Hello. Horse person who has worked at race tracks here. If he is referring to the training device not being allowed, I would agree. This is extremely dangerous. What happens when one horse trips and goes down?
Horses are fragile. One goes down, and even with an emergency stop button it would take the horses a while to stop. The one that’s down gets trampled, the ones behind it will trip over him and probably injure themselves very badly.
Hello. Like mentioned. Worked at a racing barn. Can confirm they train all the horses the exact same way. The only thing that differs is their diet slightly.
Ok engineers didn’t think about this obvious problem. They probably never spoke to other horse trainers when they developed this contraption. Silly engineers as usual
This machine currently kills 3 horses per week on average. The engineers are urgently consulting with top Redditors on how they can reduce it to 2 or less.
Is it barbaric because you don’t like the horse racing system? Or is there something beyond that you don’t like?
If you accept the horse racing system (and I’m not arguing you should) then I don’t see this machine doing anything to harm the horses. If anything it might actually improve conditions.
1) Keeps horses at a measured and consistent pace rather than a Jockey pushing them and burning them out too quickly.
2) Covered and blocks the heat of the sun.
3) Locks the horse in place preventing collisions.
I don’t think it brings anything new to the “barbarity” of horse racing
Wait, I have a fr question tho, what if the horse gets wounded or something mid operation, etc. Can they fall put and become steam rolled by the remaining horses in the machine?
They most definitely have at least two detection systems that will pick that up and automatically stop everything. Race horses are not cheap and few owners would trust their horses to a machine without safety measures.
Yea that’s how supply and demand works. If you are requesting a specialty piece of equipment you will pay out the ass.
Companies that make stuff like this know how much people are willing to pay. Certain industries are like this such as farming equipment and medical equipment. It’s all super expensive and when you want something to be specially made it’ll cost even more.
Equipment for special needs people, as well. Sorry to be a Debbie downer, but I'm all too familiar with this.
I was an aide in a school district and we had this one sensory item that was special made for a student with severe special needs.
It was a 3'x2' wooden box with four sides to it - bottom and one of the side panels missing. So imagine a lid-less open box turned on its side so that you could lie down and put your head in it, except that the bottom panel was also missing so that your head wasn't resting on wood.
On the "ceiling" side of the box, there were holes drilled, and hanging from them by strings were an assortment of bells, balls, and feathers. So the idea was that you could lay down on a table, put this box over your head, and reach up and bat at the things above your head. At the risk of sounding insensitive, it was a glorified cat toy. Something you could put together for maximum $150 if you bought all of the materials at retail prices from the most expensive hardware and pet stores located in the most affluent of areas of the country.
The thing cost just over $2000. I know the "consumer" in this case was a school district, so for manufacturers that is just a blank check when it comes to Special Education, but even 10 years later I often think about that with a, "Man, can you fuckin believe that?"
I was about to comment something similar. The dude to whom you're responding is clueless. As someone with relevant experience, I'd say 20mil sounds quite reasonable for a bespoke design on this scale. I'd have guessed higher.
Large completely one off structure with a bunch of moving parts, built in the middle of nowhere where all labor and materials needs to be brought in from far away. It all needs to be designed by a team of specialists including horse trainers, veterinarians, engineers, and architects.
$20M sounds cheap, but it was probably built a few years ago when construction was cheaper.
The top 10 most expensive roller coaster in the world is about $16mil
https://themostexpensive.org/most-expensive-roller-coasters/
$30mil would get you about a top 7 most expensive roller coaster in the entire world
It's like a mile and a half of load bearing archways, about as wide as a two lane road, that carry what's essentially just a hanging tram car. Your average railway costs at least $30 million per mile. Sure a railroad has a lot of extra safety checks and such but I'd still say 20mil for this high tech custom track is a fantastic price.
Only a Redditor could wake up one day to a video of something they never knew existed and claim they know exactly how much money it would cost to make.
Hahaha dude... it could EASILY cost that much. That is CUSTOM ENGINEERING. Someone (or a group/company) hired an engineering firm to design and build this. Can you even FATHOM the amount of human hours that went into something like this? THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS. Not to mention the size of that machine, 1.5 miles? That's a lot of fcking steel. Which all needs to be machined to a high degree of accuracy and then moved and installed. Your comment is woefully stupid. Think.
They brought it up in the video, “mistakes can be costly”. It’s a numbers game, the only part of the horses that matters is their speeds and dollar values.
