Departures 2009

I enjoyed watching him race, jockey pushing and shoving and him keeping on. Obviously lucky but when he won at Haydock when KS unshipped S. Thomas was a great day.

Happy retirement and well deserved.
 
BlazingWalker said:
Just in regards to Fell Packs fall, I was stood at the flight and it looked an 'easy' fall but having watched the replay I think his front leg caught the hurdle which flipped him onto his shoulder and (I am assuming here) he broke his shoulder on landing has he couldn't get back up even after they turned him over.When the man went and got the leather case from the horse ambulance I knew the end was nigh:( Some of the more knowledgable may put me right. A real shame because he looked the real deal in the parade ring. It could have happened anywhere as John Quinn as stated,just unfortunate.
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Fell Pack picked up spinal injuries in the fall, and Dougie Costello seemed immediately aware, kneeling on the horse's neck to stop him attempting to get up.
 
rorydelargy said:
Fell Pack picked up spinal injuries in the fall, and Dougie Costello seemed immediately aware, kneeling on the horse's neck to stop him attempting to get up.
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OK Rory,thanks for confirming that. I saw DC kneel on his neck but I, like many others,just thought the horse was winded and DC was keeping him down so he could catch his breath poor love.
 
Yes, as per BW, and ASHLEY BROOK should follow, no doubt. We saw enough misery written on DEANO'S BEANO's face time after time until he was reluctantly retired. He then wisely refused to take up any other sort of career!
 
Think for now this is the right place to put this for the time being but I was shocked and horrified at the treatment of the now deceased Zemen following his fall at the water jump in front of the stands at Enghien today.
 
When in God's name will they retire poor MARCEL? Another humiliation today - the horse so does not deserve this folly. He clearly doesn't have the talent for chasing, and I'm just waiting for the almost inevitable fatal fall, when we can all gnash our teeth publicly at his fate.
 
To put it concisely Bobbyjo the horse fell at the water jump in front of the grandstand, the vet and others ran over to assist him whilst he was lieing on the ground, the vet checked him over (presume this is what happens behind the screens in the UK and Ireland) - his spine, the legs she had access too as he was lieing on his side, then they waited a bit longer and put a headcollar and lead rope on him to try and get him to stand up - by this point it was pretty clear that he couldn't stand as he'd broken his pelvis I think or a hip. The screens were called for and the tractor with the horsebox too - then they moved the screens around whilst seemingly trying to make the horse walk into the horsebox rather than do the right think and put him to sleep on the spot, they spent 10 mins moving the various screens around as the horse struggled behind them. Eventually they put the horse to sleep (before he was put into the horsebox).
 
Having seen one shot dead in Ireland a couple of years ago, where its death throes showed it thrashing on the ground sans screens or any other obstacle to a full view, Martin (this on the second circuit of the race, too, so some two minutes at least had elapsed by then), it's just not always possible to shield the public from such views all the time. They may well not have wanted to put up screens if they felt the horse might thrash around and get caught in them. He got instant attention, which is what's really important, and was given time to show whether he was fatally injured or not - after all, he could've been just winded and therefore unable to rise for quite a time. I wouldn't be too harsh - you wouldn't want your horse put down only to find it wasn't fatally hurt at all - which is exactly what nearly happened to one at Fontwell Park some years ago. Fortunately, the owner/trainer, Pru Townsend, overruled the vet, who insisted the horse had done his shoulder. The animal went home, rested a while, recovered from his fall without any injury other than bruising, and lived for years to come. Sometimes they don't look that badly off, but are, and sometimes it's vice versa. Better to give the animal enough time to show which!
 
Kri - it's not seeing it that bothers me, it's the length of time it took them and what they attempted to do with the horse knowing that he was very badly injured. It was at least 10 minutes from the time it was obvious he wouldn't be able to get up to the time they put him to sleep.
 
Irish Stamp said:
the horse fell at the water jump in front of the grandstand
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Are there still water jumps? I thought we lodged a petition to have them removed and we were successful??!!

An absolue disgrace that they are still in use. Thank god we have none over here.
 
There is nothing wrong with water jumps. There are only less in play now as some tracks are pandering to the pony patters and doing away with them. Most of the ones that are left have been dumbed down to such a ridiculous level that they're barely worth having, either. I'd jump a lot of them on a 14hh pony. Statistically they're safer than other fences.
 
