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I watched the Kentucky Derby yesterday and was really amazed at how beautiful and powerful horses are. I’ve never been around horses until the last year or so, I’ve gotten to know the 2 in the pasture next to us. I’m able to call them to the fence and pet them.

My questions are, do you think the horses know they are racing? Do they know when they win? Are the horses pampered or abused? I don’t want to start a debate but curious how they are treated.

Here’s what I do know, the winner was a long shot paying 80-1. Sure wish I had put a couple grand on it.

I'm not sure hiw race horses are treated.
However I feel Tennessee walking horses are abused.

As far as horses racing, we own two horses. If we are side by side and we gallop together the horses seem to want to beat each other.
My horse is younger abd loves to run.

I owned an ex-race horse because his owner-trainer was selling him cheap. She wanted to give him a good retirement home and I just wanted a horse to go on trail rides. Well, the horse had other ideas! In his mind, he was born to compete, and wanted to be the first horse in any group of horses. So, for example, he would walk faster than any horse I rode beside. At first, I thought he just had longer legs, but the other horses were the same size, so I realized it was deliberate. On roads and wide trails, I could never just ride side-by-side with a friend and chat, always had to turn backwards to talk and even had to stop him frequently. If we decided to trot, he would stretch out so far that he'd leave the other horse way far behind. It was funny, but not fun for me.

Somebody said "He just wants to be a race horse..." so I decided to give him a chance to do what he really wanted to do. I gave him to a trainer and the following year, he raced 12 times over 2-mile-long grass courses with brush hurdles. Each race, he would always run right to the front of the herd, but then he'd choose to quit or maybe he'd run out of reserve at the end, and would fade to like third place. In his mind though, he clearly won; he'd jump the last hurdle first and then ease up, so the other horses would end up passing him in the final stretch. No matter how hard the jockey pushed him, we figured he thought the goal was to get over the last fence "first" - which he'd do, Yeah Team! Haha. My trainer and jockey got so frustrated with him, said he had a mind of his own. I have a video of one race going up a hill where he came up behind 4 or 5 other horses and jockeys, and basically barrelled right through the center of the pack, put his ears flat back on his head and just plowed through the other horses. My jockey almost got squeezed off the saddle! Did he want to win, or what?

The abuse I've heard about in racing is when trainers take advantage of the horse's in-born drive to race, to the point it harms the horse.

Superesse, your horse sounds similar to mine.
Except, I don't know her history.
I wonder sometimes if she was used for some sort of racing.
When I'd say Woe she would go.
She is also smaller than mybwifes horse but always wants to be the fastest.

Horses are herd animals and there's ALWAYS a pecking order! He/she who is boss runs the herd.

With my herd it's the mustang. Sure he's gelded (fixed) but when he says go they others go or he makes them.

There's good and bad training methods and good and bad trainers.

Pretty much with everything in life.

That said, I love the Down Under Horsemanship training methods. When my mustang gets attitude he makes the other horse move its feet. It's simple. Wanna stand still and graze then go where I want you to. Same with this Training.

I fall into the camp of 'I don't know why there is horse racing'. Perhaps there are more respectable tracks than others, but around southern CA, there is one racetrack in particular that, every few weeks, there's another story about a horse having to be put down after injuring itself during a race. To me, that is abuse. Why are these horses being forced to compete at a level that they're not physically able to do without inflicting serious harm to their bodies? Some people blame the maintenance of the racetrack... if that's true, then fix the effing racetrack. If you race a horse on a track that is known for life-ending injuries for the horses, then it's abuse (IMO).

Perhaps there are more respectable tracks than others, but around southern CA, there is one racetrack in particular that, every few weeks, there's another story about a horse having to be put down after injuring itself during a race. To me, that is abuse. Why are these horses being forced to compete at a level that they're not physically able to do without inflicting serious harm to their bodies? Some people blame the maintenance of the racetrack... if that's true, then fix the effing racetrack. If you race a horse on a track that is known for life-ending injuries for the horses, then it's abuse (IMO).

Santa Anita? Known problem for years. I'm not sure if it's they look the other way more than other tracks or if there's something wrong with the track itself. I'm kind of with you. I seldom can watch horse racing. Racing Horses are bred to optimize one thing and that is to win. That means tendancies towards dominance (want to be the stallion of the herd) and more unsound physical structures. lighter more muscular, better lung and heart capacities. Add in some questionable pharmacology and a win at all costs mentality you get tragic results.

Yup... Santa Anita.

It breaks my heart every time I read a story of another horse being put down.

I read an article on this. Doping is everywhere. The horses are not physically matured enough to be pushed as they are, therefore leg and foot fractures are common. Horrible because horses are smart and trusting and can read emotions in humans. Like children. They have been used and abused by humans for so long.

I was talking to someone about his horse. I said does he mind being ridden? He said the horse doesn't want to be left behind, he likes to come out and boss the cows around.

My cousin used to work for the local race track that is now closed. Back then, the horses were trained to pee on cue, and my cousin took urine samples.