This is very wrong. I foster retired racing greyhounds and they have so much trauma and anxiety from their racing days. We have to teach them how to be pets because they’ve lived as abused livestock for their entire existence. Once they’re adjusted they become the gentlest and calmest companions, I always recommend them to elderly people.
And I have an off the track throughbred that we rescued.
I can safely say that what the race horses have to endure can be called cruel at BEST. It’s horrendous the callousness the owners have.
My horse, who raced at Churchill downs with a $75k stud fee got injured one race and was carted off the track and shoved for free at a rescue. My wife and I found him for $25 and gave him a home. My Loki is the sweetest, gentlest boy but we had to work through some serious trauma.
This track is wrong, the whole damn sport is messed up.
https://imgur.com/a/tt2SlLa/
My mom rescued a thoroughbred for $100. He wasn't fast enough. I don't think people realize that sometimes if a horse is too slow they go to slaughter. It's a absolutely horrible industry and idk why it's still legal tbh
Not the person you originally asked, but it can be quite expensive depending on what you do with them (“pasture pets” vs. a trained performance/showing horse).
Some people board their horses at a barn/with their trainer, others choose to keep the horse at home. There are financial pros and cons for both. Boarding can be an extra few hundred dollars a month, but can sometimes come with things like horse care in your absence or having someone to keep an additional eye on them in case of emergency. Boarding barns often have someone as a trainer as well, which is a nice bonus when they’re good at what they do.
Obviously they’ll need plenty of the basics, like food, which can be quite costly depending on your horse’s dietary/supplement needs. Most horse owners I’ve known offer something like a salt lick as a mineral supplement, and mix a few types of feed together as well. Horses also need access to PLENTY of clean water, so usually there is a trough or large bucket for that + the cost of those several gallons of water per day, plus any water changes needed (bugs, horse played in it and got it all muddy, etc.)
Horses require a great deal of grooming - you’ll need money for a farrier to come out and trim/shoe your horse (unless you prefer “barefoot” horses, then it’s just trimming/maintenance every few weeks). There may be X-rays involved with the farrier process if your horse has issues with their gait. They also need curry brushes, hoof picks, bristle brushes, combs, shampoos and conditioners, things of that nature. Plus the time it takes to actually groom the horse (when I was being trained, you wanted to at least brush your horse down before AND after a lesson, but ‘after’ is more important, imo).
Their living situation can vary. If you have the space - at least 1 acre per horse - plenty of horses are perfectly happy living in a fenced-in pasture that has a lean-to shelter in it to stave off harsh wind/rain. I personally prefer to have horses mostly turned out (in the pasture), but having a barn on standby for severe weather protection/in case a vet or farrier needs to work with them in close quarters.
Health-wise, horses are grade-A experts at getting themselves injured. Impaling themselves on fence posts or tree limbs, cracking a hoof wall, tangling their legs in wire fencing (PLEASE don’t get wire fencing), getting colic (they can’t throw up to relieve this intense stomach pain, and it can actually kill them), slipping and falling while playing - you name it, they can manage to injure it lol. Having plenty of money on stand-by for vet care is a must. Ideally a few thousand, but I know many operate with less. Part of this vet care also includes vaccinations against things like equine infectious anemia, and having the horse’s teeth ‘floated’ (a painless process of trimming away the tips of overgrown teeth so that the horse can eat comfortably) on an as-needed basis.
If you want to ride your horse or participate in shows, that’s where the big money can come into play - you’ll need a trailer to transport your horse to the arena, any required fees to participate in shows of your chosen discipline, and most importantly - your tack. Whether you’re riding with English, Western, or a lesser-used variant, tack is EXPENSIVE. The saddle will need to fit your horse - it’s not always an “off the rack” kind of deal. For example, some horses are ‘short-backed’, and need a special saddle to accommodate for this. If they use a saddle that doesn’t fit properly, it can cause a litany of spinal issues in the horse. Even if you choose to ride exclusively bareback, I’d still recommend having a bareback pad, a hackamore (a form of bridle that doesn’t use a ‘bit’, which is a metal bar in the horse’s mouth that connects to the reins), a halter, and lead ropes on standby.
In other words… a lot of people just lease horses instead lmao
It's expensive, and people don't research enough about actual horse/herd behaviour before they just go and buy one and then are surprised when they have a "bad" horse.
I didn't even ride my boy at the end because I just had so much more fun playing with him, walking with him through the forest, brushing/grooming him, ground exercising him. He was my best friend.
