Hollywood -- bad for horses

[marmar]

from the LA Times:



Filming of the second season of HBO's horse-racing drama "Luck," starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, continues, but any work involving horses has been suspended after a third horse died during production on Tuesday. Two other horses had died during filming last season.

According to the American Humane Assn., the horse had been inspected and passed by California Horse Racing Board official veterinarian Dr. Gary Beck and was being walked back to its barn at Santa Anita Park when it "reared up, fell backwards and was injured."

After it was determined that the only humane course of action for the horse was to euthanize it, the AHA demanded all filming involving horses be suspended pending a full investigation.

In a statement from HBO, the network said it was "deeply saddened" and that "an American Humane Association Certified Safety Representative was on the premises when the accident occurred, and as always, all safety precautions were in place." .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/03/third-luck-horse-death-hbo.html

[Duer 157099]

1. JFC

The episode where they had to put a horse down was bad enough, but now knowing that it actually happened THREE TIMES makes me really sad.

The horses on that show are just stunning and beautiful, this is so sad. Although, I doubt it was the production itself that caused it, the same accidents can happen any time anywhere

[hedgehog]

2. I'm wondering how often horses need to be

put down on race tracks. Given how overbred race horses are, I suspect they are way more fragile than they look.

[HangOnKids]

6. Horses are put down quite a bit

Over breeding, over racing, and age takes a toll. I love "LUCK" I am a big fan of horse racing, but the sport does have its flaws.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. Just so's you knows, each racing year, hundreds of horses die.

From 2003-2008, more 5,000 horses died in the racing industry. It is at least 2 for each 1,000 starts. And they do not suspend racing.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/sports/1432921/5000_reported_horse_deaths_at_race_tracks_since_2003/
It sounds to me like Luck is leaning on racing industry standards, not film industry standards. Not a good choice, considering the stats.

[xchrom]

4. I just think horses are a bad choice for film material.

They seem more subject to stress than say a dog.

[Bigmack]

5. Horse people need to weigh in on this...

... but I read somewhere that the racehorses are so overbred that their strength has outstripped the strength in their bones, and that it's a miracle any of them survive.

[csziggy]

7. I don't know race horses or the racing industry but horses are pretty fragile

We had one case of a horse who reared and fell over backwards, hitting her head on a door guide. We were very lucky that she was not hurt badly. She broke a bone at the top of her skull and had a pretty deep cut. The vet was sure we'd have an infection because there was no way for the wound to drain. Fortunately she healed fine with no lasting effects.

There was no warning of her rear - she went straight up and then overbalanced and went backwards. There was absolutely nothing we could have done to stop her.

In fact years later, when a colt reared while I was holding him and I instinctively held on to try to stop him, I ended up with severe damage to my rotator cuff. Eventually the entire rotator cuff had to be rebuilt - three of the tendons/ligaments were detached, two more were seriously damaged and the cartilage inside the joint was torn to shreds. The colt stopped going up when he felt like it, no as a result of my trying to stop him.

Both those incidents were young horses less than a year old, probably weighing about 500 pounds each. A full grown horse will weigh around twelve hundred pounds and will be significantly larger and stronger than the two youngsters I was dealing with.

Thoroughbreds, the breed that are most often race horses, are notoriously flighty. The ones used for racing are trained for one thing - to run fast. They don't tend to have a lot of sense and they have a lot of muscle power on a spindly skeleton.

[riderinthestorm]

8. To be fair, we don't know how the death stats for racehorses compares to the general population.

Keeping horses in captivity is not their natural environment, its highly artificial and fraught with problems (even as we strive hard to minimize those problems).

They are designed to be out 24/7, in large grassy areas, in family herds. Wild horses who live like this have an average lifespan (according to the BLM) of 10 years.

Captivity is probably double that lifespan, 20 years +/- DEPENDING on many, many factors. Healthcare from foal to adult. Regular deworming. Lack of major stressful health crisis like severe disease or even chronic issues like arthritis.

Then when you add in stressful or difficult occupations like racing, you can get a virtual witches brew of problems that begins to factor in (again) shortening a horses lifespan: traumatic injury, sports related colic episodes, lack of appropriate turnout (or downtime) to help alleviate the boredom or anxiety etc. etc.

