[Boothy]

The thing is, they're bred to race and they love it. If you watch a race, once a jockey falls off, the horse carries on to finish without him. If I were a horse, I'd prefer to have the life of a race horse than stand in a field avoiding my **** for eight years. They're kept active, well groomed, well fed and, once they retire, have a great quality of life. Yes, accidents happen, but at least once they do get injured they're put out of their misery. In the wild, they'd be left to suffer in pain (Before anyone says, I understand that the likelihood of a horse getting injured in the same was is is significantly lower in the wild). I've already said in this thread, perhaps the National should be looked at, the numbers of runners reduced and some action to make the course safer, lower fences and a wider field, as Novo said, but I horse racing shouldn't be banned as a sport.