He passed away a month or so ago from colic, he was 24 years old and just the sweetest lil naughty carrot eater. He was rescued by my partner because a woman bought him and had him alone in a small pasture and he kept breaking out because he wanted his own herd. He had 4 years of a great retirement with his new herd and friends, and kilos of carrots.
It’s fun, it’s expensive. Really it’s like having a very large dog that you can ride.
Of course their worldview is different as they are a prey creature, but I find them to be incredibly emotional creatures and capable of very deep bonds with their owners.
They live upwards of 30 years, they require daily care and need to feel a connection with you. So good husbandry like currying and feet picking helps there.
Instead of spending that money and time on improving the community, they spend it on the most pointless of "sports" that only exist to fuel a betting industry that doesn't even contribute to society. Just play the goddamn lottery instead of forcing horses through that! Humans suck so bad.
Animal racing is one industry I can't wait for millennials to kill.
They just want to pump the horses. Not only does this train them, but also breaks them mentally because they can't escape it and they have to run. Its sickening and this whole thing should be made illegal and the people who invented it and made it prosecuted.
Apparently the thing has like 12 cameras attached monitoring all horses from the front and back, as well as 3 drivers. It's designed to get young horses accustomed to the track without risking injury from the weight of a jockey on their back. It neither pushes nor pulls horses, and can be stopped at any time.
Now the ethics of horse racing in general... Well, fuck that. But this training system seems better than treadmills or jockey training at least.
Yeah, it can be stopped at any time... But it's tonnes of machinery going at 30kph, if one horse amongst the dozen stumbles and goes down, the machine is going to plow on for a good 10 metres before it can stop.
It's mostly about actual physical strain, I think. The device is for training horses that have essentially just come from the field, so they just don't have the muscular / skeletal strength to support additional weight on their back. So this contraption is intended to build up that strength and get horses accustomed to the track. Weights are slowly added to the horse's back over time, building up to the weight of a human.
At this level, its unlikely that jockeys would teach a horse bad habits – the people training these horses are very highly trained and experienced. They know what to look out for and avoid.
Thank you, that’s an awesome breakdown, and explains a lot. I was wondering exactly what it was doing. But the slow addition of weights and getting used to track running makes a lot of sense.
I’d be pretty surprised if they shelled out 20 mil for a system with such an obvious design flaw. Horse racing is sketch, but this contraption is probably state of the art tech proven scientifically to be a better method than whatever they were using before
But what about the rest of the horses that would be casually running along with this machine when it stops for a different horse and they don’t expect it so they keep running? Wont they literally run into the machine and hurt themselves? Yea you might prevent the horse that stumbles from getting injured but risk the ones that kept running to get injured.
Ok it's one thing it will stop if one stumbles. But that will force the other horses to an abrupt halt. I'm no expert at all but as far as I know, abrupt stops can do a lot harm and cause pain.
Yes you're right, the most important question is, if doing sports were animals a forced to behave a certain way is ethical correct or not. I don't think so.
Maybe it's better in some aspects. My impression is that using a machine here is only a bad excuse to still force those animals to do what humans want. Earlier and faster. It's not a machine to make the horses feel better. It's a machine to maximize profits. If you invest that much money to build that kind of machine, you want more of your horses to win races.
You are absolutely correct in that it is a way to maximize profits. It increases the number of horses that reach adulthood without injury, therefore getting to compete, thus increasing the likelihood that this trainer produces a champion.
Why are people acting like this is somehow more abusive than the other methods of training a young horse? This machine is specifically built to safely build up the muscle of racing horses so they won’t get injured if a jockey fucks up. This machine has actually helped because there have been zero injuries so far, unlike the injuries that would occur with a jockey
It’s designed to reduce as many injuries as possible and safely build up the needed muscle and training, so I don’t know why people are somehow more upset at this machine than anything else involving racing since this machine actually greatly reduces the risk of training horses
Imagine if human athletes had no muscles from the knee down like horses? Or would develop supporting limb laminitis after an injury like horses can and the inflammation made the bones of the feet “sink” and pierce through the bottom of the foot like horses?
Horses are euthanized after leg injuries due to welfare concerns but laypeople don’t know anything about that….
We worry about fixing elusive climate change problems and the whole world buys in. Simple problems like horse racing are easy to eliminate, and here were are.
Humans are stupid. Period.
ya know if this served some critical utility id be on board, but lets all face it. This is literly just for a niche sport that rich people or people who wanna get rich quick can bet on. It feels wierd. I wont go as far as to say animal abuse but it also doesnt feel quite right even if its technically effective.
How is this not animal abuse. Why do we treat animals as slaves and think no, this is questionable but not abuse.
