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d.k :
* Me, too-- My step-dad built a kitchen for the people who had owned Secretariat when I was a kid. I got to visit and see a bronze of him they had in the house. I couldn't figure out why they didn't have the real horse there, and, of course, no one was explaining it to a kid, either!!
How cool is that!!!
I remember when I was little my dad and some of his friends had an opportunity to purchase a racehorse. I was SOOOO excited and couldn't wait for them to bring it home! And, I was SOOO dissapointed when, for whatever reason, the deal fell through. They didn't bother to explain the reasons to me. I also remember being disgusted with my dad because he said he wanted to change the name of the horse from whatever it was to Englebert Humperdinck...
Anyway, Pat, you're probably right...I mean, you're almost certainly right. It seems bad feet/ hooves is a problem with thoroughbreds. I used to lease a thoroughbred who had terrible feet; he had glue-on shoes and his feet were always falling apart, he was the worst stumbler I ever rode. And we have a few with bad feet at the stable I ride at, now.
But, the romance of horse racing is to see a horse like Man O' War or a lot of the other famous ones even more recently like Secretariat or Seattle Slew make history and beat the odds again and again. And, no matter what horses are used for, in a lot of cases they are going to have feet, joint, leg, and other problems. NO, they don't have a say in it...but, no animal does. And, that's what horses have always been used for; to do what suits the people who own them. I still maintain that whatever they end up doing for a living, they in most cases enjoy doing it; I mean, I don't think anyone made Big Brown fly down that track; anyone who saw him at the end should've seen he wasn't unhappy.
* Me, too-- My step-dad built a kitchen for the people who had owned Secretariat when I was a kid. I got to visit and see a bronze of him they had in the house. I couldn't figure out why they didn't have the real horse there, and, of course, no one was explaining it to a kid, either!!

How cool is that!!!



Anyway, Pat, you're probably right...I mean, you're almost certainly right. It seems bad feet/ hooves is a problem with thoroughbreds. I used to lease a thoroughbred who had terrible feet; he had glue-on shoes and his feet were always falling apart, he was the worst stumbler I ever rode. And we have a few with bad feet at the stable I ride at, now.
But, the romance of horse racing is to see a horse like Man O' War or a lot of the other famous ones even more recently like Secretariat or Seattle Slew make history and beat the odds again and again. And, no matter what horses are used for, in a lot of cases they are going to have feet, joint, leg, and other problems. NO, they don't have a say in it...but, no animal does. And, that's what horses have always been used for; to do what suits the people who own them. I still maintain that whatever they end up doing for a living, they in most cases enjoy doing it; I mean, I don't think anyone made Big Brown fly down that track; anyone who saw him at the end should've seen he wasn't unhappy.