A Tribute to Gameness. A Tribute to "EIGHT BELLES" - Page 4

Horses run with a gait that lands all the impact of their weight and all the force of their momentum on one leg, about as big around as a ladies wrist. At about 40 mph, that's a massive amount of force on a very delicate, organic structure. Add just a little torque & you've got a recipe for a disasterous injury. We've seen it too often lately. I don't know if the cause is sloppy track maintenance, or horses bred to turn on blistering speeds without the bone to support them. A horse can be big & strong looking, and in actuality, simply be carrying too much structure to be safe at those speeds. It's a terrible tragedy, because they are bred to have that strong desire, and the truely great ones will run on despite pain, or insurmountable injury. I remember Ruffian, Barbaro, & now Eight Belles; one more name to add to the long list of equine sacrifices to human sport. I miss my horses, too. jackie harris

I think you may have pegged it exactly right, Jackie. Both Ruffian and Eight Belles were big fillies, over 17 hands tall. Too much height for those fragile bones. Ruffian had such a big girth they said she was fat (not true!).

Sunsilver, thank you for that bit of trivia, as it is most interesting and does explain part of what made his superior performance level. Again, I am not a horse fan, but even watching Secretariat on film it was obvious that a special fire burned in his eyes. He would not let himself be beaten by anyone.

Jackie, your explanation makes good sense in regards to the ratio of body mass/muscular strength/impact force vs. bone & joint size/mass.

Regards,

Bob-O

From the Internet:

Ronald Duncan, "The Horse," 1954:

Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride,
Friendship without envy,
Or beauty without vanity?
Here, where grace is served with muscle
And strength by gentleness confined
He serves without servility; he has fought without enmity.
There is nothing so powerful, nothing less violent.
There is nothing so quick, nothing more patient.

I figured the humaniacs would have their noses in it.

http://sports.aol.com/story/_a/peta-wants-jockey-suspended/20080504184809990001

Yep ... now I bet the real backside Vet for Belles speaks up instead of the State Vet who was interviewed... LOL this is gonna get good. All in all, when the truth comes out ... Kentucky will be looking for a new State Vet who approved the horse in the Paddock.

Damn she was a beautiful horse. She had a ton of heart and it was so sad to hear about this when I got home last night. Usually I watch the KD, Preakness and the Belmont Stakes but I had a stupid meeting to attend Sat afternoon, out of town. Sure puts a damper on the festivities. Barbaro still sits fresh in my minde. I don't think I will watch a race again with the wild abandon I did as a kid. Now I'll be praying with a clenched gut, everyone comes out unscathed, regardless of the winner.

BabyEagle.........can't think of a time that I missed either the Derby or Rolex! :) or...............WEG jumping for that matter! ;)

Terrible about Eight Belles...she gave a hell of a run,  and I must agree with everyone who said it happened later rather than early on in the race.

I have not seen the race, nor the horse (except for the pic above).  I just don't care for horse racing, although my father was big on it when he was alive.  It was his passion.

I do wonder though, about animals and the desire to win.  Do horses and dogs really desire to win?  Or, are they just doing what they are trained to do and some are just lucky enough to have a little more gas in the engine, or more natural ability, or better training, or it was just their day?  After all, someone has to win.

I am unsure to a positive conclusion, at this point, but I do think that an animal having the "desire" to win any  competition is possibly a trait that does not exist, except in our minds.  Dog racing, horse racing, pigeon racing, or any animal sport, are probably just the animal doing what Pavlov said they will do, or at best, doing what they think pleases their master.  But trying to out do another animal, for the sheer competitive desire to win, like humans exhibit?  I doubt it.

Again, one of them will win, one will get second, etc.  Is it because of desire on their part?  Kinda shaky projection from us to them.  I wonder if there is any way to ascertain if two wild horses have EVER decided to see which one could run the fastest from one point to another, without human intervention and "direction"?  I would think not.

I do feel so very bad for this filly.  Looking at the above posted pic, which I assume is her, she is beautiful.  The look in her eye is one of pain and not understanding what is going on.  When a human athlete inures their self, they pretty much understand what has occurred.  I do not believe that animals understand when they are incapacitated from injury, and go into shock from not understanding why they can not do things they have always been able to do.

It sure would be nice to be able to converse with animals.  I bet one fifth of the ideas we have in our heads about them, are wrong.

As a side note about this filly.  Hillary Clinton had said prior to the race that people should put their money on the "filly" to win.  An obvious reference to herself.  Now that the "filly" came in second and also had to be put down, I wonder if Hillary said to Bill "Oh crap"?

I don't believe it is so much the horse wanting to "win", they don't think in those terms IMO.  But a racehorse is bred to run, and the ones with heart, courage and "gameness" want to be in front.  In training they will "breeze" with another horse - doesn't have to be a racehorse (I did some of this with my Quarter Horse "pony" that I worked on the racetrack) - the "partner in training" will run in the quarter of the racehorse, the exercise riders will "play the racehorse" by pulling back, allowing the partner to draw slightly ahead, and the racehorse will fight not to lose his lead.  It is training, but also it is "in the heart" of a racehorse.  Different IMO than quarter horse races where they are bred to sprint - the fastest one wins.  Thorougbreds are not sprinters, they are stayers - they are bred to run fast and far.  Strength, heart and stamina, all in one package.  The horses that don't want to be in front (and win) are not the great racehorses.

I mentioned my ex-racehorse once - he won many races and was raced until he was 7 or 8.  Then he was competitive as a jumper, dressage and eventing horse, and I tried foxhunting with him.  He was always VERY competitive.  Never lazy, always tried his best.  If he knocked a rail down he jumped 2' higher the next time.  Made him a difficult horse to ride, definately not a beginner or "easy" horse.  Trail rides were great when he was alone, but with other horses it was a constant jig, nervous trot - unless he was in front.  Then, nice and calm.  Foxhunting didn't work because unless you are the hunt master, you can't be in front.  So my horse would constantly fret and try to overtake everyone else in the field, never allowed to be in front, never quiet unless he was.  So foxhunting was exhausting for horse and rider (me) and wasn't attempted more than a couple of times.  He would have been great as a master's horse (always in front) but not in the field - he was a racehorse through and through, he always wanted to be in front.  Any horse coming "from behind" was a challenge to him.  Passing him was not acceptable no matter the years of training to be "just a horse" after racing.

Even in the pasture (he was around 12 years old in this picture) he was always at least "a head" in front of his buddies when running.  In this picture you can also see how the full weight of the horse lands at speed on one fairly small and not so flexible joint)  You may also compare the differences in conformation between these two horses - the bay is the "racing bred" Thoroughbred, much more streamlined, longer and lighter bones compared to the shorter-coupled boxier arab/quarter horse cross (the grey)

molly