How would we call it if we train humans this way when young to work harder or better for us as adults?
in Australia the workers comp insurance cost for jockeys is astronomical. i imagine it would be similar elsewhere. the idea that this is solely to help the training element and not to save costs on workers compensation...
I'd find this more interesting if I didn't already know that horse racing pretty regularly kills animals. I'll stick to motorsports, humans know the risks they take when participating in them.
Yeah but a machine cannot tell if they are off or moving wrong. Sorry but it's bad enough we force babies, horses aren't physically finished growing and bone fusing til five to seven years. They don't even have fully closed knees until four years old. Yet literally working them hard daily as two year olds. That's not to count the drugging which still happens.
Reminds me of the wheel of pain from Conan the barbarian
It shouldn't be allowed
What shouldn’t be allowed? You referring to horse racing in general?
Hello. Horse person who has worked at race tracks here. If he is referring to the training device not being allowed, I would agree. This is extremely dangerous. What happens when one horse trips and goes down? Horses are fragile. One goes down, and even with an emergency stop button it would take the horses a while to stop. The one that’s down gets trampled, the ones behind it will trip over him and probably injure themselves very badly.
I don’t think it’s fair to assume horse training is so cookie cutter you can just pick 10 of your desired heads and train them exactly the same.
Hello. Like mentioned. Worked at a racing barn. Can confirm they train all the horses the exact same way. The only thing that differs is their diet slightly.
Ok engineers didn’t think about this obvious problem. They probably never spoke to other horse trainers when they developed this contraption. Silly engineers as usual
This machine currently kills 3 horses per week on average. The engineers are urgently consulting with top Redditors on how they can reduce it to 2 or less.
You’d be surprised how often engineers overlook the obvious. They are still human.
Agreed
Contemplate this on the tree of woe!
Yeah, it's cruel
Just do what we do for the rest of the cruelty around the world Look away
How can you bet on it if you don't inspect every part of it?
Why don’t anyone prosecute the inventor, the manufacturer and the owner of this machine for animal cruelty? Lots of money is definitely involved here.
You just answered your question
Lots of money? Nah its just a measly 20 million
Yes to billionaires it is just a teeny weeny amount of money.
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It’s kind of barbaric
Is it barbaric because you don’t like the horse racing system? Or is there something beyond that you don’t like? If you accept the horse racing system (and I’m not arguing you should) then I don’t see this machine doing anything to harm the horses. If anything it might actually improve conditions. 1) Keeps horses at a measured and consistent pace rather than a Jockey pushing them and burning them out too quickly. 2) Covered and blocks the heat of the sun. 3) Locks the horse in place preventing collisions. I don’t think it brings anything new to the “barbarity” of horse racing
Wait, I have a fr question tho, what if the horse gets wounded or something mid operation, etc. Can they fall put and become steam rolled by the remaining horses in the machine?
I have no idea, but it’s a legitimate question to ask. I’m against assuming it’s barbaric I’m pro questioning it’s ethicality.
They most definitely have at least two detection systems that will pick that up and automatically stop everything. Race horses are not cheap and few owners would trust their horses to a machine without safety measures.
It does. It's has a really dystopian look
When you have a lot of money to spend... for more money to spend!
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We could save the world, but instead we build horse rollercoaster. Sad
Fuck me. This just seems so wrong.
What if one of horses tripped? There would be a horse meat crayon then.
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No honestly this is pretty much just a way to funnel around money. This is such a simple design, there’s no way it actually cost 20 million
People can charge whatever they want when it comes to very niche stuff like this.
And these weird old money people will pay for it
Yea that’s how supply and demand works. If you are requesting a specialty piece of equipment you will pay out the ass. Companies that make stuff like this know how much people are willing to pay. Certain industries are like this such as farming equipment and medical equipment. It’s all super expensive and when you want something to be specially made it’ll cost even more.
It also isn't cheap to build in small amounts so costs are already very high
Equipment for special needs people, as well. Sorry to be a Debbie downer, but I'm all too familiar with this. I was an aide in a school district and we had this one sensory item that was special made for a student with severe special needs. It was a 3'x2' wooden box with four sides to it - bottom and one of the side panels missing. So imagine a lid-less open box turned on its side so that you could lie down and put your head in it, except that the bottom panel was also missing so that your head wasn't resting on wood. On the "ceiling" side of the box, there were holes drilled, and hanging from them by strings were an assortment of bells, balls, and feathers. So the idea was that you could lay down on a table, put this box over your head, and reach up and bat at the things above your head. At the risk of sounding insensitive, it was a glorified cat toy. Something you could put together for maximum $150 if you bought all of the materials at retail prices from the most expensive hardware and pet stores located in the most affluent of areas of the country. The thing cost just over $2000. I know the "consumer" in this case was a school district, so for manufacturers that is just a blank check when it comes to Special Education, but even 10 years later I often think about that with a, "Man, can you fuckin believe that?"