Christ, I can see that in a few years' time all the fences will be down to ickle 3' soft, roundy tubes made of fake fur, just in case a horse happens to touch them! There's nothing wrong with water jumps at all - it's the dumbing-down of NH that has taken place over the years that causes problems. Horses don't respect running rails any more because they snap at the first touch; they don't respect most courses because they're bored rigid with the inanity of giving them just two types of fences to lunge over - come on! - where on earth in the rest of horsey sports do you see that? It's like giving showjumpers a wall and a triple bar only, every time they go into the ring, or eventers a log rail and a hedge, over and over again until they fall over in a comatose state of boredom or complacency.

We need more, much more, variety in our chasing, not less. Merely (usually) surviving going over 21 fences consisting of only two types of obstacle is ridiculous - keep water jumps - in fact, bring them back! Shadz, I won't bang on again about the French horses, I promise, but really, we've dumbed-down our jumps to the most pathetic degree - the 'open ditch' is a farce, something a real National Hunt hunter would laugh at as he tanked off towards a real bramble hedge with a muddy drop on the other side!
 
But why??? They're the simplest, easiest, most straightforward jump on the track. Want to watch me jump one on a 14hh pony? I'm more than willing. I'd jump anything over Newbury's water jump, it's so bloody small now from dumbing down it may as well not be there.
 
So what if you hate them, Galileo? I like them - neither statement is particularly useful unless it's propped up by some reasoning. Which I've done. I don't know what you mean by 'racing on the track is not point to point, cross country, eventing... ' because all of those events require the horses to race on a set course, against the clock. Showjumping is timed, especially in the jump-offs, so speed and accuracy matter.

"Jumps racing" was, once upon a time and long ago, based upon the natural obstacles which hunters (from which, duh, 'National Hunt') faced in the hunting field. Fortunately, the French, who still hunt and have no such wussy qualms about what their horses handle, treat their jumps racing on the basis that it still represents the sport's heritage. We've lost that, just as we've lost many other aspects of racing, like tic-tac men. The obstacles in France are, of course, nothing as tough as what real hunters in the field would face - no five-bar gates, for example, and the stone wall's got a nice foam topping, but it's still a stone wall underneath. Their horses seem to thrive on the variety and, as you've no doubt noticed on their appearance in the UK either as guest runners or permanent imports, they have no trouble with our poxy 'regulations' (uprights) and open ditches.

We'll probably just have to agree to disagree, Gal, but just because you hate water jumps doesn't mean they're not a good idea - and a lot more variety in the obstacles would help keep horses (and jockeys) a lot sharper.

I can see the day coming where someone decides that no courses should have dips or rises, that Fontwell Park's figure 8 is way too tricky, and that uprights don't invite safe take-off lines, and should therefore be banned. At that point, please hand me the double-dose of Rohypnol, so I can slip peacefully away.
 
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I'd best point out that this wasn't a regular British water jump. I've nothing against those as to be blunt there's nothing of them - the horse is going to jump just as far jumping a regular fence anyway by the time it's taken off and landed but a couple on the continent just seem a bit too much.

Pretty sure that Market Rasen made there water jump so that it had a "soft" exit ie. it was sloped rather than at right angles to the ground. If all WJ's where like this it would be much better IMO.
 
To finish on that, IS, I'm sorry you witnessed something which no doubt disturbed you - it's never a happy thing to see, even from a distance, or even knowing what's happening behind screens.
 
Water jumps get on my bloody wick. I don't like NH racing because of its cross country/hunting background (although I don't have a problem with hunting) I like to see horses jump proper fences on all the differing courses this country has to offer, uphill, downhill lefthanded righthanded etc. but dont understand what water jumps bring to the sport.
 
A tiny, residual bit of variety, bloodnok - the 'proper' fences you allude to consist of exactly two of standard widths and heights. The only time chasers get to have a bit of variety in their boring diet is if they enter the Aintree Festival or, better still, Cheltenham's much-maligned x-country - it's daft, really, calling it a cross-country race, because it's really what original chasing was like. What passes for chasing in the UK is just galloping at two standard jumps, repeated ad nauseum. (A bit like my diatribes about them!) :lol:
 
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