Quote from: Vlad on Today at 12:39:33 PMNah! I can't be doing that! Noncontact draughts is has active as I get, so I am afraid I am going to have to turn you down at this point Raven, but do keep trying. 🥰

Oh such a shame  A good gallop along the beach at the end of the day is a real pleasure, and blows the cobwebs away

Gold Dancer died today, and it is incredibly likely he experienced excruciating pain before he did.
That's the reality we need to start being honest about.
This isn't about whether racehorses are fed well, stabled well, or loved by the people around them. Care and affection are not the same as ethical treatment when the very thing being asked of the animal carries such a high and preventable risk.
Yes, horses can die in fields. They can die out hacking. They can die eventing. But those comparisons completely miss the point. This is about mitigating risk. When risk is knowingly increased for the sake of entertainment and financial gain, we have to question where the line is.
These horses are often pushed hard, started young, and placed into intense, highly pressurised environments where one mistake can be catastrophic. That's not an unfortunate coincidence, it's a built-in risk of the sport.
We also need to stop telling ourselves that horses "love to race" as justification. Horses have a natural instinct to run, that's true. But instinct isn't consent, it isn't a free pass to exploitation. We are taking that instinct and using it for profit, for titles, and for spectacle.
Gold Dancer didn't end up on that track by accident. Decisions were made by humans, by trainers, owners, and an entire industry, to put him there. And the outcome, however uncomfortable it is to say, is part of that system.
Calling it a "tragic accident" softens a reality we should be confronting head-on. Because if we keep framing these deaths as rare, unfortunate incidents, nothing changes.
And that's the real issue, how many times does this have to happen before we accept that the risk itself is the problem?
You can love horses. You can care for them deeply. But putting them in situations where severe injury or death is an accepted possibility, for money and entertainment, is something we need to be honest about.
This isn't about attacking individuals. It's about questioning a system that continues to normalise outcomes like this.
At some point, we have to ask ourselves: is this really something we can justify anymore?
Rest easy Gold Dancer, you deserved better.

Quote from: Mups on Today at 01:33:16 PMYeah,  some of mine in pots are starting to sprout,  but some are not doing anything just yet.
Do you take cuttings from the new shoots Vlad?

You're like me,  and love your Dahlias every year ey. 

I only received the last of my order today but I do have 10 in pots most of which are sprouting in the greenhouse , I have never done cuttings from the shoots Mups, what's your success rate on doing that. I will be putting all of mine ino large pots this year until I see what else this new garden shows this summer. There are no spare bits of ground that I can see at the moment. I am sticking with shorter varieties this year, you can't have a garden without dahlias 😀

Quote from: Vlad on Today at 01:27:14 PMSounds like a plan, are you free?

Today at 01:29:05 PMSame here, weather wise but I do need to get into the greenhouse and plant up some more dahlias 😄

Yeah,  some of mine in pots are starting to sprout,  but some are not doing anything just yet.
Do you take cuttings from the new shoots Vlad?

You're like me,  and love your Dahlias every year ey.  

Quote from: muddy on Today at 01:16:06 PMYou are right Mups about the three day meeting
I meant the race that's called the Grand National .

Oh, OK.    Perhaps I should have said the race at Aintree.
I  just read somewhere,  that  88 horses have been killed over the years now.
We'll see if that number  is added to after today's race.

Quote from: Scrumpy on Today at 12:49:08 PMWhat about 'I spy'... We don't even have to move.. !!

Sounds like a plan, are you free?

Today at 01:29:05 PM

Quote from: Mups on Today at 01:15:44 PM'Aft'noon all.    Cloudy and quite breezy here, and a lot chillier too.

I did a lot in my front garden yesterday, and suffered for it too!  Perhaps I'll take it easy today,  and just nip to the Co-op. 

Same here, weather wise but I do need to get into the greenhouse and plant up some more dahlias 😄

Quote from: Mups on Today at 12:52:58 PMWell said, Raven.    I agree with every word. 


Today at 12:54:37 PMAren't there 2 days leading up to it as well, Muddy?
I thought it was spread over 3 days.

I can't even begin to imagine the pain that horse was in, with the jockey staying on his back until the end.

You are right Mups about the three day meeting 
I meant the race that's called the Grand National .

'Aft'noon all.    Cloudy and quite breezy here, and a lot chillier too.

I did a lot in my front garden yesterday, and suffered for it too!   Perhaps I'll take it easy today,  and just nip to the Co-op.   

Quote from: Raven on Today at 01:06:21 PMStrange.....But when the jockey is hurt I don't have any pitying feelings for him/her.  Does that make me a horrible person? It's the same when I see big game hunters being gored or even killed by the one they were hunting. 
Karma at it's best and quickly delivered. 😀

Once again I agree with you, Raven, so perhaps I am a horrible person too.   
 The difference to me is,  the jockey isn't being forced to race,  unlike the horse, he doesn't even get paid!

As for trophy hunters getting gored etc,   I have not an ounce of sympathy, they are yet more rich people who kill just for the fun and glory,  hateful sods, the lot of them.

Strange.....But when the jockey is hurt I don't have any pitying feelings for him/her.  Does that make me a horrible person? It's the same when I see big game hunters being gored or even killed by the one they were hunting. 
Karma at it's best and quickly delivered. 😀