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#2
03-22-2014, 03:19 PM
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Let me say something I said 15 years ago on the old AOL horse racing boards.
The American people have become more and more divorced from the reality of dealing with animals. Formerly many people grew up on farms or at least rural communities, or had close relatives they visited, and liked, who did so. Many also hunted. Now, for most Americans, their relationship to animals are strictly as pets (excuse me, in 15 years the term "pet" has become increasing stigmatized--"animal companions" or whatever). Many still consume other animals as "food", although they are completely removed from dealing with the reality of that food chain. When it comes to horses, however, the overwhelming paradigm that newcomers implicitly apply to race horses is "pets" (I'll stick with the old school term). They are not interested in eating them, and to the extent they ever really dealt with a horse it is riding a pony (or having their kids do so). Standards of conduct towards horses that were generally acceptable (to the extent they were even known) in past generations simply are not going to fly with this kind of populace. You can say "Nothing new here"--but that is not an answer to a population with different values than you. Some of you sound like the hapless old religious farts who cannot understand how the ground shifted under them on gay rights, or weed, or whatever. Your old certitudes about what is acceptable are just that--yours. This has been on ongoing process--prior to the 70s or 80s, for example, horses were a disposable commodity in making films. Many were killed or injured filming westerns, for example, with trip wires and the like. That has been out of bounds for a while now. Horse racing as we know it will not exist in the US in another generation--two at the most. What we will have, I don't know. But it won't be what is on that videotape, "selectively edited" or not. Blaming PETA, as despicable as it is, and the NYT is a distraction. 
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#3
03-23-2014, 09:34 AM
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"The American people have become more and more divorced from the reality of dealing with animals."
True story. Granted, I haven't had the time to watch all of the video but nothing I've heard or seen has even remotely shocked me. Yes, both legal and illegal performance-enhancing drugs are used on horses. Yes, hooves are patched together repeatedly in hopes of holding up through another race/class/event. Yes, joints are pin fired,injected and whatever. All manners of therapies are used. Horses are raced/shown when they are unsound. Illegal workers are employed on the backside (as well as at many other non-horse related jobs). I can tell you from experience that these practices are not exclusive to the racing world. They are present in the worlds of dressage, reining, jumping, and western pleasure. Heck, this goes on at the weekend 4H shows. Anytime that money or glory is involved with horses there will be people who will cheat, people who will eek every drop they can out of a horse, even people who will knowingly use up and throw away a horse , all in the name of winning. But, as Tector said, none of this is not going to fly with the general population. I don't know what the answer is, but something is going to have to change, or horse racing will be a sport of the past.
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#4
03-23-2014, 12:51 PM
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#5
03-23-2014, 03:32 PM
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__________________
Gentlemen! We're burning daylight! Riders up! -Bill Murray
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#6
03-23-2014, 05:46 PM
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#9
03-22-2014, 10:31 PM
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http://www.drf.com/news/blasi-fired-...mplaints-video
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#10
03-23-2014, 08:05 AM
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It was a well edited video. My initial reaction to it was..."Did Blasi have relations with that woman?"
That is the only way I could see him disclosing the undocumented worker "procedure". As of right now, the video is hardly viral. 125,000+ views in 4 days has to be disappointing for the woman scorned and her new pals.
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#11
03-23-2014, 08:29 AM
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Was she a long-time girlfriend, or just a young person who applied as a hotwalker who charmed into dating for a few months?
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#12
03-23-2014, 08:32 AM
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But...I was under the assumption that he was married to Helen Pitts. So I would guess she wasn't a long-time girlfriend.
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#13
03-23-2014, 08:41 AM
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__________________
All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. ~ Joseph Conrad A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right. ~ Thomas Paine Don't let anyone tell you that your dreams can't come true. They are only afraid that theirs won't and yours will. ~ Robert Evans The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. ~ George Orwell, 1984.
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#14
03-23-2014, 09:00 AM
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If I were Scott...I would claim it was his split personality, Nicky Santoro, that was at the barn for those 4 months. It could work. A little rehab, medication, and he'll be back on the track next spring.
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#16
03-23-2014, 08:42 AM
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Hybrid Mode
