Horses whip spring into shape
// October 30th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // This is the life
In the Southern Hemisphere, spring has sprung in all of its blossoming bouquet glory. Personally, I am a big fan of the Chinese star jasmine – a small yet tart blossom that emits a fresh aroma through my backyard. The guinea pigs have been muching away at our new grass, and my budgies Piccolo and Scout have been politely chatting with a noisy miner bird that sits in a tree opposite the window.
Spring is beautiful, bountiful, and blissful.
But there is nothing beautiful about horse whipping.
RSPCA’s campaign “Less is More” hopes to turn a corner and smack horse jockeys on the nose with a simple request: think about your horse before you whip it.
Where is the line that says “enough is enough”? With the recent overruling of reforms that could have reduced the number of times a horse could be whipped on the racetrack, it is a clear concern that many jockeys are placing the finish line as more important than horse welfare.
The RSPCA are responding to The Australian Racing Board’s ruling with several resources for the horse racing season. These include a girl’s guide to the upcoming racing season as well as a jockey “poor form guide”. RSPCA Australia are not holding back their anger. However, they are fighting with more than just the written word, with the option for campaign crusaders to email images of themselves at race day with the RSPCA “Less is More” sign. Emails can be directed to post@rspcalessismore.posterous.com, with your name and email address somewhere in the message body.
Spring has sprung, Australia. How about we allow horses to enjoy a spring in their step without being whipped to do it?