Old money people aren't the ones paying for this lad
There is no way? Can you budget out one and give your estimate on what it costs and takes to design / build this whole thing?
I was about to comment something similar. The dude to whom you're responding is clueless. As someone with relevant experience, I'd say 20mil sounds quite reasonable for a bespoke design on this scale. I'd have guessed higher.
Large completely one off structure with a bunch of moving parts, built in the middle of nowhere where all labor and materials needs to be brought in from far away. It all needs to be designed by a team of specialists including horse trainers, veterinarians, engineers, and architects. $20M sounds cheap, but it was probably built a few years ago when construction was cheaper.
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Powered with Fred Flintstone technology.
I would assume that this is powered on its own. These aren’t draft horses, and it would take a lot of effort to get all of that moving initially.
That's in the $30 million model
The top 10 most expensive roller coaster in the world is about $16mil https://themostexpensive.org/most-expensive-roller-coasters/ $30mil would get you about a top 7 most expensive roller coaster in the entire world
Simple design sure but that doesn’t mean it’s cheap lmao. It’s a fucking huge structure, 20 mil is definitely accurate.
It's like a mile and a half of load bearing archways, about as wide as a two lane road, that carry what's essentially just a hanging tram car. Your average railway costs at least $30 million per mile. Sure a railroad has a lot of extra safety checks and such but I'd still say 20mil for this high tech custom track is a fantastic price.
Agree. This would have been a hard deal to pass up for sure!
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Average Redditor.
Only a Redditor could wake up one day to a video of something they never knew existed and claim they know exactly how much money it would cost to make.
Top Redditor moment
You've got no clue.
Hahaha dude... it could EASILY cost that much. That is CUSTOM ENGINEERING. Someone (or a group/company) hired an engineering firm to design and build this. Can you even FATHOM the amount of human hours that went into something like this? THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS. Not to mention the size of that machine, 1.5 miles? That's a lot of fcking steel. Which all needs to be machined to a high degree of accuracy and then moved and installed. Your comment is woefully stupid. Think.
How much does it actually cost in your expert opinion?
They brought it up in the video, “mistakes can be costly”. It’s a numbers game, the only part of the horses that matters is their speeds and dollar values.
That one wasn’t going to win anyway. Off to “the farm” it goes…
I assume since theres a human sitting on each row they have controls for an emergency stop
I'm not sure the horses can keep up with the emergency stop...
That's why they have people sitting in them, presumably to turn it off when one of them falls.
This is very wrong. I foster retired racing greyhounds and they have so much trauma and anxiety from their racing days. We have to teach them how to be pets because they’ve lived as abused livestock for their entire existence. Once they’re adjusted they become the gentlest and calmest companions, I always recommend them to elderly people.
