Thoughts On Banning Jumps Racing

(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Anyone who has ever sat on the back of a steeplechase horse can tell you that the horses really seem to enjoy jumping.  Now, I can't say that I can see anything particularly fun about the activity itself (but who knows?), however I do think that these horses get even more out of their races than do horses that race on the flat.

Each time that a horse approaches a jump, the jockey increases the pressure slightly (via the bit and his own body posture) to help set the horse up for the jump.  Then as the jump is executed, the jockey removes all pressure completely, striving to allow the horse to complete the jump as freely and comfortably as possible.  It is only once the horse has landed and begins to gallop off again that restraining pressure is reapplied.

In consequence, every jump that the horse completes is associated with a pressure/release reward, and it would appear that horses look forward to the jump because they have come to see it as a form of reward.

Contrary to popular opinion, jumps races are also much less physically stressful for the horse.  Studies have shown that horses are much more likely to suffer internal bleeding attacks during flat races than during jumping races, and amongst endurance horses such attacks are virtually unheard of.

It is not the distance or the physical exertion of a race that does the damage, but the high speed.  Sprinters, in consequence, are more likely to sustain such damage than stayers.

More horses die competing in flat races than in jumping races, but this is simply because there are vastly more flat races.  In terms of per-capita deaths, jumps racing is clearly the more dangerous sport, but this should not surprise anyone.

Obviously any sport that involves clearing obstacles is going to be significantly more dangerous than a sport that just involves running around.  Human athletes who compete in track hurdle races probably suffer more injuries than their flat racing counterparts, too.

But just because there is greater potential for danger in the sport does not mean by itself that the sport should be banned.  There are many other factors than simple mortality and/or injury rates which should be considered.

Firstly, of course, there is the fact that as I have shown above, even though horses would not be present at the racecourse without human involvement, most of them do not compete unwillingly.  Running, jumping and even racing are natural activities for a horse and horses enjoy them. 

Even the "rough and tumble" of the horses bumping against each other during the running does not normally cause any great mental distress to the horse because it is no more than they would experience running in a herd of wild horses on the move.

Horses can and do willingly complete races in the absence of any form of coercion on the part of a human rider.  We can therefore discount the idea that horses are being made to race against their will (even in those cases where it could be true that they are being made to race unwillingly, they will perform so poorly that it will artificially shorten their racing career anyway).

Furthermore, however many deaths may result from competition in jumping races, it stands as a fact that only a minority of those who compete will sustain a serious injury.  The number of horses that die in jumping races are less than one percent of those who compete (statistics from one racing district put the number at about one fatality for every 139 starters). 

While this is an unfortunate statistic, compare it with the alternative.  If there were no jumping races then the mortality rate for these horses would be very close to 100 percent.

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