Quote:
Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers
Yeah I think the biggest gap in the “anti stampede” conversation is what happens to the animals then.
So often I hear the argument “well they can just not race”. Well, that’s not really the answer you think it is. Who’s going to care for them? They are very expensive to house, feed, and maintain. “Just let them live in a field” isn’t an option.
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This is the crux of it for me too. As others have said, there's no magical meadow for horsies to prance around in with unlimited space and no danger from predators or anything else. Even if you could legally straight up release every retired racing horse to the wild you're basically signing their death warrant right then and there. You're a horse, your life choices are:
A: Insta-death at the slaughterhouse
B: Release to the wild where predators, disease, famine, broken bones, or other horses will get you eventually.
C: Overwhelmingly high odds of another 10 years of life being cared for, safe from everything except broken bones listed in B, while being able to do what you're born to do and run.
Seem like pretty easy calculus to me. I don't like the idea of animals dying for my entertainment either, but the world is complicated and running the options in reality yields a pretty easy decision.