In short, they are paying attention…..(me)

DR. ARTHUR: …and it’s – If the audience is interested, if they go to Google and search Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, and Welfare and Safety Summit, there’s been two of them have identified several dozen, three dozen or so, different issues that are potential problems in this. So the track surface is just one. You have breeding issues, as you mentioned in the beginning of the program. Medication issues have really come to the forefront the last few years. California has banned – was the first major racetrack to ban anabolic steroids, which unpublished data at UC Davis has indicated is correlated with catastrophic injuries. Intensity of exercise has been associated with catastrophic injuries, and training has changed. We’ve seen trainers move to quarter horse type training where it’s very intense and bursts of hard workouts rather than the longer, slower workouts of old trainers like Charlie Whittingham, 20, 30 years ago. Internationally, the permissive medication policies in the U.S. are not allowed. Just recently, the examining veterinarian—all horses are examined prior to racing several times—and the examining veterinarians have expressed concern that our medication programs with regards to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and there’s three – one of three are permitted in horse racing, and nonsteroidal anti-infammatory drugs are like Advil or bute except – or, Advil or aspirin, those sorts of drugs.

I was serious, by the way. The death of that horse motivated a humongous soul-searching by those who oversee the treatment and care of the horses who race. If you’d like to see the Non PETA organizations out there which deal with horse racing, here is a good set of links:

http://www.chrb.ca.gov/horse_racing_links.htm

There was a time when these horses got to do what they did best – run – with bonded friends and jockeys. Then para-mutual betting and a wider audience formed. Before this, they were pampered beyond belief. The life of a race horse in the 1880’s – 1910’s, believe me, was just fine.

In history, children made the first light bulbs and cars, alongside adults. The laws changed when they made sense. Hopefully, this particular history will evolve as well. It actually seems to be doing just that.