How Inhumane
Dick Powell on the Lasix debate:
But rather than ban it, I think we should mandate it.
Nearly all Thoroughbred race horses bleed. If you think we can breed our way out of this by separating the horses that bleed from those that don’t and breed a new racehorse that doesn’t bleed and doesn’t need Lasix, you would have to ban it in training as well which nobody wants to do.
And, how do you explain banning it to the animal rights activists that view our sport as being cruel and inhumane? …
Or, as trainer Rick Violette has said:
“Horses bleed. That is a fact. To force an animal to race without it is premeditated, borderline animal abuse.”
Arguing that a Lasix ban is abusive raises the question — if it’s inhumane to race horses without a drug, then isn’t it inhumane to race horses at all? If horses need a drug to mask the conditions in which they’re bred, trained, and raced, then shouldn’t the focus be on changing those conditions?
I don’t have answers; I merely ask.
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