence of bleeding in their lungs, lasix helps prevent that, and why is the racing industry trying to take that therapeutic help away?

Should we stop working on current research to find other drugs that help prevent or provide relief for EIPH?

Those same horses bleed on race day in other countries that don't use lasix - and suffer worse affects from the episodes because the severity isn't attenuated.

Again: you want to eliminate lasix, eliminate all horse sports at speed. Let's go down the slippery slope of that argument. And prevent some human athletic competitions. And hunting dogs. And if we want to prevent broken legs, or any athletic injuries, to animals, let's just refuse to do anything with horses - or other animals - but watch them be lawn ornaments in pastures. Let's prevent the Amish from using them as carriage horses. Let's let PETA take over the world.

Now, the above is silly. Most of us here love horses, and love horse racing. So let's continue to put the horse first, and make racing them safer and healthier for the horse - not move away from that