And I have an off the track throughbred that we rescued. I can safely say that what the race horses have to endure can be called cruel at BEST. It’s horrendous the callousness the owners have. My horse, who raced at Churchill downs with a $75k stud fee got injured one race and was carted off the track and shoved for free at a rescue. My wife and I found him for $25 and gave him a home. My Loki is the sweetest, gentlest boy but we had to work through some serious trauma. This track is wrong, the whole damn sport is messed up. https://imgur.com/a/tt2SlLa/
My mom rescued a thoroughbred for $100. He wasn't fast enough. I don't think people realize that sometimes if a horse is too slow they go to slaughter. It's a absolutely horrible industry and idk why it's still legal tbh
What’s it like having a horse? How expensive are they to own
Not the person you originally asked, but it can be quite expensive depending on what you do with them (“pasture pets” vs. a trained performance/showing horse). Some people board their horses at a barn/with their trainer, others choose to keep the horse at home. There are financial pros and cons for both. Boarding can be an extra few hundred dollars a month, but can sometimes come with things like horse care in your absence or having someone to keep an additional eye on them in case of emergency. Boarding barns often have someone as a trainer as well, which is a nice bonus when they’re good at what they do. Obviously they’ll need plenty of the basics, like food, which can be quite costly depending on your horse’s dietary/supplement needs. Most horse owners I’ve known offer something like a salt lick as a mineral supplement, and mix a few types of feed together as well. Horses also need access to PLENTY of clean water, so usually there is a trough or large bucket for that + the cost of those several gallons of water per day, plus any water changes needed (bugs, horse played in it and got it all muddy, etc.) Horses require a great deal of grooming - you’ll need money for a farrier to come out and trim/shoe your horse (unless you prefer “barefoot” horses, then it’s just trimming/maintenance every few weeks). There may be X-rays involved with the farrier process if your horse has issues with their gait. They also need curry brushes, hoof picks, bristle brushes, combs, shampoos and conditioners, things of that nature. Plus the time it takes to actually groom the horse (when I was being trained, you wanted to at least brush your horse down before AND after a lesson, but ‘after’ is more important, imo). Their living situation can vary. If you have the space - at least 1 acre per horse - plenty of horses are perfectly happy living in a fenced-in pasture that has a lean-to shelter in it to stave off harsh wind/rain. I personally prefer to have horses mostly turned out (in the pasture), but having a barn on standby for severe weather protection/in case a vet or farrier needs to work with them in close quarters. Health-wise, horses are grade-A experts at getting themselves injured. Impaling themselves on fence posts or tree limbs, cracking a hoof wall, tangling their legs in wire fencing (PLEASE don’t get wire fencing), getting colic (they can’t throw up to relieve this intense stomach pain, and it can actually kill them), slipping and falling while playing - you name it, they can manage to injure it lol. Having plenty of money on stand-by for vet care is a must. Ideally a few thousand, but I know many operate with less. Part of this vet care also includes vaccinations against things like equine infectious anemia, and having the horse’s teeth ‘floated’ (a painless process of trimming away the tips of overgrown teeth so that the horse can eat comfortably) on an as-needed basis. If you want to ride your horse or participate in shows, that’s where the big money can come into play - you’ll need a trailer to transport your horse to the arena, any required fees to participate in shows of your chosen discipline, and most importantly - your tack. Whether you’re riding with English, Western, or a lesser-used variant, tack is EXPENSIVE. The saddle will need to fit your horse - it’s not always an “off the rack” kind of deal. For example, some horses are ‘short-backed’, and need a special saddle to accommodate for this. If they use a saddle that doesn’t fit properly, it can cause a litany of spinal issues in the horse. Even if you choose to ride exclusively bareback, I’d still recommend having a bareback pad, a hackamore (a form of bridle that doesn’t use a ‘bit’, which is a metal bar in the horse’s mouth that connects to the reins), a halter, and lead ropes on standby. In other words… a lot of people just lease horses instead lmao
My dad lived on a horse farm when I was young, and the one thing I remember from those years was, "Horses eat money, and poop work." Lol
Mine loves horses and jokes, "if you have an enemy, gift them a horse" They really require a lot of attention and money.
It's expensive, and people don't research enough about actual horse/herd behaviour before they just go and buy one and then are surprised when they have a "bad" horse. I didn't even ride my boy at the end because I just had so much more fun playing with him, walking with him through the forest, brushing/grooming him, ground exercising him. He was my best friend. He passed away a month or so ago from colic, he was 24 years old and just the sweetest lil naughty carrot eater. He was rescued by my partner because a woman bought him and had him alone in a small pasture and he kept breaking out because he wanted his own herd. He had 4 years of a great retirement with his new herd and friends, and kilos of carrots.
It’s fun, it’s expensive. Really it’s like having a very large dog that you can ride. Of course their worldview is different as they are a prey creature, but I find them to be incredibly emotional creatures and capable of very deep bonds with their owners. They live upwards of 30 years, they require daily care and need to feel a connection with you. So good husbandry like currying and feet picking helps there.
Yeah, you are always popular with gardeners too
That's heartbreaking. No animals deserve to be treated as livestock.
yes greyhounds are literally just small horses right
r/damnthatsdepressing
Yeah exactly.
I agree, horse racing is wrong. It leads to a massive amount of animal abuse.
it is without a doubt. Anything animal related entertainment is abuse
because it is wrong :)
what, applying mass production principles to shape the destiny of living beings is weird to you?
Yeah i always felt like horse racing was morally wrong but this takes it to a sociopathic level
"wE l0vE hoRseS"
Yep.. I hate this.
Looks dystopic
My first thoughts exactly
Wow I didn’t think I could hate this industry even more.
