Hi

I am a stb. trainer, (I also ride, and was a show ridder long before I had stbs.) 

There is far more to this story than meets the eye.  The horsemen blow the numbers out of proportion, the gov. makes excuses for actions that they have wanted to put forth since 1997 when this all came into being.  The money that they will not be giving the horsemen will only line their pockets, the horsmen will become statistics and we will be paying them money through Wealfare, since they have no skills other than horses for the most part, most are old men not elgible for retirement, and yet to old to go into ther reg. work force.  The feed dealers will do okay without stb. horsepeople, they have riding horses and other livestock to feed.  The vets will suffer for a while as ridding horses use a lot less vets, as well as very little specialized equip.  The vets too will live and adjust.  Other trades will survive, the tack shop in my area, always stb. and started for the stb. industry has already made most of the switch to riding, they have let all but one of their stb. staff go, and hired riding people to sell their customers.

So yes everything will change, the breeders will go the way of the doodo bird, and so be it.

While I do race, as far as I am concered racing needs to die.  Simple as that.  I went back to it personally as a way to feed my horses.  I am also a tried and true stb. horse lover.  I love all horses, but stb.s are my breed of choice.  When I went back to horses after leaving for ten years, I purposely choose the stb. for my breed to ride eventer with.  There was no other choice for me.

The amount of abuse in racing is tremendous, almost NO stb. horseperson gives a damn about the horse.  It is that simple, the odd person will give you a bull story, and when you get to know them, you fast find out they don't care and are abusive, negletful, and cruel.  Stbs. are considered throwaway horses, much like cats in the society.  Even in this article they stress that they are ugly horses-- in this case saying they have ugly heads.  While there are stbs. with ugly heads, their are plenty with awesome heads.  There is alsy other breeds with ugly heads, but no one points that out... one of the ugliest headed horses I ever had was a champ. park horse that was 1/2 arab.  I have three stbs. right now, and all are beautiful, all resemble other breeds, and all have their own look.

So while TB and STB. horse racing needs to die, the horses do not.  They have a great amount of potential, and deserve to live out their lives the same as any other breed.

For the horsemen to try to keep the industry going on what will happen to the horses is bull as well, since the end to these horses is at about 3.  They either go straight for meat, or they get sent to the menonites and that is a slow cruel way to die.  Either choice is horrific. 

I was at the races last night, my husband who is a farrier was filling in as the paddock blacksmith for the night.  A girl with a really good 2 year old stake colt (that has made lots of money for her), needed the nails tightened.  The horse was obviously fearful, and while it was not spooky at us, strangers-- it was afraid of her.  When Joe had the foot up, the horse started to pull at bit, she grabbed it by the lead line and told it, "I am not one of those new age parents-- I will kick you in the nuts right in front of people in public!", I told her she wouldn't be!!! (not kick the horse, and especially not when MY husband was underneath it trying to tighten nails!)  She was sour at me, since I was taking nicely to the horse, as was Joe-- and I think that she would have kicked me, only my rep is tough enough that no horsepeople mess with us.  I cannot count how many times I have had to stop others from beatting their horses... yeah horse racing needs to die--- and if you think that the cow was only threatening to kick the horse, she had her foot poised to carry it off when I stopped her!

So each and everyday as the March 31 countdown gets closer my family gets bigger and bigger grins on our face.  Stb. people are mostly cruel to the horses, and on top of it all are NOT friendly to outsiders.  We are NOT outsiders and they don't like us either-- they hate us cause we are kind to our horses-- no joke, we get slagged all the time for being good to our horses, I have been told by numerous people that I need to 'prod' (electricute) Che to get him going.  That since we are so nice to him that's why he hasn't made much money (not because of IR, or the fact that he has health issues), so that is the mentality that I deal with everyday, so good buy stb. horse people hope you enjoy your life on wealfare, or on the street.... but one all don't forget that the poor horse didin't ask to be brought into this world, don't forget that there is far more to a stb. than you have been lead to believe. 

take care, cheers

Tiocfaidh Ar La Stable, Che, Tattoo, Steel

Deb McDaid