Yes, They Do Shoot Horses

I’m against gambling and I’m against hurting animals so the Grand National seems to be something that I can legitimately get annoyed about.  I did a sarcastic sneer at last year’s race but this year I’m going to be the prude that let go.  2012, two deaths on the course itself; and two injured, carted off to be shot later when no-one is looking.
 
I’m a country boy, I’ve ridden and cleaned up after horses, I know how much some people love their horses, and how much the horses ‘love’ some of their owners.  So. The argument for racing is that the horses like to run fast (they do it in fields when frolicking), enjoy the competition (they have a natural inclination to be in front, apparently) and they like the attention (see how their ears ***** up).  And gambling is harmless fun.  The other argument is that if we banned racing all the horses would have to be slaughtered instead.  And, of course, jobs would be lost, traditional industries would suffer.
 
However, the horse racing industry is all about gambling and prize money.  There’s a lot of pretence about animal welfare and adapting races to be safer but it’s all mendacity.  These horses are bred to have spindly legs and strong bodies, thus, suffer leg injuries; especially when ridden at top speeds for miles and miles, and forced over enormous jumps with drops on the other side that (to quote a jockey) ‘feel like you’re jumping off the edge of the world’.  blinkered and whipped.  When they’re not fast enough, they’re put down or sold to other countries where ‘animal welfare’ isn’t what we British would approve of.  
 
Race meetings and gambling bring together the aristocracy, the nouveau rich, and the ‘wanna be rich’.  Gambling is one of those sins that go deeper than just the pointless waste of money and the hope to get something for nothing.   I watched my granddad smoke roll up after roll up whilst picking winners from the Sun’s Racing Guide every day.  Walking to the Betting Shop, then watching it on the TV all afternoon, lost in a reverie of hope/disappointment and greed.  Noble steeds were just memorable names with form and odds.   I don’t mean to get all Nietzschean about it but, for me, the gambling of the poor seems to make all the unfairness inherent in ‘kill or be killed’ capitalism seem irrelevant because the rich can avoid guilt knowing that, in their hearts, the poor envy them their riches.  If we all clamour to be in their position there can be no heartfelt call for equality. 
 
I know that it’s not just Horse Racing.  Most of my favourite sports are poisoned with gambling related corruption.  Barely a week goes by without someone taking a bung or throwing a match.  The Olympics, of course, are here soon.  There’s already been corruption over contracts and ticket sales; the whole selection process, sponsorship and (oh how we laugh) ‘Olympic legacy’ has been tragic, as befits a Greek tradition.  Current negotiation about security quotas are telling: Just how many of these scary foreigners coming to our jingoistic and sacred homeland, might want to blow themselves up?  And will the ‘High Alert’ at airports make for a pleasant tourist experience? 
 
For horses to die so we can ‘have a flutter’ is just stupid.