Abuse
Racehorses begin training at the age of 1.5 years old, while regular riding horses begin training at the age of 3-4 years old. This is because most horse races are for horses from the ages of 2-3. Because the horses are so young, they get injured easily (as their bones are not fully developed), causing them to be euthanized. The most fatal races that young horses have to run are "under tack shows" for 2 year olds. There are meant to impress potential buyers. Since horses are forced to run at extremely fast speeds, the amount of breakdowns is immense. Equine veterinarian Dr. Sheila Lyons said "Pushing these immature 2 year old horses for speed before they have reached physical and mental maturity is recklessly dangerous and systematically damaging for the animal while also proving to be unreliable for the prospective buyers as a predictor of future racing ability." Another form of abuse are whips. Even though penalties are distributed for excessive whipping, horses are whipped close to 30 times a race. At a 2008 race, the horse named Appeal to the City suffered hemorrhaging around her eye when jockey Jeremy Rose "engaged in extreme misuse of the whip …."
The following video is on breakdowns of young racehorses. (WARNING: Disturbing video footage)
The following video is on breakdowns of young racehorses. (WARNING: Disturbing video footage)