....WHY is there such a massive uproar over Eight Belles?
okay, I dont really follow American racing, but obviously she was fancied...(i guess)....but while this whole thing is truly tragic - as has been stated - it's not the first time this has happened...I mean in general...horses breakdown in racing all the time - as we all know...
Blah, anyways, if someone could answer that for me...i'd really appreciate it, or even just post me a link, so I can understand.....
Thanks,
FF.
Maybe a stupid question...please dont shoot me...BUT
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fort_falcon
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Maybe a stupid question...please dont shoot me...BUT
"But i don't want to go among mad people." Said Alice.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the cat. "We're all mad here."
"Oh, you can't help that," said the cat. "We're all mad here."
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bdw0617
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I'll tell you why.
WE live in a sexist society. Geroge Washington is 5x more accomplished than Eight Belles is, and when he died no one for the most part outside of racing gave a crap.
Barbaro dies... yeah we had SOME uproar, but nothing like this.
The two biggest horse racing disasters were probably this and when Ruffian died on the track. I'm sure people got peeved about Go for Wand as well.
When poor little fillies die, everyone comes out. I mean I care, dont' get me wrong but I dont' care anymore than when barbaro died.
WE live in a sexist society. Geroge Washington is 5x more accomplished than Eight Belles is, and when he died no one for the most part outside of racing gave a crap.
Barbaro dies... yeah we had SOME uproar, but nothing like this.
The two biggest horse racing disasters were probably this and when Ruffian died on the track. I'm sure people got peeved about Go for Wand as well.
When poor little fillies die, everyone comes out. I mean I care, dont' get me wrong but I dont' care anymore than when barbaro died.
"When the solution is simple, God is answering.”
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Re: Maybe a stupid question...please dont shoot me...BUT
fort_falcon wrote:....WHY is there such a massive uproar over Eight Belles?
Because it was a filly and because she died immediately so there is an immediate attachment (especially by women) because of a subconscious "boys versus girls" thing and because we won't be witness to another 10 month drama like we had with Barbaro (thank god).
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fort_falcon
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anyways, thanks for clearing that up for me 
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halfbridled
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Well most people here tune in 1 day a year for racing and have no clue about other fatalities.
There are 1001 idiots on some of these news boards I have read..
Most have never heard of Chelokee (thankfully recovering), George Washington, Pine Island, Mending Fences..
1 particular gem of a poster stated EB ran the entire race on 3 legs. No, I'm not kidding.
Most don't know the difference between a gelding and a horse.
But they tuned in for their 2:00 of racing and saw a beautiful filly down so all of a sudden this is a big issue. This happens too frequently! There have been 2 horses killed in 2 years!
Don't get me wrong, this weekend has sucked on a multitude of levels and her death is just crappy. But I feel just as bad for the claimer that goes down and just gets a blip on the DRF.
There are 1001 idiots on some of these news boards I have read..
Most have never heard of Chelokee (thankfully recovering), George Washington, Pine Island, Mending Fences..
1 particular gem of a poster stated EB ran the entire race on 3 legs. No, I'm not kidding.
Most don't know the difference between a gelding and a horse.
But they tuned in for their 2:00 of racing and saw a beautiful filly down so all of a sudden this is a big issue. This happens too frequently! There have been 2 horses killed in 2 years!
Don't get me wrong, this weekend has sucked on a multitude of levels and her death is just crappy. But I feel just as bad for the claimer that goes down and just gets a blip on the DRF.
I'd say because it was in the Kentucky Derby and that's the only race most people pay attention to. Also I think the filly thing comes into play -- that the idea of putting a poor little filly up against males caused her to overextend herself so much she broke down.
Also the general public doesn't get why you can't 'fix' a horse with 2 broken legs.
Also the general public doesn't get why you can't 'fix' a horse with 2 broken legs.
That filly didn't care if she was running against the boys no more than Big Brown cared a filly was in the race. Course all the other boys did follow her.... 
TB's don't see color, they don't see sex, and they don't see breeding, they just know what to do when their feet step on dirt with rails on both sides. She was doing what she was bred to do...just like any horse should do what they were bred to do. I feel more sorry for a horse standing in someones yard than I ever will for a TB standing in a stall on the track. At least they are getting attention and exercise.
But, there is always a stopping point.... everyone seems to forget that, especially owners who want to win and trainers who want to be on top.
TB's don't see color, they don't see sex, and they don't see breeding, they just know what to do when their feet step on dirt with rails on both sides. She was doing what she was bred to do...just like any horse should do what they were bred to do. I feel more sorry for a horse standing in someones yard than I ever will for a TB standing in a stall on the track. At least they are getting attention and exercise.
