As Kentucky Derby 2023 Nears, ‘Fear and Pain’ of Horses Come to Light

In around two days the Kentucky Derby begins at Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville. Horse racing lovers and bettors and equestrians from around the country will flock to the racetrack to see some of the best thoroughbreds fight it out for the glory. However, glory is a human-made abstract designed to serve mortal beings. Do those horses care for materialistic gains such as trophies and prizes? If not, then what exactly are they gaining out of it if not “fear and pain”?

Horses at a very young age, normally 3 years old, are prepared to run in some of the most prestigious events in the country and possibly win the American Triple Crown. None more prestigious than Kentucky Derby. So when a foal is taken and bred and trained for racing purposes, they may be some of the finest horses to humans, and probably taken care of. But their lives are mired in misery, which is also often ignored.

Horses and humans do not think and function in the same manner

Dr. Stephen Peters told The Guardian, “The idea that horses love the event they compete in is something we’ve created. It’s a myth more for us than the horse”. Dr. Peters is a neuroscientist who has worked closely with humans and horses. He also co-authored a book with trainer Martin Black named ‘Evidence Based Horsemanship’. He suggests that horses don’t think like us and are hence more “primitive and instinctual”. Therefore, they don’t enjoy these events as humans do.

However, a narrative is sold every year to draw in more public for these events. In his book, Dr. Peters constantly raises the question from a horse’s point of view, “Am I safe?” which of course, isn’t true for all horses, as several of them every year end up in the kill pen.

READ MORE – WATCH: 80-1 Outsider Rich Strike Pulls off Historic Upset at Kentucky Derby

Rich Strike, the winning colt of the 2022 Kentucky Derby, exhibited some strange behavior after his race was over last year. Martin Black explained that the colt felt the need to fight after the race, as an outsider was struggling to manage its semblance.

An unfair punishment at the Kentucky Derby

Rich Strike “didn’t know he had won” the Kentucky Derby last year, said Black. Thus reinstating the fact that Dr. Peters had said, that a horse’s brain is “much more a motor and sensory organ than it is a thinking one”. Black believed that Rich Strike had a “chemical reaction” brought on by the adrenaline and cortisol of finishing a high-powered race. The behavior of the horse wasn’t anything illogical. But the treatment it received was.

The outrider struck the colt repeatedly until it calmed down. In another moment in the Derby, Rich Strike was also punched in the face for attacking another pony. Trainers had failed to understand the horse’s predicament and as a result, the horse had to suffer harsh punishment. While humans go about their routine doing the same, it only brings personal glory to them. Whereas, all that the horse is left with, is pain, anguish, fear, exhaustion, and panic. While the solution hasn’t been to put an end to these events, it is worth looking at these mega-popular events from the lens of the animals for once.

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