Yes, that's Rachel Alexandra.Why is she lip chained? Who knows!
What does it say about her trainer when it takes 2 men to lead a lip chained filly? The thing that baffles me is that Rachel doesn't look spooky or out of control in this picture at all. She's just walking like any normal horse. I think her lolling tongue says it all.
So is the chain really necessary? I think not. Is it just for show, because I highly doubt that she enjoys having her gums ripped up to her eyeballs. I'm sure she's very comfortable. They must be proud.
My farrier makes fun of Vic because he's a Thoroughbred. Well, my farrier is a bull rider and seems to only approve of roping bred stock horses. He was telling me how he shoes racehorses (two year olds that don't know anything) and that they have to sedate a lot of them before he can even go near their feet. He thinks SB's and TB's are just batshit crazy because of that.
But think about how those horses are treated. They have little if any turn out time, they're run down to nothing, they're in their stalls if they're not on the track, and they're doped up with God knows what. Plus most of them are no older than 3.
They train those horses to race, and that's it. They don't train them to stand for the farrier or anything else. Race horses can run fast and turn left, and that's about it. They're treated like machines, not actual living animals. So I don't blame them for being loony. They're also bred purely for speed, and they don't give a shit what they look like as long as they're fast. Can anyone really blame that on the horses? Furthermore, a lot of OT horses go on to have successful second careers. You just have to put them out to pasture for a while so they can learn how to be a horse and get their brains back in their heads.
Anyway, if the dickweed trainers would actually take the time to teach these horses to lead nicely (and without a stud chain), that would make a big difference. And train them to stand still while they're being shod while they're at it.
I worked with Standardbreds for a short time. They were some of the best behaved horses I have ever been around. They were all older then three though, and the owner was good about giving them breaks to pasture once in awhile.
ReplyDeleteThe only horse I was worried about (for my own safety) was a two year old stud. Apperently he was very fast, so was spoiled (In other words: never disciplined). Ugh, I did not like him. Otherwise, the rest were amazing!
That's awesome. It's so hard to find responsible and caring racing people.
ReplyDeleteGeez! they're handeling her like she's a stallion thats raging off testosterone. Oh she looks so dangerous. xP
ReplyDeleteI actually train ex-racehorses and my trainer trains racehorses as well. I have gotten to see the backside of the track and yes, many horses are treated like this. But most small-scale trainers don't dope up their horses and take some extra time with them unlike large scale trainers. My trainer (and most she knows) are smaller-scale and before even sending them to the track to train, get trained in an outdoor arena to work on balance and going to the right as well. She puts most out to pasture during the off season as well. I have ridden and trained many horses that weren't started like this and pin-fired and never taught to stand. It truly is awful. I started working with one recently and rode him after a week out of races. He was never taugh to stand or relax. They do really just need time to be a horse and calm down. and back to the picture, it is stupid how they need such harsh treatment to contain this "wild mare!" :P Oh my goodness! what if she isn't perfectly in a straight line while we walk around for pictures?! -_- people are sometime unexplainable though...
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