Thank you for an honest answer.

Can I ask, have you ever owned a horse/pony, because I can tell you from someone who has, that fences don`t always keep horses in, if they want to get to another field a fence will not stop them.

Not all horses love to jump,. some are jumpers some are not, some you could not get over a pole on the ground if they don`t want to go, others are BRED to jump, and its what they do best.

The national hunt horses are bred to jump, its in their genes, its what they do best.

Horses die everyday of the week, they die in fields , stables , out hacking , show jumping, eventing and fun rides.

they are fragile creatures at the end of the day, should we never do anything risky with them and wrap them in cotton wool, and never allow then out of the stable , or paddock, but then, thats where many of the accidents happen, so what should we do then??

So its OK, for you to take risks with yourself or your dogs, because they need quality of life

But its not OK, for others (becuase you dont like it) to give their animals qaulity of life..........


Mmmmmmmmm a little hypocrisy there I think ,

Having ridden horses I know that they will take off and get excited by this and that running and jumping are natural actions for them. We use this to our own advantage.
However the GN course is designed to test the horse to the limits, and offer huge rewards for the humans involved, which is unethical IMO.
There is a great incentive for riders to take chances and to push a tired horse into mistakes. How would a jockey ever work again if he pulled up the horse because it had lost impetus or energy?
The course needs to be closed down.

What about Cheltenham, and any other course that has had fatalities, what about point to point courses, should they also be closed down, due to fatalities, lets not leave out, the event courses, they have fatalities too, have witnessed a few myself when fence judging.

Not forgetting any fun ride/hunt fence /show jump that also has fatalities, do we need to close them as well

Worked as in other equestrian disciplines, not manual work.

Pardon ?, are you then suggesting that if someone eats meat they have no right to have view's on animal welfare ?.

I am suggesting that I find it very odd that anyone who directly contributes to an animals death for their own pleasure can be so appalled by the accidental death of two particular animals.

Every single course has fatalities, in the same way that every single XC course has probably lamed hundreds of horses and horses have died falling off the Hickstead bank in show jumping.

The difference between other courses (and remember aintree has a normal racecourse too) is that races run on other courses, do not attract a number of deaths in the same race year after year

There was a race the day before the national called the topham, that saw nothing like the carnage that was seen 24 hours later over the same course.

The issue with the national is the speed they covered the first section was not dissimilar to record breaking Sprinter Sacre, who runs over two miles. Not 4.5!

Those who say they don't love it, read up on Frankel, and maybe watch a couple of his races, he is a total monster, and will command the most ridiculous of stud fess (rumoured to break 100k barrier for a first season), but owners/trainer/breeding operation he's connected to have said to keep him in training, because he LOVES to do it.

Can't substantiate this, but I'm sure it's reasonably easy enough to check on. It was posted on a social networking site that in the last 12 months 41 horses have lost their lives through racing.

Yes, I will tuck into my Sunday lunch, but, no, I don't see how this can possibly be right

http://www.horsedeathwatch.com/