You say that a horse enjoys racing,how can you tell?The Jockeys choose to get on that horse and risk their lives...the horses have no choice.They run because the others are running.
I would rather see the whole racing industry banned...those people don't care aboout the horses,just money money money.

that is truly horrific looking at those pictures those poor horses

I agree x

I think that it's sad for the horses but they all live much longer, happier, healthier lives than animals like factory bred chickens,which most of us eat probably dozens of every year

Maybe but a horse has a mind of it's own,if it doesn't want to run it won't. Naturally though they are herd animals and horses love to race.
I used to volunteer on a racing yard and I can tell you all of those horse were extremely well cared for and loved. The trainer and the jockey's had a great deal of respect and love for the horses.
I will say however that The Grand National is my least favourite race of all,if they lowered the jumps just a little bit it'd be fine. It's sad that horses have to die at the national but horses dye at Olympia,HOYS,Cheltenham,Ascot,Badminton,Barbury.
Even in their stables, of course there is an added risk when you're jumping over massive fences yes but those horses were bred to race and from my experience they absolutely love it.

But surely when a horse is being hit....they are going to run....my problem lies with the fact the horses get shot purely because its no longer making money.

Arghh it keeps deleting my reply (stupid laptop grrr)

okay 3rd time lucky,eh?.

The horses don't feel any pain from the whips, it's akin to me tapping you firmly on the wrist. It's enough for you to feel it and get the message but not hard enough that it causes you any pain. You've got to remember horses are big animals so what looks like a massive smack on the flank from our perspective,doesn't really faze the horse at all. I agree some jockey's do rely to heavily on their whip but there are those who know how to use it.
As for horses being put down,it's not because of the money . In the case of the horses at the national its because of the injuries they had sustained. It'd just be inhumane to let them live on. I remember a few years back there was an American Racehorse called Barbaro who fell on a flat race and broke one of his legs. Instead of putting him down,his owners decided to keep him alive. They put him through a number of surgeries ,keeping him stable bound and in a sling for the majority of the remainder of his life. He eventually was put down due to severe laminitis which came as a result of the fall. It would of been much more ethical just to of shot him when he fell.

As for horses no longer deemed suitable for racing,quite a lot are sold on as ex-racehorses and a number are sold to the meat industry (which is the side of racing I hate hate hate). There are a number of charities that retrain and re-home ex racehorses though.

excuses excuses at the end of the day it all about money, i can never see it being banned,just heard the comments from a couple of prats on the Lorraine show and they just spouted bulls*it, one bloke said 'its better than one of those poor neglected horses standing in a field all day', oh well thats ok then! their reasoning was a joke.

I dont believe anyone who says the horses dont feel the whips. How would you know? Are you a horse? Do you get made to run around? No, then I dont think you can honestly say that.
Before it didnt really come into my mind but after listening to a talk show on the radio and this was the discussion it made me more aware and also the things people were saying were awful.

My friends sister has a horse she jumps with and they sent it off to be broken in so she could ride it......i see why they call it broken in as that poor horse had no spirit when it came back.

To train a wild animal like that to accept riders and jump and run cant be easy and i imagine it takes some pretty harsh training.

They dont run because they enjoy it they run because they know they have too!