I watched part of a simular video years ago. It was
too awful to watch all of it. It might not have been the same place and event,
but it was close. It seems that the riders in the one I saw were mostly men, not
children. Many of the horses in that video fell. Inexperienced riders were
clipping heels on the horse in front of them, veering into another horse,
stepping in holes, tripping on rocks, and flipping. It was horrible
carnage.
My main regret was that more horses suffered than riders. It seemed more of the
riders were angry at their horse for losing the race, than there were sad riders
for losing their horse.
The other factor was that these horses were used to
long trotting rides, and were now being made to sprint. We all know the
difference that involves from our own horse experience. The huge problem
that made the mess even worse, was that they were forced to sprint much farther
than they could, and as one got too fatigued and fell, other horses ran over it
and fell too. I don't know how many horses metabolic issues killed, but the
video I saw showed a bunch of dead and crippled from falling.
I understand different cultures have their own
traditions and such, but their "horse racing" made me sick. When I mention that
I do Endurance riding, some people will say " Yeah, like in that movie Hildago".
My first response is to correct them about that.
