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Comment by rqtwteye | Hacker News Reader

Horse riding competitions of all kinds should just be shut down. When I was a kind, I spent some time around high level riders and the amount of animal abuse and doping is just unfathomable. There is nothing good about horseback riding as a "sport".

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You’re not wrong, but lots of breeds are bred for just such a purpose, particularly thoroughbreds. They’re very expensive animals. Losing those competitions would come with consequences.

Consequences? Other than financial cost what are you predicting?

Horse meat would be a few euros cheaper.

Those horse might have been medicated at some point which basically means that you need to either cremate them or get a digger...

I think a case could be made that if there is a "valuable use" for elite horses that stimulates breeding more of them, horse meat would decline in price from the availability of surplus horses (similar to there being plenty of greyhounds to adopt).

What consequences? Less horses being abused?

That's a broad brush you're painting with. You could just as easily say that most dog competitions should be shut down. Most human competitions while we're at it.

Dog racing is also known to be highly abusive to dogs. Human racing can be hard on the body, but at least it's consenting adults.

I was thinking more like conformation and agility. Also, probably the majority of humans playing sports are not adults. Think about the damage high school football can do.

I don't know how much money is in agility. If there is any money to be made, you can be sure it will attract abusers.

Dog racing definitely should be shut down. They are drugged to the hilt and when the dogs get old they get killed or adopted if the dog is lucky.

You're missing a valuable difference: consent. If there are people being forced to compete the same way we force animals, that should be shut down too.

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