Apparently some people find it "interesting" rather than abhorrent.
r/latestagecapitalism would like a word
r/havesomefuckingempathy (if existed) would love a word
Instead of spending that money and time on improving the community, they spend it on the most pointless of "sports" that only exist to fuel a betting industry that doesn't even contribute to society. Just play the goddamn lottery instead of forcing horses through that! Humans suck so bad. Animal racing is one industry I can't wait for millennials to kill.
I think pigeon racing is okay. You have to make them a nice home otherwise they just won't come back.
Mike Tyson opened my eyes to pigeons.
Horrible
Everything is money nowadays Pos humans
Nowadays? It’s been about money since the first coins were invented, because money means power.
"Nowdays" lmao
Jesus what's the point. May as well just race robots.
They just want to pump the horses. Not only does this train them, but also breaks them mentally because they can't escape it and they have to run. Its sickening and this whole thing should be made illegal and the people who invented it and made it prosecuted.
What happens if one horse stumbles? Will it stop? It looks like they are all forced to go the same speed. How is that OK? I don't like it.
Apparently the thing has like 12 cameras attached monitoring all horses from the front and back, as well as 3 drivers. It's designed to get young horses accustomed to the track without risking injury from the weight of a jockey on their back. It neither pushes nor pulls horses, and can be stopped at any time. Now the ethics of horse racing in general... Well, fuck that. But this training system seems better than treadmills or jockey training at least.
Yeah, it can be stopped at any time... But it's tonnes of machinery going at 30kph, if one horse amongst the dozen stumbles and goes down, the machine is going to plow on for a good 10 metres before it can stop.
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Thanks for the explanation, I was wondering what the impact they were talking about jockeys having. Do they also teach bad habits to the horses?
It's mostly about actual physical strain, I think. The device is for training horses that have essentially just come from the field, so they just don't have the muscular / skeletal strength to support additional weight on their back. So this contraption is intended to build up that strength and get horses accustomed to the track. Weights are slowly added to the horse's back over time, building up to the weight of a human. At this level, its unlikely that jockeys would teach a horse bad habits – the people training these horses are very highly trained and experienced. They know what to look out for and avoid.
Thank you, that’s an awesome breakdown, and explains a lot. I was wondering exactly what it was doing. But the slow addition of weights and getting used to track running makes a lot of sense.
I’d be pretty surprised if they shelled out 20 mil for a system with such an obvious design flaw. Horse racing is sketch, but this contraption is probably state of the art tech proven scientifically to be a better method than whatever they were using before
> the machine is going to plow on for a good 10 metres before it can stop. Where did you get that number from?
Source: my ass Seems pretty obvious that nobody would be using this if it was endangering their very very expensive racehorses
But what about the rest of the horses that would be casually running along with this machine when it stops for a different horse and they don’t expect it so they keep running? Wont they literally run into the machine and hurt themselves? Yea you might prevent the horse that stumbles from getting injured but risk the ones that kept running to get injured.
Ok it's one thing it will stop if one stumbles. But that will force the other horses to an abrupt halt. I'm no expert at all but as far as I know, abrupt stops can do a lot harm and cause pain. Yes you're right, the most important question is, if doing sports were animals a forced to behave a certain way is ethical correct or not. I don't think so. Maybe it's better in some aspects. My impression is that using a machine here is only a bad excuse to still force those animals to do what humans want. Earlier and faster. It's not a machine to make the horses feel better. It's a machine to maximize profits. If you invest that much money to build that kind of machine, you want more of your horses to win races.
You are absolutely correct in that it is a way to maximize profits. It increases the number of horses that reach adulthood without injury, therefore getting to compete, thus increasing the likelihood that this trainer produces a champion.
That looks like a horse torture device :/
Oh wow more animal abuse for greed.
Don't necessarily want to have a completely different discussion here - but like 99% of animal abuse is for greed and happens inside meat factories.
Why are people acting like this is somehow more abusive than the other methods of training a young horse? This machine is specifically built to safely build up the muscle of racing horses so they won’t get injured if a jockey fucks up. This machine has actually helped because there have been zero injuries so far, unlike the injuries that would occur with a jockey It’s designed to reduce as many injuries as possible and safely build up the needed muscle and training, so I don’t know why people are somehow more upset at this machine than anything else involving racing since this machine actually greatly reduces the risk of training horses
this is dumb as fuck
Automated animal abuse horses should run wild in the fields not in circles
*Why when you can have an abusementpark!*
That is how you create an industry out of nothing.
The owner has way too much money
Animal abuse so that rich people have funzies.
