Jumps Racing is Animal Abuse – Open Letter to Racing Minister Carbines

An experienced horse owner and CPR volunteer has sent an open letter to Racing Minister Anthony Carbines calling for an end to Jumps Racing in Victoria.

By Galena Debney

As the owner of a quarterhorse horse stud near Daylesford in Victoria I have over 50 years of experience in the handling of horses. My approach to equine management and welfare is both realistic and reasonable.   

Jumps racing in Victoria is no longer acceptable on animal welfare grounds nor is it a publicly acceptable spectacle for racegoers.   

It is time for the Minister for Racing, Anthony Carbines, to bring jumps racing in Victoria to an end.

1.  BRED TO JUMP:  As the former owner of a champion thoroughbred show jumper, qualified for the Montreal Olympics, and business owner with a stallion at stud and agistment, I can assure you that horses bred for jumping do it with natural confidence. If they lack these qualities, they are not competitive, and a jumping career is out of the question. I have videos of horses with this natural aptitude for jumping, horses having a spell and agisted at my property.  These horses canter around the 40-acre hillside paddock, spy huge logs, divert to sail over them for their entertainment; my horses detour, not game enough to try the jump. Such horses possess the natural attributes required of a jumper.  

This is certainly not the case when a racehorse is put over the jumps. They are; generally older horses who have done poorly at flat racing, have not been given the years of training required to jump safely, forced to jump at speed, not bred to jump so do not have massive and powerful hindquarters, lack the confidence to jump let alone at speed, are jumping under the whip, are deploying their natural flight instinct to keep up with the herd, and taking the risk of being trampled if they fall.

This is animal abuse.  This is unacceptable.

2.  A DAY AT THE RACES: Olympic show jumping would be banned if horses fell and died at the rate it happens in jumps racing in Victoria. The global Olympic audience would not tolerate, support, or attend show jumping if they thought the horse was terrified, trying to make it over the jumps under extreme pressure. Show jumpers often finish their round with a pig root (kick their back legs high in the air), spirited and joyful, satisfied with their effort and the audience laughs and applauds this playful display.  

A very different spectacle may await racegoers watching a jumps race in Victoria. A horse falls at the jump; there’s a collective gasp from the crowd. The horses behind can’t see the fallen horse until they clear the jump; the fallen horse is trampled, others fall trying to avoid galloping over the fallen horse, their comrade in the herd.  The fallen horse thrashes about, it whinnies out, it is dying; a crew hurries out, erects a big green screen. The race caller notes the fall but continues the call. The public can’t help themselves; their eyes are glued on the fallen horse. The fallen horse is shot, winched onto a float for disposal. What a fun day at the races that was?  Attended with the family?  Taken the children along?  

These scenarios have been well documented and recorded by the media, a ghastly spectacle at jumps racing in all states.  All states – except in Victoria, have now banned it.  While jumps racing remains legal it is an indictment on all Victorians, shame on us that we allow this abuse to tolerated by the Victorian state government in our otherwise progressive state.  

Public support for jumps racing has evaporated.  Leadership is required to finally bring it to an end as all other states have done.