I saw a very famous showjumper severely whipping his horse because it had refused to jump. So what do we do? Ban showjumping for fear that he or another rider repeats the dose? Let's also ban all equestrian sports, be they horseracing(flat or jumps), cross country, gymkhanas, dressage, do away with horse shows, etc
No horse will run/jump if it doesn't want to. There is danger involved, of course some get killed or injured, of course jockeys carry whips, but there are rules about their use. The GN winner won over half a million quid. If you owned it and the jockey was giving a it few whacks in a tight finish, and it won, would you not prefer that to the jockey not hitting it in a close finish, and it lost? I think we all know the answer to that one, don't we?
So, if you're going to ban horse racing, are you also going to ban greyhound racing where many dogs are put down when their racing days are over, and where some are also put down because they've been injured? Or how's about fishing, where the fish have the equivalent of a large hook in their mouth and are yanked out of the water? Must be painful to the fish? Or what about goldfish, hamsters, rabbits etc which are kept by millions of people? Or racing pigeons, kept in cramped conditions in sheds and only let out to race, and if they get back too late have their necks wrung? Or how's about animals in zoos and circuses? Aren't they only being exploited by man?
Or what about Crufts which for many a long year has advocated that many breeds of dogs must conform to certain "standards" laid down by them, or else the dogs are not considered "pedigree"? How many dogs have been put down by breeders as a result of not meeting these requisite breeding "standards"? So, let's ban Crufts as well?
Where will it all end?