There may be questions asked of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) following the release overnight of a video ‘explaining’ whip use.
As the sport globally comes under more and more scrutiny as the howls to ban the sport altogether grow, the BHA’s video does not do justice what-so-ever.
You can watch the video here (link below) but before you do, read on please.
In it the BHA says the whip is not to be used to coerce a horse down the home straight. Read that statement again.
It also states that the whip cannot be used when a horse is clearly in front, nor can the whip be used if a horse is out of contention.
A breach of these rules will see a jockey get suspended and fined in the case of a bigger race.
The vid shows footage of how to use a whip, stating a jock must not pull the stick and hit a horse if the whip hand goes over his own shoulder.
Hmmmm. That all sounds good but the army of scrutineers the world over have regularly called on British horse racing to stop the use of the whip altogether down the home straight because they see it as both cruel and because the stewards are NOT imposing sanctions when breaches occur.
Sadly, for the media department that put the video together, many of the examples they used did not help their cause.
Starting off by saying the with the whip is padded and therefore doesn’t hurt the horse was quickly questioned when footage of a horse ‘being corrected’ clearly showed that the horse felt the whip.
Which, just adds fuel to the fire of those wanting its use banned.
The use of whips at the end of jump races in Britain has always been an horrific display of cruelty by humans upon horses.
The BHA has said ‘only’ nine cuts of the cane is permissible and none can be applied to the horses that are out of contention to win the race. Right there, critics of whip use would be able to show 1000s of race replays showing breaches of these rules that are not being punished.
The storm regarding whips is always an emotional one. Those in the industry claim whips are needed and they don’t hurt the horse. Those not in the industry say the use of a whip on a beautiful animal giving its all is inhumane and cruel.
Both are correct.
But, what must be considered in this ongoing brouhaha is that the argument by racing participants is invalid. It is not the pain suffered by the horse that is at the heart of whipping. And the BHA video does not address this at all. It is how it looks to non racing people (who see a person whipping an animal only) and there are MORE non racing people than racing people.
Ergo…they will win unless we stop whipping. And by winning, they will shut down the sport entirely.
Watch 📺 BHA video on whip use in Britain falls short, way short of helping the sport survive 👇
