Quote:
Originally Posted by IrishSpring2013
what do yuo think of this video?
apologies.. if this should be somewhere else, or different thread.. thought it was okay.. but maybe could take away from fun stampede talk! i love the stampede.. and used to love the rodeo.. but have mixed feelings lately..
and i also dont think "horses die elsewhere, so its ok they die here too" is a good excuse.
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The guy poking the horses isn't doing it to piss them off. It gets them started in the right direction so they don't get hung up in the chute. Oddly enough the Stampede rebuilt the chutes in 2013 to address the issue without the poke. It's really not a big deal and causes no damage and no stress.
The Stampede does send horses to slaughter of course. But they also retire hundreds and rescue hundreds from the race circuit. The Stampede is a second chance for so many horses. I owned a race horse that was in a barn fire and had the skin on its back burned. He could never take a rider again but he could pull a wagon really well. All kinds of problem horses wind up on the wagon circuit. Again, without that, literally none of these horses would be around for long.
They video images of a horse stalling in the chute is so meaningless. If they really don't want to buck, they are not going to be at the Stampede. Horses pause for any number of reasons but that doesn't mean they are being tortured into bucking. I've seen these guys on the ranch and they get so excited when it's their turn to buck. The walk from the barn to the ring is scary because they're so ready to go. They do love it. I've seen it. So in that sense the video really missed the mark.
Again, ropers and wrestlers can get bent. Real cowboys don't even like those guys.