PETA undercover in Asmussen's barn - Whoa!

[largo1]

"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.