Rest in Peace, Eight Belles

I know by now, most of you have heard about the tragedy that occurred in the final moments of the Kentucky Derby. Eight Belles, a beautiful gray thoroughbred filly, was euthanized on the track only moments after finishing second in the high stakes race. Driven hard through the race, she suffered breaks to both ankles so severe that she couldn't even be moved into a trailer to be taken for medical care. The pictures of her sad end are gut-wrenching, but during the TV coverage, cameras turned away from the brutal reality of horse racing, choosing instead to focus on the winner, the horse who wasn't run to death this time.

The horrible injury that ended Eight Belles' life


In the midst of yet another horse racing tragedy, even those close to the sport are now questioning its future. Veteran sports columnist Sally Jenkins wrote an article for the Washington Post in which she acknowledges honestly that, "... thoroughbred racing is in a moral crisis, and everyone now knows it. Twice since 2006, magnificent animals have suffered catastrophic injuries on live television in Triple Crown races, and there is no explaining that away. Horses are being over-bred and over-raced, until their bodies cannot support their own ambitions, or those of the humans who race them."

She goes on to state that an average of two horses per day an injured so severely during a race that they are no longer able to be used in competion. Persian Brave, a former racehorse in sanctuary at SASHA Farm with a similar injury, lived through his career-ending leg injury. He is merely crippled. Many aren't even that fortunate.

Feten (left) and Persian Brave (right), Former race horses living at SASHA Farm

Defenders of the 'sport' will say that the horses are athletes who are just doing what they love. Horses aren't athletes. Athletes choose to train and compete. Do the horses get to choose? On certain days, when the mood strikes them right, the three horses here, two former racers and a spunky little quarterhorse mix, run so hard that we can feel the ground rumble on the other side on the sanctuary. It's absolutely breathtaking to watch them sprint through the pasture. They do love to run, and they even love to race each other, but they get to choose how fast, how hard, and how long they run. When they're tired, they stop running and rest. Eight Belles didn't get to choose. Someone sat on her back and whipped her so she wouldn't stop, or even slow down when her body told her she was tired. Horses don't choose to run until their legs break.

PETA has launched a campaign to end horse racing, hoping that public outrage over the recent tragedies will have some power to affect change. We hope it will, too.

I received this info via email from SASHA Farm, a wonderful farm sanctuary here in Michigan.