All in all, 2011 was a difficult year for me, but there is one day that stands out as a particular low. It was the day I found out my racehorse had dropped down dead of a heart attack.
He wasn’t killed in action, or cut down in his prime. He’d done his four years on the track, he’d spent another decade or so doing dressage and Pony Club with me, and by the age of 23 he was enjoying an easy retirement out in the fields at my mother’s home in Scotland when he died.
It was quick, mercifully, but no less distressing for my mum. She heard him whinny, that familiar, deep throaty neigh of his, and rushed out to see him as he seemingly lost control of his limbs and went crashing through the fence. And that was it.
The death of an equine is the most distressing, but inevitable, part of horse ownership. Whatever the circumstances, it is always unpleasant, but rarely does equine death happen so publicly as it does in racing.
Every day, around the country, hundreds of horses die. They die during competition, they die in their stables, they die in their fields, just as my old boy did. But these horses are not in the public eye, they are not in our headlines or on our TV screens.
I write this following the news that five horses have died at the Cheltenham Festival.
There can be nothing worse for a stable lad or lass than seeing their equine charge killed on the track, to arrive at a racecourse full of hope and excitement, and to leave with an empty horsebox.
Racegoers do care about the horses that give their all on the racetrack. If a horse falls, and the screens go up, a subdued mood will come over the racecourse. And if that horse then gets to its feet and walks away, it will get the biggest cheer of the day.
Jumps racing is a risky sport. But when accidents happen on the track, officials will look at the stats and try to work out if there are areas of change needed, or if they were just pure and simple unavoidable accidents.
Racing does have its risks, and its governing body will always have to seek improvements to safeguard the horses who take part. But all equine activities have some degree of risk, from sports like polo, point-to-pointing and eventing, to jumping, dressage or just day to day hacking. Where do you draw the line? If the general public calls for a ban on racing, will eventing or polo be the next sports to come under scrutiny?
I would like to express my sympathy to the owners, grooms and connections of those five brave horses we’ve lost this week. And I very much hope the rest of the week goes without further incident.
But we have had some phenomenal racing at the Festival. Quevega and Big Buck’s making it four in a row, Hunt Ball’s fairytale result, Sprinter Sacre and Simonsig’s breathtaking wins marking them as stars of the future, to name just a few. Those achievements do deserve to be in the headlines, not just the fatalities.
We should never forget the horses that don’t come home. But nor should we overlook the ones that come home as heroes.
Victoria
.JPG "William Kennedy")
