I watched the Belmont today, because I (like everyone else) am in love with Smarty Jones. I'd never watched a horse race before, and I don't think I missed anything. I don't dislike horse racing in the same way that I hate greyhound racing (because those horses are expensive and very well-treated), but it just seems kind of pointless to me. Those horses are fine beasts, yes, but can they do anything but run fast and stand to stud?
The thing that did bother me was the crowd. The people in those stands had no idea how to act around horses, especially horses as high-strung and excited as those. At a real horse show, the audience is absolutely quiet; the loudest sound you hear is some quiet clapping, and even then the audience is sometimes asked not to applaud until the horse has left the ring. This crowd was clapping and screeching and yelling! No wonder one of the horses was so jittery that his trainers had to blindfold him before he would enter the starting gate.
Probably there's some allure of the speed or of the chase that I just don't understand, something like what drives Jeff to climb things in order to stand on top of them. That's fine with me. They have their races, and I have my dressage shows.
Alita says:
I too wanted SJ to win, for no other reason than how cool would it be to finally have a TC winner in our lifetime? I for one have mixed feelings about racing. I have always loved horses (rode much as a kid), yet the whole gambling thing is a real turn-off for me. I think it would be cool to have non-gambling horse racing, so you could just enjoy it for the sheer love of seeing them go. (Same reason I like watching the track sprints during the Oly.) Last, just wondering if you've ever been to the kind of horse show where they have barrel racing and such? Lots of fun but not real quiet! :) PS. Your spell checker amuses me.
Laurabelle says:
The gambling doesn't really bother me for some reason. I don't know why; I guess it seems extraneous to me.
Yes, I've been to rodeos (I'm from Texas!), but they're not really my thing either. Sometimes they have a little noise, but they're pretty quiet too, in my experience. I guess it depends on the event.
I've got to figure out if I can make the speel-chucker do American spelling.
Laurabelle says:
P.S. It doesn't like but is apparently a real word.
Senji says:
Why on earth would you want American spelling, which is Just Wrong? :)
Jeff says:
Because we're 'Mericans, and that's with a capital .
Jeff
Jim says:
Thought that was "'Murkins".
Oh, but neither English nor American spelling iz foenetick, so I guess Jeff's way is OK. ;-)
As for "Just Wrong", Americans generally have a dislike for self-appointed authorities trying to make them obey rules they weren't consulted on. Fought a war over that. That's why we don't have a queen. 8^)
Besides, if you think our spelling is bad, you should hear our pronunciation. :-)
Senji says:
Me uncle is a merkin, and he pronounces things badly enough even after living here for many years....
Senji says:
Now, I'm not a horsey person, but might it not be argued that ability to deal with the stress of the crowds is one of the things that a successful racehorse is being breed for?
Laurabelle says:
Actually the breeding works in exactly the opposite direction, because the faster, more intelligent, and more driven the horse is, the more skittish and bug-nuts it's going to be as well. The horses who are chosen for stressful work around crowds (police horses, for example) are nice solid beasts who don't know how to be scared. Race horses are the kind that imagine things to spook at if there isn't anything handy.
On the other hand, horses have a big fight-or-flight instinct, so maybe wanting to run away is an aspect of their drive for speed.
Senji says:
Hmm, yes, I hadn't thought of that. It's like Shire Horses, which (being very big and powerful) you wouldn't possibly want to do anything unexpected...
Hmm...
Jim says:
"...the faster, more intelligent, and more driven the horse is, the more skittish and bug-nuts it's going to be as well."
Well, there's definitely a correlation there, but I don't see that it's a biological necessity, any more than crossed eyes necessarily acocmpany blue eyes.
I wonder what would happen if horse breeders deliberately tried to develop a strain that was both fast and calm. Probably won't happen, though, because it would take many generations, and big-purse horse racing is focused on a much shorter timeframe. Besides, I doubt that it's viewed as important.