Tag Archives: steroids

The Ugly Truth Behind Horse Racing

 

Horse Racing has quickly become one of most popular sports to watch in America. Whether or not you have any interest in horses or not, you most likely have seen a horse race. Multiple horses bolt from a gate at extreme speed. They race along the track, neck in neck with other horses. One mishap and the animal and rider can end up beneath the hooves of thousand pound animals galloping forward at such an extreme speed that can easily kill a rider and horse as well. However, it is not only the extreme speeds and close quarters that cause pain to the horses. Unfortunately, many of these horses are pumped on drugs, abused on and off the track, run into the ground, and slaughtered after the races- which is extremely repulsive and lowers my hopes for humanity. 

horse

What most people don’t know about race horses is that they are injected with many chemicals in order for the animal to produce more adrenaline and other hormones that can cause them to run faster. The horses that are victims of these drugs are running on steroids, which can be detrimental to their health. Most horses injected have scars on their legs from the injections. This alone is proof of the pain, as nothing leaves scars without inflicting pain on any living thing. In the image I have pasted above (from a Peta investigation) it shows the “pain face” that a horse will often give when pain is taking place. It includes lowered ears (which you can not tell from the image) as well as facial muscle tension which is clearly shown, a scrunched muzzle, contraction of the eye muscles, and overall a lot of tension in the facial muscles. Although most people stereotype that this only happens in lower level racing, illegal drug tests taken from Saratoga race track have returned positive. These animals are constantly put through a cycle of injections that have become routine. This pain that they introduce to these animals is all for the glory of the win, and is most definitely not worth it.

Race horses also experience extreme cases of abuse on and off the track, such as electric shock pulses being used on the horse during a race in order to get bursts of speed. Although these shocks are illegal to use, they are still being used despite the act to end it. The shocks are similar to  “cattle prods” . However, in horse racing, most jockeys don’t bother to even use it “properly”, which makes the end result of the shock much worse when they are being used incorrectly. The punishment for using this device can result in arrest, however, it still does happen, especially in lower level racing. To add, whips are also used to strike the horse’s flank in order to encourage speed. Horse’s’ skin is incredibly thin, thinner than ours even, and the whips cause severe pain to the animal. That being said, abuse can also occur off the track through the extreme amount of drugs these animals consume. Also, the animals are forced to continue to run on hooves that have been shortened from how much they have run, proving that this is indeed unnatural. Racehorses hooves are also extremely short from being over ridden to the point where you’re not even able to feel a pulse. A horse by the name of Nehro died from colicing, which is a disease caused by the extreme circumstances this horse suffered.

horse 2

 

Lastly, horses that come off the track from injuries are often slaughtered. Once they have supplied their speed to their money thirsty owners they are considered worthless. The treatment they were forced to endure during their running days continues onwards on their trip to slaughter. Instead of giving these horses second chances, they kill them. These people couldn’t care less where the horse goes as long as they got their money’s worth. The horse racing industry is a cold, and dark place which is often overlooked.

Overall, the truth behind horse racing is that these animals are mistreated. Before you turn on your TV to watch horses gallop around a track with whips being slapped against their sides, rethink horse racing. It isn’t as glamorous and glorious as often clueless people think it is.

Learn more about helping race horses here:

~Samantha

 

Do Steroid Users Deserve To Be “Injected” Into The Baseball Hall of Fame?

The Baseball Hall of Fame, is where legends are enshrined forever after they retire from the game of baseball. Names such as Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, and others litter the walls of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Only the most elite baseball players deserve to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball players are elected by a set of baseball writers, to the hall of fame, every year. However, over the past 25 years several baseball players have begun to use drugs that enhance their ability to play baseball or commonly known as steroids.  The steroids have cause baseball players to succeed much more than others. For example, in one season alone, Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs while using steroids, while in his first rookie season he only got 16 home runs, which in the following years of his career he would absolutely shatter. When fans found out about players using steroids, the statement was always said whenever a player did very well, “He uses steroids.” In this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame ballot many players have indeed used steroids and had improved their career stats phenomenally because of it. Names such as Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Rafael Palmeiro who have used steroids are on the ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. There are players such as, Craig Biggio, Don Mattingly, Jack Morris, Curt Schilling, Lee Smith, Bernie Williams, Dale Murphy, and several others who haven’t used steroids that are on the ballot. Players such as Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza have lots of suspicion to their names about using steroids and are also on the ballot as well. Every year the question always is, “Who do you think will make the Hall of Fame?” Now a new question has aroused, “Do the players who used steroids deserve to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame?”

Answering to the question, “Do the players who used steroids deserve to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame?” My side on the issue is no. Even though there are previous cheaters in the Baseball Hall of Fame already such as Gaylord Perry, who was known for throwing a spitball, and Ty Cobb, who was known for sharpening his spikes. Their actions were not along the lines of using a drug that phenomenally changes their own stats. For example, in Rafael Palmeiro’s first season, he only got 8 home runs, but later in his career he started to average over 30 home runs per season. Do you think this is suspicious? Well, I do. Rafael Palmeiro’s statistics drastically changed when he started using steroids. Such players, such as Barry Bonds, may not have been able to set milestones, such as the all-time home run record or most MVP records in MLB history without steroids. Hank Aaron, the previous all-time home run king, got all of his home runs based off of raw power and good skill, not by injecting a medicine into his body by a needle. I believe baseball should be based off raw power and skill that comes from physical endurance and not from medicine. That is why I believe baseball players who used steroids should not get into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Ever since this class of Hall of Famers retired from baseball 5 years ago, writers, fans, players, and others have debated about whether steroid using baseball players deserve to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Gary Sheffield, an ex-major leaguer, says yes while others have to disagree. Of course, the players who used steroids believe they have a shot at being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. All writers have different aspects on this issue and it’s pretty much cut 50/50 for yes and no. This one writer, Zeke Fuhrman, believes that the players who used steroids should at least be recognized (but not in inducted) in the Baseball Hall of Fame, which I could see happening in the near future. I surveyed several fans of the game and out of the twenty of them, 8 said that the players who used steroids should get into the Baseball Hall of Fame, while the other 12 said that the players who used steroids should not get inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. For the majority of fans, they believe baseball players should not get inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame if they used steroids, which I agree with. Now, after reading this, do you believe that a player who uses steroids belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

~Spencer Kinyon