But, there is always a stopping point.... everyone seems to forget that, especially owners who want to win and trainers who want to be on top.
Memories fade quickly -- there was NO shortage of uproar immediately following Barbaro's breakdown, most of it centered around whether he should have been scratched immediately following his breaking through the starting gate.
Personally, I think the hysteria has less to do with Eight Belles' gender (though doubtless a factor in some quarters) than with two other points: the intense publicity surrounding the Kentucky Derby, and the fact that as a society, we have become increasingly unable to handle the idea that we live in a world in which people and animals actually die -- not just figures in a movie or video game, but real, living creatures. Ironically, we have to some extent become victims of our own success in treating injuries and illness; in the pre-World War II era, before mass vaccinations became the norm, even among middle-class families, virtually everyone personally knew someone who had lost a family member -- often a child -- to sicknesses that are now rare. We also have a lot fewer people living on farms, where folks were well aware of the annual cycle of births and deaths. Now we, for the most part, live lives that have at least the illusion of being insulated from death (military members, police officers, firefighters, medical personnel, and rescue workers being the primary exceptions). We play with the concept of death in our entertainment, but we have little stomach for the reality when it gets up and smacks us in the face, particularly in such a raw fashion. And so we protest -- and we should, when the deaths are at least possibly preventable. (I am not saying that Eight Belles' death was or wasn't.) But I think some folks do have difficulty with coming to grips with the fact that our control over life and death is tenuous at best and more illusory than real, and that sooner or later we must all face up to death one way or another, no matter how well we plan and what precautions we take. And the death of a young and healthy creature is just that much more of a jolt than the death of the old and weary, hence the loudness of the protest, which is as much driven by unconscious forces as by conscious.
Ah, well, enough philosophizing for one day. Perhaps I've worked in psych too long.
Personally, I think the hysteria has less to do with Eight Belles' gender (though doubtless a factor in some quarters) than with two other points: the intense publicity surrounding the Kentucky Derby, and the fact that as a society, we have become increasingly unable to handle the idea that we live in a world in which people and animals actually die -- not just figures in a movie or video game, but real, living creatures. Ironically, we have to some extent become victims of our own success in treating injuries and illness; in the pre-World War II era, before mass vaccinations became the norm, even among middle-class families, virtually everyone personally knew someone who had lost a family member -- often a child -- to sicknesses that are now rare. We also have a lot fewer people living on farms, where folks were well aware of the annual cycle of births and deaths. Now we, for the most part, live lives that have at least the illusion of being insulated from death (military members, police officers, firefighters, medical personnel, and rescue workers being the primary exceptions). We play with the concept of death in our entertainment, but we have little stomach for the reality when it gets up and smacks us in the face, particularly in such a raw fashion. And so we protest -- and we should, when the deaths are at least possibly preventable. (I am not saying that Eight Belles' death was or wasn't.) But I think some folks do have difficulty with coming to grips with the fact that our control over life and death is tenuous at best and more illusory than real, and that sooner or later we must all face up to death one way or another, no matter how well we plan and what precautions we take. And the death of a young and healthy creature is just that much more of a jolt than the death of the old and weary, hence the loudness of the protest, which is as much driven by unconscious forces as by conscious.
Ah, well, enough philosophizing for one day. Perhaps I've worked in psych too long.
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher...You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." C. S. Lewis
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wilf
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I honestly am far more affected by the death of an animal that serves us and gives so much than of some two legged pukes who talk crap on internet blogs and love the sound of there own voice! That poor creature lugged in badly and was jerked back off another horse as she tried her heart out to catch Big Brown. Imagine the scenario without Big Brown and this filly wins by a space only to crash to the ground galloping out,then the shit would hit the fan and you can bet that few of the racing fans to have witnessed this spectacle live would have had a jolly trip back home. I am not in this sport because I dislike horses and yet there are many in racing that regard it as a "business" which includes the complete disregard for the fate of any of the animals that may have served them well enough to warrant a dignified retirement. The death of any animal in sport should give us pause as to our own roles in life and what constitutes "entertainment", of course life goes on but it's how we conduct ourselves and treat other creatures that will define us eventually. Those among us who find strong emotions puzzling in the face of victory and/or tragedy must be unconscious and I pity them.
wilf wrote:Imagine the scenario without Big Brown and this filly wins by a space only to crash to the ground galloping out
I thought about that very thing myself, wilf. I'll bet even Larry Jones says to himself, "Thank God she didn't win." The idea is just too horrible.
"When I am on my deathbed, I imagine I will say, 'Thank God I did that'" - Arthur Hancock, on buying back Gato del Sol from Europe after Exceller was killed in a slaughterhouse in Sweden.