I'm not so sure horses are any more "fragile" than they ever were, I just think we have better media coverage of the deaths. Furthermore I'm not at all convinced that 3 horses dying during a reality tv show based on racing is really that large. They are dealing with a LOT of horses for that show I presume. A LOT. Shit happens with horses because managing them IS tricky in captivity.

Beyond that, I assume there will be some fall-out from outraged PETA types about this but honestly racehorses are probably some of the most pampered pets on earth! They are purchased for obscene amounts of money and NOBODY wants to have them die (unless they are sick psychos).

I have had 3 horses die on us that weren't related to old age. One was a 14 year old eventer who was found in his paddock in the am by the staff with a broken leg. No other trauma was noted, no other horse was out with him. The vets surmised he had a leg fracture that simply "gave way" during a frolic. We'll never know. Another one slipped while in full gallop after being just turned out and actually slid head first into a tree! Broke his neck. The last one was a horse who must have fallen while out overnight and broke her spine. She was paralyzed when we found her. I only keep 40 horses at my place and I've seen 3 deaths myself that were due to out-of-control circumstances. Owning horses is just like that and as a manager, it breaks my heart but it does happen. You can't wrap them in bubble wrap.

Final note - hard as it may be to believe, there are many high intensity horse sports where the horses simply love what they do. Like anyone who loves to play a sport or does so at a more advanced level, you can feel the joy of the horse. Their ears are up, their attitude is gung-ho, their eagerness to tackle the next problem/challenge.... I'm not a racing fan, I think they start these horses way too young and if I had my way no horse would race til they're 4 years old, however I'm absolutely certain that horses love to run.

[magical thyme]

9. yes, US tb racehorses are extremely "overbred" and fragile as a result

* They are bred so much for speed -- too fine of bone to support the work demanded of them while they are still babies. European and S. American and Canadian tbs generally have significantly more bone and substance than US-bred.

* TB knee joints don't close until they are 4 years old, yet they are raced at 2 and 3 years old. Think of load up a young child with weights and forcing them to run laps on a hard track day after day.

* Back in the day, they weren't raced nearly as often now, with 2-4 weeks between races and seasonal racing. Most of them are horribly over-raced now, weekly and year round, shipped south for the winter circuit.

* In the interest of speed, track surfaces have been made harder, increasing the concussion on their legs and hooves.

Many, many thoroughbreds die each year as a direct result of injury from racing. Their feet tend to be a mess, due to shoeing at too young an age and bad trimming. Thousands end up permanently unsound and unfit for other work, and many if not most of those are sold to slaughter.

Their unnatural, high-stress living environment leaves them very susceptible to ulcers and psychological damage that manifests as "weaving," "cribbing" (aka windsucking), "stall walking" and other repetitive motions that suggest mental illness.

I am a lifelong horse woman. Horse racing has contributed much to advances in veterinary care and knowledge, which benefits many horses benefit from. Without the money horse-racing provides, a lot of research may never have happened.

However, I am NOT a fan of horse-racing in the US. I cannot stomach the thought of humans being entertained by what amounts to slow torture of any animal, let alone a horse.

[Arugula Latte]

10. Out law horseracing, dogracing, rodeos and circuses that use animals.

Yes I am serious. And people need to STOP going to these cruel events.

[RebelOne]

11. I can agree with that.

Living in Miami, I went to many dog races and horse races. My son worked at the dog tracks in Miami and he would tell me of the abuse of the dogs. And I knew some guy who was sort of a caretaker of greyhounds. I went with him one night when he fed the dogs. They were all kept in tiny cages with barely enough room for them to turn around.

[Arugula Latte]

12. That's horrible.

I don't know how people can enjoy these "entertainments" knowing that they rely on exploitation and often abuse of animals.

[Doremus]

14. Amen to that. nt

[Kingofalldems]

13. No link, but I read this AM that Luck has been canceled by HBO

[nolabear]

17. I read that as well. And Limbaugh can't get cancelled for damaging women and girls!

Oh well, at least they're treating someone right.

[Taverner]

15. Can't they CGI these by now?

Not every scene, but you could put the actor on a clip taken from a previous race

[briv1016]

16. Bad for horses, good for glue factories.