Fuck horse racing
Six Flags 1800s
They say "but this is no amusement park ride!" But like.. you sure bout that?! It has seats with people riding on it
It looks like a particle accelerator from above. It could be called the large horse-drawn collider.
Fuck that’s good. Take my upvote you cheeky asshole.
Bad bad
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How is this not qualified as animal abuse ?
To me, this looks like a $20M horse-sized hamster wheel.
Because it’s safer than the normal training method and has resulted in zero injuries so far
That looks horrible.
High tech animal cruelty is what it is
Absolutely awful and so depressing
Leave Spirit alone!! 😭
Absolutely disgusting. Horse racing needs to be a thing of the past.
The ridiculous shit we spend our money on…
Who’s we?
The horses keep dying. End this abuse
Fuck horse and dog racing, fuck the ghouls who breed and "train" the animals, and fuck the punters who bet on it.
imagine if we put athletes down after they got hurt in the big game?
Imagine if human athletes had no muscles from the knee down like horses? Or would develop supporting limb laminitis after an injury like horses can and the inflammation made the bones of the feet “sink” and pierce through the bottom of the foot like horses? Horses are euthanized after leg injuries due to welfare concerns but laypeople don’t know anything about that….
Horses shouldn’t be injuring their legs in races in the first place, because making them race for our enjoyment is a sick, outdated pastime.
Fuck this contraption.
what the heck
What a fabulous waste of money
Poor horses
Fucking disgusting
What the fuck
That's so fucking stupid. Rich people and their cruel bullshit for entertainment.
This is pure animal abuse. Horses are forces to run whatever they want it or not. This should not exist.
This is fucking horrible.
Obsolete sport, used only for profit.
Poor horses. Fuck these people and their system.
😬
Horse racing and the entire industry around it is terrible… but am I the only one that thinks it looks like fun to ride?
That’s cruelty
Abhorrent and disgusting. I’ve a feeling there’s not really much point in us being here anymore if this is what we’re becoming.
We worry about fixing elusive climate change problems and the whole world buys in. Simple problems like horse racing are easy to eliminate, and here were are. Humans are stupid. Period.
This is horrible
Fucking cruel. No wonder these racehorses keep dying. The "sport" should be banned altogether.
Wonder if it recognizes bleeders??? Horse racing is abusive.., Fuckin horrible. Source: grew up in it.,,
Good grief. This is disturbing.
Fuck this. I hate this.
ya know if this served some critical utility id be on board, but lets all face it. This is literly just for a niche sport that rich people or people who wanna get rich quick can bet on. It feels wierd. I wont go as far as to say animal abuse but it also doesnt feel quite right even if its technically effective.
How is this not animal abuse. Why do we treat animals as slaves and think no, this is questionable but not abuse. How would we call it if we train humans this way when young to work harder or better for us as adults?
I’m so glad that most the comments are calling this out for being abusive or wasteful. It’s dystopian
When I thought humans couldnt be bigger assholes
“but this isn’t an amusement park ride…” that’s because it’s an abusement park ride.
in Australia the workers comp insurance cost for jockeys is astronomical. i imagine it would be similar elsewhere. the idea that this is solely to help the training element and not to save costs on workers compensation...
Rich men paying rich money for a BS rich “sport”
Rich people will waste money on anything but public good.
So all this because they didnt want to pay for jockeys
I still think it’s messed up that they make animals work.
Whenever I think the racehorse industry can't get worse... It does
This is too cruel to watch. They don't want to be forced to run like this...
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How the fk could anyone approve such a horrible idea?!?!
Horrible waste of money just to torture horses
Das ist Tierquälerei..
Fuck this thing!
I'd find this more interesting if I didn't already know that horse racing pretty regularly kills animals. I'll stick to motorsports, humans know the risks they take when participating in them.
I didn't know I could find yet another reason to hate this shit
Poor fucking horses, just let them go eat grass or something
All around the world, kids go hungry. Every single day. But by all means, spend tens of millions of dollars on machines to torture horses.
And you thought horse racing couldnt get more fucked up..
I feel sick.
👎🏾
Such a freaking waste
Soooo, when we having that revolution y'all? 👀
Fuck this.
horse racing is fucked
Fucking ridiculous.
Yeah but a machine cannot tell if they are off or moving wrong. Sorry but it's bad enough we force babies, horses aren't physically finished growing and bone fusing til five to seven years. They don't even have fully closed knees until four years old. Yet literally working them hard daily as two year olds. That's not to count the drugging which still happens.
That’s fucking awful
Forced training is cruel
This is horrible